WHEREAS, New York State education law requires that teachers’ evaluations be based on multiple measures, including state and local learning measures and other measures that include a principal’s observations; and

WHEREAS, the United Federation of Teachers has always supported having an evaluation system with multiple measures because a principal should not have sole, subjective authority over 100 percent of a teacher’s evaluation; and

WHEREAS, the New York City teachers’ evaluation and development system, as established by the state education commissioner in his June 2013 arbitration ruling, follows state law by having 20 percent of a teacher’s year-end rating based on the growth in state measures, 20 percent on local student achievement measures chosen by the school and 60 percent on other measures of teaching practice including a principal’s observations; and

WHEREAS, the city Department of Education’s implementation of the new evaluation system has been deeply flawed, including through its failure to develop a large and varied menu of performance assessment options for use in local measures, thereby making it possible that a teacher’s evaluation could have local and state measures that are both based on state test scores; and

WHEREAS, among the ways that a teacher might get an ineffective rating is to receive a very low rating on other measures of teaching practice or to receive ineffective ratings on both the state 20 percent and the local 20 percent, which heightens concerns that the DOE’s flawed implementation could lead to a teacher getting an overall ineffective rating based solely on state test scores; and

WHEREAS, to address this issue, there must be an array of possible measures of student growth available for the local measure, including but not limited to student performance assessments that are project- or portfolio-based; therefore be it

RESOLVED, that the UFT will make it a priority in its negotiations for the next teachers’ contract to have the DOE create a much larger menu of options for the local measure that includes authentic measures of student work such as project- and portfolio-based assessments; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the UFT will also make it a priority now and in negotiations for the next contract to have the DOE grant an immediate rating review to any teacher who is rated ineffective on both the state and local learning measures and ineffective overall to determine if the learning measures were appropriate, fair and reliable and to reverse the rating if this is not the case; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the UFT once again calls for a moratorium on high-stakes consequences for state tests in light of the fact that the DOE’s failure to make more options available for the local measure has subverted the intent of the state’s teacher evaluation law.