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SCARSDALE, N.Y. Scarsdale's Superintendent of Schools expressed his unhappiness Sunday with new state regulations about how classroom teachers must be evaluated calling them irrational and unfair. Under the new teacher review process, publicly available ratings will be compiled based on principal observations, state test scores and other locally decided measures.
The first rule of ethical practice is 'do no harm,'" McGill said. "This system knowingly does harm. We have a methodology that professes to possess a 'scientific' precision it doesn't have. We know it will misidentify teachers. People will receive ratings that don't accurately reflect their ability or performance. Some less effective teachers will get better ratings than they should.
McGill said he expects this first rule to lead to some less effective teachers getting better ratings than they should and effective teachers receiving worse ones.
"To make matters worse, teachers see that the system is irrational and unfair. This doesn't engender trust or confidence, and it does promote cynicism. It encourages people to game the system to teach only what might be tested, to spend excessive amounts of class time teaching problems or questions exactly like the ones on past tests, to figure out strategies to beat the tests or, at worst, to cheat. None of this is best for students, and it doesn't improve teaching."
New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo's plan states that school districts will not be eligible for state aid increases unless they have fully implemented the new teacher evaluation process by Jan. 17, 2013. Cuomo also plans to create a commission that will shift educational focus to school accountability to "improve student achievement and operational efficiency." Cuomo has threatened the loss of $805 million in state aid if the changes aren't enacted.
Under the new teacher review process, publicly available ratings will be compiled based on principal observations, state test scores and other locally decided measures.
McGill, who questions the usefulness of the state's standardized testing to begin with, said this plan is wrong-headed.
"To start with, the basic assumptions are wrong," he said. "True, some teachers shouldn't be teaching, but most want to do a good job. Many face classroom challenges they don't know how to solve. Sometimes they haven't learned the requisite skills or knowledge. Sometimes the knowledge doesn't exist yet. The way to help people learn is to educate them. The way to find new knowledge is to get them to collaborate in the process of uncovering it.
The state's new requirements, he said, run counter to that approach.
"The practice creates an environment in which teachers are less likely to explore their questions, experiment, teach from their passions, collaborate and do the other things that are most likely to help them improve their performance," McGill said. "As someone said to me the other day, 'Four of us are teaching in my grade, one of us has to be the low scorer. If our scores are (as they will be) posted publicly, why should I cooperate with my colleagues, knowing that I might give them information that could raise their ratings?'"
Scarsdale High School PTA President Vivienne Braun issued a statement Sunday after checking in with the group's executive board. "Scarsdale has a terrific history of community/teacher cooperation," she wrote. "An evaluation system that pits teachers against each other will not only send an already competitive environment through the roof but will completely undermine the cooperation we are working to develop to strengthen our curricula in terms of academics and global citizenry."
McGill said the regulations take a simplistic approach to a situation that requires more nuance.
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