With State Budget in Place, Education Officials Now Tasked with Creating Teacher Evaluation Process

ALBANY – The New York Education Department has been tasked with another major project that could impact thousands of teachers across the state.

The new state budget approved earlier this week is calling on state education officials to devise a new teacher evaluation system and the process is likely to receive some pushback from teacher unions.

State education officials have already felt the wrath of teachers, parents, local school officials and politicians following the four-year rollout of the new Common Core-based educational standards and the tests that come with them.

But now, thanks to the 2015-16 state budget deal, state education officials will have to come up with a teacher evaluation system by the end of June. And according to an article in the Albany Times Union, it will do so without any extra money and will start without a new permanent education commissioner in place.

The evaluations are tied to tests that are designed to show students’ progress over the course of a year under a given teacher. Educators who are rated “highly effective” will be eligible for $20,000 annual bonuses. At the other end of the spectrum, those rated “ineffective” for multiple years due to poor student test scores could be fired, even if they are tenured veterans.

Precisely how the Education Department will develop this new teacher grading system remains to be seen.

If the state education department is able to finalize a new evaluation system, local schools will be required to accept the changes by November.