New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who oversees city schools, said Wednesday morning in Washington that he has directed the nation's largest school system to ensure that principals use student test scores to evaluate beginning teachers who are up for tenure.
Bloomberg acknowledged that he did not consult with the teachers union, an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers, before making his decision. He said union leaders knew his views on the matter.
The mayor's announcement is part of a trend fomented by the Obama administration, to link teacher and student data in efforts to improve schools.
It is a sensitive issue for union leaders. They say that in many cases test scores can be used unfairly to judge teachers who are doing as much as they can to help disadvantaged students.
Kati Haycock of the Education Trust, an advocacy group for disadvantaged students, said that such students often are stuck with the least qualified and least effective teachers. Tenure, she said, is a key issue. Typically, gaining tenure means that beginning teachers are leaving probationary status and gaining due process rights to challenge moves to fire them.
Comments
Bloomberg cannot unilaterally change the rules in midstream. Whether he is correct or not to include student test scores to evaluate non-tenured teachers is irrelevant. It's a change in working conditions without input/feedback from the union. That's a violation of the collective bargaining agreement.
Student achievement is "reform" speak for high-stakes standardized test scores. High-stakes standardized test scores correlate most highly with socio-economic status. Michael Bloomberg and Arne Duncan are among the power brokers intent on destroying public education as we know it. They have no interest in the reality that public schools are WAY better than they are given credit for, and the fail to understand, to steal Jerry Bracey's words, that poverty is a condition like gravity that affects EVERYTHING. Between Duncan and Bloomberg they have NO knowledge of what actually goes on in a classroom from a teacher's perspective, and believe that the ONLY thing that matters is a standardized test score. Teachers everywhere need to beware of these so-called reformers. Their full-frontal assault on public education will lead to public schools being nothing more than a worker delivery system for multi-national corporations.
I just finished watching the event on the web, and it was worst than I would have expected. As phoos1 just wrote, Bloomberg can not just unilaterally change the collective bargaining agreement. Are we supposed to believe his statement that his lawyers said that they could win? (Bloomberg's body language and actual wording seem to indicate that he knows he's just using words as means of presenting a political argument, not as being factually accurate.
Also, Duncan made more misstatements of fact about Mastery Charter Schools than Newt Gingrich did on the same subject on Meet the Press. If reporters had fact-checked Gringrich, they could have then challenged Duncan.
And Kati Haycock of the Education Trust made the most unbelievable statement I've heard expressing her (and Rhee's) "Expectations!" school of reform, saying that the most effective method of closing the Achievement Gap has been "guidance to teachers about what to teach."
Once again we have a situation whereby politians with little to no educational experience are passing judgment on teachers in unfair ways. Who will make certain that classrooms are not "stacked" with higher-performing or lower-performing students in order to ensure a popular new teacher receives tenure? What evidentiary research has been undertaken by Bloomberg to support this scheme? How closely is the test aligned with the actual curriculum? Does Bloomberg understand that multiple measures is the only method that assures accurate measurement of student success? Why are unions being attacked in a time when worker rights are eroding so drastically?
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!