News Brief

11/15/12

More Than 500 School Districts Have Submitted Evaluation Plans

Politics on the Hudson (11/15/12) Bakeman, Jessica

New York State Education Commissioner John King, Jr., reports that 500 of 700 school districts across the state have submitted plans for the new state-mandated teacher evaluations. School districts have until Jan. 17, 2013, to submit their plans, and without those plans, they will forfeit a scheduled increase in state aid. About 200 school districts have approved plans. King said, "We've received well over 500 plans. I expect that by early December, that number will be closer to 600. We've reviewed and provided feedback to probably close to 500 of the plans. We've got about 200 or so that have been approved. Now, maybe somewhat more than that, over the last week. So, we're moving in a very positive direction." Of the districts that have not submitted plans, some are still in the bargaining process over salary and benefits, and he notes some principals and teachers already have improved their work since adopting the new evaluations. King said, "As I travel around the state, I hear from districts and their bargaining units about their good collaboration, about the ways in which the evaluation is changing conversations about instruction. Principals are really talking to teachers in different ways about what they see in the classroom, relying on the common language for what good teaching looks like from the rubrics that are a part of the evaluation system."

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