Deal reached on independent teacher rating appeals

El-Wise NoisetteUFT President Michael Mulgrew discusses the agreement in Albany, with (from left) NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi, State Education Commissioner John King and Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Thanks to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s intervention, the UFT on Feb. 16 reached a groundbreaking agreement in Albany on an appeals process for teacher ratings that includes the independent validation by a neutral third party that the union insisted upon to ensure fairness.

The new appeals process, however, will not go into effect unless Mayor Bloomberg negotiates agreements with the UFT for an overall teacher evaluation deal.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew said members have been asking for fairness in evaluations for years. “This agreement certifies that we will have a much fairer evaluation and appeals system for teachers if we ever get to an overall agreement,” he said. “It ensures that an independent validator will see the member teach in person. That’s much better than presenting evidence in a hearing. This is the impartial evaluation we have been seeking.”

Mulgrew said he asked the governor to get involved in the talks a month ago when it became clear that the union and the city would never get to an agreement on the appeals process.

“We would not have this agreement today without the governor’s intervention,” Mulgrew said. “Remember, the city walked out on the evaluation negotiations and never came back. If not for the governor, they would never have returned to the table or agreed to this deal since they kept insisting that principals and the chancellor should have total and complete authority over teacher evaluations.”

Under the agreement, an independent panel will review teacher ratings that the union suspects are based on principal harassment. The union can identify up to 13 percent of all ineffective ratings each year to challenge on grounds of harassment or other matters not related to job performance. These appeals will each be heard by a panel made up of one person chosen by the UFT, one chosen by the city Department of Education, and a third independent party.

Each teacher rated ineffective will have a teacher improvement plan designed to pinpoint weaknesses and support the teacher in addressing them.

These teachers will also be paired the following year with an independent validator, who will observe and work with the teacher during the school year and issue a report with his or her own rating of the teacher. If the independent validator disagrees with the principal’s rating, the DOE may still bring 3020a charges but it will have to bear the burden of proving its case and the validator’s report will be part of the evidence.

The inability of the two sides to agree on an appeals process had been the reason why talks on a new evaluation system for 33 schools in the restart and transformation models had broken down and the reason that the mayor gave for saying he had no choice but to close those schools. Even with the new agreement, the mayor said he was moving forward with the closings.

“I am hoping now that the mayor of New York City understands that to do real education reform it’s about helping schools to get better and not about closing schools,” said Mulgrew, speaking at a state press conference on Feb. 16 in Albany with the governor, State Education Commissioner John King and NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi standing beside him.

Then Gov. Cuomo stepped forward to make clear his view that evaluations should help all teachers improve.

“This is not a punitive system. This is a performance management system that is in everyone’s best interest,” Cuomo said. “What’s working? What are best practices and how can we learn from best practices? Who are the teachers who are struggling and how do we get them the help they need?”

Local school districts, including New York City, have until next January to implement a systemwide teacher evaluation system, though the governor assured New Yorkers that with the day’s agreement, New York City was sure to be eligible for its share of the state’s 4 percent school funding increase.

On the same day, the governor, the State Education Department and the UFT’s state affiliate, NYSUT, hammered out the final parameters of the state evaluation system, settling their lawsuit by the governor’s deadline.