Comments on: “Merit”? My Experience With Arbitrary U Ratings

By: Perrymaso

Perrymaso — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 07:07:00 +0000

Impressive analysis.

If you have an email list for fundraising purposes, add me please.

By: Are Principals Valid and Reliable Evaluators of Teacher Quality? Can We Build a Teacher Assessment/Evaluation System That Includes Principals and Teachers and Creates More Effective Schools and Teachers? | Ed In The Apple

Mon, 14 Feb 2011 02:35:04 +0000

[...] right, never. Examples of egregious conduct on the part of principals is all to common. A Gotham Schools Community blog is chilling in recounting immoral and illegal actions by [...]

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 18:06:35 +0000

The Bronx High School of Science is a school with an amazing reputation and history. Yet the drive to demonize and demoralize senior teachers is so great, the drive to bully younger teachers is so great, that the principal and the chancellor and the mayor have willingly and willfully sacrificed the school's traditions and stability, have eviscerated a strong department, in their quest to enforce arbitrary, vindictive, top-down discipline. Bronx Science was shut out of the Intel Awards yet again this year. They now have a math department that is two-thirds new hires, with little continuity with their past strengths and traditions. The Technology program is on its way to being eliminated, in a school where the Tech program was once a jewel. Bronx Science will continue, and one day will be restored to what it once was. But in the meantime, look closely at the damage the Mayor and his minions are willing to wreak in order to diminish teachers' rights. There is a plan, but Peter is right, it has nothing to do with 'merit'.

By: Coyneeee

Coyneeee — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 17:31:07 +0000

I have been in the classroom for 24 years and have never received a U rating. When the school I worked in was closed down and 2 new schools put in its place, only a handful of those hired had any previous experience. Of course the failure of the school was blamed on the teaching staff…not the revolving door of administrators (6 over 5 years) nor the well connected but ineffective appointee who helped to hammer in the last nail in the coffin. This principal refused to take a stance with discipline (knifes, drugs, sex in stairwells, stalking of teachers)

saying it is not the fault of the kids, it is their enviroment. The stories are horrible but true and he now has a great position in the Childrens First Network. As always incompetence is rewarded by the DOE.
My real point is, when we were finally allowed to view our files they were empty of anything positive, letters from previous administrators, parents, local politicians and most of my Evaluation forms had been removed. Keep copies of everything. do not think the union will be there to help. They are a part of the problem and care only about the dues. We received NO help from the union. PS The 2 schools that replaced my school are also failing.

By: AJ612

AJ612 — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 15:49:53 +0000

In 2005 I received a U-rating from a principal whom I loved. It was my 4th year teaching and I thought my principal was awesome. I had gotten an intergration transfer. My principal caught wind of this and to block my transfer he hit me with a U-rating. I went to him and said, why?. I am the teacher you bring visitors to observe. I am the teacher you send on every PD. You ask me to mentor new math teachers. You ask me to fill in for the Math coach when he’s absent or busy. Why would you do this? He said “now you can’t leave me- now you can’t transfer”. I was soooooo hurt. Although I grieved the U. It suck on lateness. His sister in law was clocking my time card after I would come in and move it. I kept telling him someone was clocking my card late and I am never later. He told me not to worry about it that he knows I am never late. I trusted him, so I left it alone. Then when I went to the hearing and told the arbitrator (former principal) what the principal told me about my time card, she said do you have that in writing?. Of course I didn’t. I had no legs to stand on. The principal tried to make up for it by giving me the gifted math group , but I was a different teacher. I was bitter. The following year, open market came and I ran the heck out of there. I ended up in a school in Harlem with a principal who came to work drunk, within 2 months I was out of there. I came back to Brooklyn and have been in a school where both the principal and AP’s stance towards the teachers is, you don’t bother me and I won’t bother you. AMEN for that !!

By: hipknitta

hipknitta — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 15:01:51 +0000

Peter, I know firsthand what a good teacher you are because we worked together. I had the opportunity to talk to a woman who is not in education and during our conversation, I realized that the general public is so brainwashed by what they see/hear on the news. She kept asking me,”But why can’t you fix the school? Why are teachers not doing their job?” I quietly and calmly explained to her that we, the teachers, are the last ones consulted when it comes to teaching our students. I told her about the administrations who don’t care about the kids, only themselves and the money they can get in their schools. I told her stories like the ones Peter wrote about and how the public rarely hears about these incidents. It blows my mind daily how the students are constantly given the short end of the stick. In the building I work in, an ATR who is not licensed in math is teaching special ed math while the special ed math teacher was given science and English. When the special ed teacher asked the principal for a change, the principal told her no. So remind who’s looking out for the kids?

By: jodama

jodama — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 14:34:44 +0000

@Invictus – I think you can grieve U ratings if they’re given as an overall rating at the end of the year. If you get an unsatisfactory classroom observation you can append your response (for all the good it does you).

Hi Everyone, I want to join the chorus here of unfair classroom observations. I was never U-rated for the year, but I did get my first unsatisfactory classroom observation last year. It was a whimsical observation, to say the least, because I am the OLDEST person on staff and I was the ONLY person to be observed. I kid you not. My C/L and colleagues confirmed that no one else had been observed. With something like 20 new teachers on staff, I was the only one to get a formal observation and the only one to receive an unsatisfactory. To my principal’s credit, he backed off and left me alone after November. In fact, I had to invite him back into my room later in the year to see presentations the kids were making. This year, he can barely look me in the eye because he knows that it was unfair and ridiculous to give me a U. He was put up to it, I believe, by his superiors. and because he is a fair guy couldn’t proceed as ordered. That’s just my theory. Anyway, it’s an odd story of which I am sure there are thousands out there. Mine ended rather well, but I’m sure it doesn’t go so well for others. I understand that everyone is at the whim, from time to time, of incompetent or unfair superiors but in teaching it is particularly devastating because if you are fired – that’s the end of your career as a a teacher. If you work in an office, there are always other firms that will hire you if you fall victim to a poor manager.

By: Invictus

Invictus — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 04:33:30 +0000

While the UFT depends on the lifeline that is the membership, what its Randy did to the core of the union is unforgivable…with the 2005 contract it seems almost deliberately negligent that they gave away the right to dispute Us in file.

By: I noticed that...

I noticed that... — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 02:56:16 +0000

Great piece Peter.

Teachers with less than 1 year of teaching and those teachers with many, many years of teaching should demand an evaluation system san of retaliation from an administrator. Why should we be subjected to teach under this dictatorial oppression?

Peter’s pursuit to fight the unfair decision made by the DoE may be the impetus to create a fair and equitable evaluation system for teachers that all administrators must implement and respect.

Good Luck Peter.

By: Ms. Tsouris

Ms. Tsouris — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 02:54:42 +0000

Why isn’t documentation a requirement for U-rating a teacher, particularly a tenured one? Just how far away from anything remotely smacking of democracy has the DOE and the school system strayed? This is the UFT’s fault, along with the ATR problem they helped create by getting rid of bumping and excessing to make way for large scale school closures.

By: Mustafa 2: Electric Boogaloo

Mustafa 2: Electric Boogaloo — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 02:41:25 +0000

I hope Ruben Brosbe sees this post. It’s a prime example how U ratings are arbitrary and often malicious in nature.
Mustafa can’t be banned. I know all about Proxy IPs.

By: Smith

Smith — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 01:38:21 +0000

A friend of mine, who wasn’t afraid to do battle with the principal, checked his file once and found a disciplinary letter that had “refused to sign” written on it where he was supposed to sign. He had never heard of the matter before.

By: Mr. A. Talk

Mr. A. Talk — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 01:27:31 +0000

Great piece. Anyone who’s been in the system a few years can tell a horror story or two about someone who has been U rated unjustly. We all also know a few awful teachers who skate by because they are willing to suck up to the principal.

A truly just system would involve peer reiew. Teachers are the ones least likely to want to work with incompetent peers, and we’d be able to offer advice and support to struggling teachers instead of threatening LIFs.

By: NYC Educator

NYC Educator — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 00:25:37 +0000

Thanks very much for writing this, Peter. It’s pretty sad to read so much nonsense from people who know nothing of what goes on in schools, and worse, from those who claim to care but don’t. I’ve heard and seen many such stories, unfortunately, and I’ll go you one further. Not only do teachers need more and stronger union, but those who lack union altogether need it even more.

It’s amazing that people buy the totally unsubstantiated, often utterly false nonsense propagated by Gates, replicated by his self-serving shills and front groups. We have a media that gets people to ask: “Why do teachers have that?” when they should be asking, “Why the hell haven’t I got that?”

By: Bronx25years

Bronx25years — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 23:41:41 +0000

I had the experience many years of a vindictive principal who actually forged my signature by xeroxing old ones off my rating sheets. Unfortunately for him I had scrawled the actual date into my signature. It wasn’t the date of the paper in question but a year many years previous. It absolutely amazed me. He got off scot free as a forger. Later all his groundless accusations were found ungrounded and boardering on harrassment. He still gave me a U for that year even though there were no grounds. I had a 15 year spotless, even excellent record. I, of course, went to arbitration. I was told by the UFT that most of the arbitrators were retired principals and such. The U remained. I was furious. My UFT rep said to just let it go. Do I want to continue being upset and aggravated or do I want to get on with my life. The sheer unfairness of the whole situation made me a very different teacher. That was ten years ago..and yes I have all S ratings since. That unfair little U in the midst of a stellar career is insulting. This principal was a bully, an egotist, a thief, dishonest and worst of all a terrible educator. I was very lucky to have had six different principals and only one truly evil.

By: GC

GC — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 21:34:06 +0000

Queens Teacher, Every time they screw over a teacher, a demon earns his horns.

By: Queens Teacher

Queens Teacher — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 20:59:00 +0000

The DOE would never have done anything about this a.p. As far as they were concerned she was doing her job – to make life as unbearable as possible for rookies(to deny tenure) and to veterans(to force early retirements). I wonder if they get a bonus for every teacher that they screw over.

By: Teacher of LD kids

Teacher of LD kids — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 19:46:30 +0000

It is indeed very troubling that there are calls to “lay off” the ATRs and U-rated teachers because, after all, they must be inffective, right? I had the fortune of working for my first three years in the school system in a building with an extremely competent and pro-teacher assistant principal, who ran the school behind the scenes from our rather absent-minded and hands-off principal. Any teacher who came in on time, did their job as it was supposed to be done, didn’t abuse sick time, etc., basically was given a fair shake by this man. He protected teachers from the capriciousness of his fellow administrators, some of whom were itching for some kind of altercation with some teacher or another every single day. After this man passed away, the torch passed to these incompetent idiots, who would U-rate or threaten to u-rate any teacher they simply didn’t like. What was fair and reasonable under the AP who had died was thrown out when they took over. They made noisy claims about how everything was “for the children,” including moving my “classroom” to a small office that was literally 88 square feet (8′x11′). There was no way to fit in a desk, a computer, a storage cabinet, and enough furniture (table and chairs) to service 5 children at a time – some of my students cried and wondered if they were being punished. I tried to resolve the issue with the new senior AP by giving her rational arguments why my students and I should not be relegated to a room that was smaller than the broom closet, to which she responded by giving me an evil once-over with her eyes, shrugging her shoulders, and saying, “oh WELL.” I knew if I stayed in that school I would have been fighting off a U for the rest of the year, so when another position in another building opened up, I grabbed it. I only felt bad for my kids – truly if they thought they were being punished before I left, they had a hard time dealing with my departure. But that’s what happens when no one holds the administrators accountable.