Bill unlinking student performance on standardized tests and teacher evaluations called ‘a good first step’

A bill eliminating the requirement that state test scores be used as criteria in teacher evaluations passed the State Legislature yesterday with overwhelming support in both chambers.

The bill passed yesterday was endorsed by New York State United Teachers, the state teachers’ union and the United Federation of Teachers, the NYC teachers’ union. It was passed unanimously in the State Senate and by a vote of 137-6 in the Assembly.

State Senator Ken LaValle, a former teacher and principal and both East End assembly members supported the legislation.

“I think it’s a step in the right direction toward local control,” Assemblyman Anthony Palumbo (R-New Suffolk) said in a phone interview today. “I don’t think the one-size-fits-all aspect of Common Core was a good thing. We should allow our local districts to decide for themselves.”

“A lot of socioeconomic factors have to do with student performance,” Palumbo said. “To put it all on the teacher isn’t right or fair,” he said.

Riverhead Central Faculty Association, the union that represents teachers in the Riverhead Central School District agrees that the new law is a step in the right direction.

“By no means are we spiking the football and thinking we’re over the goal line,” said RCFA vice president Gary Carlson.

The new law establishes a “new baseline with more work to do,” he said. It removes the specter of having to work with the expiring moratorium, he said.

“If we thought this was the end, we’d share the dissatisfaction you’re hearing from some people,” he said.

There are significant numbers of people — both parents and teachers — who advocate the elimination of high-stakes testing altogether and who fear the new law will open the door to more testing.

“In no way is this going to result in additional testing here,” Carlson said. He said the teachers and the district administrators are on the same page as far as shielding students from the stress of high-stakes testing. “Everyone’s ultimate goal is what’s best for the children,” Carlson said.

“We might not even have a lot of negotiating to do.”

The district continues to “shift the paradigm towards the ‘whole child/whole student’ approach,” Superintendent Dr. Aurelia Henriquez said.

“Our students, teachers and principals are more than the state assessment scores,” she said. “We aim for continuous improvement, rigor and excellence that is inclusive of all students.

“Increased academic performance is one of many goals that we have for our students to demonstrate growth,” she said.

“Evaluations should never be based on how an individual performed in one isolated situation. Evaluations are to be based on performance over time, in multiple areas, and should provide inclusive opportunities for all students to show growth,” Henriquez said.

“The mandatory top-down approach to evaluating students, teachers, and principals does not work. We, as a community, must continue to advocate for meaningful assessments for all.”

Following changes in state law in 2010 and 2012 that allowed teacher performance evaluation to be tied to student performance, the State Education Department in 2015 adopted a new annual evaluation system that required the use of state assessment tests as one of the criteria for determining a teacher’s or principal’s effectiveness. The state created a statistical growth model that had a mandatory growth score set by the state. It required 40 percent of teachers’ annual evaluation to be based on their students’ test scores on state assessment tests.

Later in 2015, at the recommendation of the governor’s Common Core Task Force, the state imposed a moratorium on the use of statistical growth models based on the state’s annual assessments in mathematics and on English Language Arts. The moratorium expires this year.

But the new rules sparked major backlash among educators and parents alike and fueled the “opt-out” movement across the state, in which students essentially boycotted the state standardized tests. Riverhead had an opt-out rate of 31 percent in 2018, according to data released by the State Education Department.

The bill passed yesterday also prohibits state-administered ELA and math assessment tests score (grades 3 through 8) from being included on a student’s permanent record.

The bill has been delivered to the governor for his signature.

“Having been both a teacher and a principal, I have a unique understanding of the educational system,” LaValle said. He said he hopes the governor signs the bill into law.