Educators for Excellence-New York Statement on the Proposed Changes to Teacher Evaluations

January 15 (New York) — Educators for Excellence-New York (E4E-New York), a teacher-led organization, expressed their disappointment with Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposed changes to teacher evaluations outlined in his State of the State address.

“My colleagues and I are disappointed that the Governor and Legislature are changing teacher evaluation without considering the input of current classroom teachers,” said Rachael Goeler, a special education high school teacher at P233Q and member of E4E-New York. “As part of the State Education Department’s workgroup to improve teacher evaluations and testing, I took time away from my classroom to help inform meaningful, teacher-led change. Instead, the Governor and Legislature are endorsing a plan that will double the amount of testing my students undergo. We hope that the Governor and Legislature will allow our work to continue and to create thoughtful improvements to evaluations grounded in our classroom expertise.”

“Today Governor Cuomo endorsed a plan in the Legislature that will require students be tested twice – once to measure academic achievement and a second time to evaluate teachers,” said Paula L. White, Executive Director of E4E-New York. “Educators work hard to ensure every minute of instruction helps students learn. This ‘fix’ to teacher evaluations will only create meaningless work for both educators and students. Creating more tests will make it harder to analyze the academic health of our schools and provide teachers with quality data to inform instruction. Instead of purposeful reform, the Governor and Legislature are endorsing more bureaucracy on the back of our students. Governor Cuomo and the Legislature should allow the State Education Department to complete its work of creating recommendations based on the input of current classroom educators.”  

###