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under pressure

July 7, 2011

Instead of giving or denying tenure, city is deferring decisions

by Philissa Cramer, at 6:57 pm

Under pressure from the Bloomberg administration to make tenure tougher to receive, principals and superintendents are withholding job protections from some young teachers.

Instead of simply granting or denying tenure at the end of a teacher’s third year, they are extending the probationary period for some teachers by another year.

In 2006, just 30 teachers had their probation extended. As the city has moved to toughen all teacher evaluations, that number has risen steadily, to 465 last year. Reports from teachers and principals suggest the trend is likely to continue when official numbers about the past year’s tenure decisions is released in the near future.

The reports suggest that many superintendents, who make final tenure decisions based on principals’ recommendations, are responding to a directive that teachers who score low on a new rubric not get tenure. The city urged that teachers who scored in the “ineffective” range be denied tenure and teachers who fell in the “developing” range have their probations extended.

A low score on the city’s Teacher Data Report was particularly influential, even if other information, such as classroom observations, contradicted it, principals said. The reports, which only some teachers receive, use value-added formulas to estimate teachers’ effectiveness at increasing students’ test scores, and teachers with low scores are “red-flagged” in the city’s tenure system.

Of the nine teachers Principal Joe Lisa had up for tenure this year at IS 61 in Queens, six taught in subjects without data reports and received tenure. Three math teachers had their probationary periods extended. One in particular seemed to be a shoo-in, Lisa said. But his superintendent rejected the idea of giving her tenure this year.

“I didn’t have enough evidence,” Lisa said. He said turnover among administrators meant that observations of the teacher didn’t show improvement, and in fact the school, which has more than 2,200 students, might not have conducted as many observations as it should have.

“There is more pressure on administrators to have an abundance of evidence, to prove without a shadow of doubt” that a teacher is up to par, he said. “If you’re ELA or math you have a much more difficult job getting tenure. My opinion didn’t matter.”

Union officials report hearing about large numbers of extensions, including at schools where most or even all of the teachers up for tenure had their probation extended. In Brooklyn’s District 32, for example, all of the teachers up for tenure at at least four schools — PS 145, IS 296, PS/IS 184, and IS 162 — received extensions, union officials said.

At least some teachers had their probation extended for a second time this year. There is no limit to how many times the extensions can happen, according to Matthew Mittenthal, a Department of Education spokesman.

The principal of an elementary school in Brooklyn said she wanted to give tenure to a third-grade teacher but was required to extend the teacher’s probation instead. The teacher had taken on a class of ill-prepared students and her data report showed that she was under par.

“She was hurt,” said the principal, who asked not to be named to protect the teacher’s identity. “But she’s coming back. She knows she’s wanted.” Next year, administrators will work with the teacher to put together additional evidence to make the teacher’s case to the superintendent.

The data reports are too full of errors to be used for a decision as high-stakes as whether a teacher gets tenure, UFT President Michael Mulgrew said. The union has requested a formal review of the reports’ accuracy.

“It is absurd that the DOE is judging how well many new teachers are doing by using a metric with a margin of error well over 50 percent,” he said in a statement. “Teachers and school communities deserve better.”

Other teachers say their bids for tenure were stymied by inadequate evidence of their quality.

At Aspirations High School in East New York, many teachers did not have any formal observations from their principal, teachers said. None of the eight Aspirations teachers up for tenure this year received it; instead, their probationary periods were extended.

One of them, Samantha Love, said she had finished her third year at the transfer high school with increasing confidence in her abilities. Following the city’s new guidelines, she put together a portfolio that included detailed statistics about her students’ Regents exam passing rates; evidence that she had improved her instruction; and proof that she helped run the school, even earning thousands of dollars in grants to buy supplies and pay for a class trip to Washington, D.C.

But she learned that she did not receive tenure the same day she turned in the portfolio, before the school’s superintendent could have reviewed it.

Jeff Kaufman, the teachers union chapter leader at Aspirations, said the extensions came as a surprise because the principal never told the teachers their tenure was in jeopardy.

Love and Kaufman say Aspirations teachers were told that they were not eligible for tenure because their school received an F on its most recent progress report — one of just nine high schools to do so.

In fact, the city does not have a policy of prohibiting tenure for teachers in F-rated schools, Mittenthal said.

Along with some of her colleagues, Love and other teachers at Aspirations are members of Educators 4 Excellence, the group of young teachers that advocates for tougher evaluations and changes to layoff rules. “I do believe we should be examining our personal effectiveness, and I don’t think [tenure] should just be a given,” she said. “But the way the process is being carried out is not an objective assessment.”

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  • http://www.accountabletalk.com/ Mr. A. Talk

    Given all this, when will GS reveal whether award winning blogger Ruben Brosbe of E$E was granted tenure or extended? He has written extensively that teacher data should be public, and he has acknowledged that his own teacher data reports were sub-par. Considering his public push right on this web site to encourage the city to share this information, when will we see his?

  • Marat

    Wait a minute, how can it be that E$E members, who self-declare their “excellence”, are not Receiving tenure???

    I LOVE it (get the joke? Read the article?).

    Don’t worry E$E scabs, John White is hiring down in NOLA!!!

  • Marat

    Seconded!

  • Third Year Teacher

    I work in a large High School on the PLA list.  I was one of the lucky few who received tenure this year.  Unfortunately many of my excellent colleagues were extended by the superintendent even after the principal recommended them.  In each case the teachers were told they were being denied because their scholarship was too low.  They just want young teachers to pass all of their students out of fear.  All of the teachers who were extended taught very high needs subjects (repeaters, lower level math students, self contained special ed, etc.)  Of course I am very happy that I received my tenure, but my colleagues were definitely unjustly denied.

  • John G

    “The teacher had taken on a class of ill-prepared students and her data report showed that she was under par.”

    –I thought this value added data scheme was supposed to account for that. I thought it was supposed to take only student growth into account. I thought it was a fair measure of teacher effectiveness … faire enough to release my colleagues’ names to the press.
    Hmm…

  • Marat

    The arbitrary nature behind all of this is indeed ridiculous. We tried to explain that to all the E$E scabs here, now karma is creeping up on them.

  • Marat

    I was just thinking, “Why I Was Denied Tenure…Again: An E4E Perspective” would certainly make for some interesting reading.

  • Tiredofyou

    God if it wasn’t so sad it would be funny. Who you going to call now that we told you it was going to happen? Experience does count for something lets see if e4e will jump on how unfairly their members were treated. You put your faith in people who sold you out. What a surprise.

  • Lifeisunfair

    embarassment4educators

    you took the wine
    you took the beer
    you took it up the toook–ass

  • Philip Nobile

    Is there a connection between tenure and pass rates? Did Klein refuse comment when the Wall Street Journal asked him about the suspicious preponderance of 65s in NYC Regents scores (Feb. 2)? Read the following passage from a November 3, 2008 OSI report on my pass rate at Cobble Hill High School in Brooklyn. Athough OSI did not substantiate Principal Ken Cuthbert’s bad faith complaint that I deliberately flunked 27 of 29 students in one of my Global classes, he punished a fine SS teacher with probation for the similar offense of failing persistently underachieving students in a D–rated school now in turnaround: “Mr. Cuthbert also informed this investigator that, at the end of the 2006-2007 school year, he was also dissatisfied with Mr. Jones (not his real name) who had failed 73.71% of the students assigned to his Global History class. As a result, Mr. Cuthbert met with Mr. Jones, who was a non-tenured teacher at the time, and extended his probationary period by one year to give him the opportunity to improve his teaching skills and pass/fail rate.” Quod erat demonstrandum.

  • SW

    I teach a non-tested subject (music) and had good observations from my principal. I was recommended for tenure, and haven’t heard anything about it not going through. It’s unfair to my colleagues who teach 3rd grade and have testing data. 

  • http://www.accountabletalk.com/ Mr. A. Talk

    Ill-prepared students? There’s no such thing, according to award winning blogger and E$E mouth piece Ruben Brosbe! This teacher should be bounced out of the system for not meeting Ruben’s high standards!

    Oh, wait…Ruben, did YOU get tenure? Considering your scores, you should not have. Why haven’t we heard from you on this when you promised on this very website to disclose that information?

  • Colleen

    The E4E teachers were so arrogant, they threw their experienced colleagues under the bus.  Arrogance will bite you every time.  After this round of “value-added” reports, I think the E4E teachers better reconsider their definition of what it means to be an excellent educator.  That’s all senior teachers have wanted.  We are not opposed to a tough evaluation system…but it has to be fair and accurate.  Otherwise, as the E4E teachers are learning the hard way, good teachers are treated unfairly.  In addition, the E4E teachers should think about where they are going to be able to get a teaching job if they are denied tenure.   If you are denied tenure, it ruins your career.  Your entire college education down the drain due to an unfair evaluation system.  Are the E4E teachers starting to get the picture?

  • Marat

    Most of them come from wealthy folks, they’ll get a job at “Daddy’s”. Besides it’s no big deal, most aren’t planning on teaching for very long anyway.

  • Xyz

    What is the future of the teachers union if these extensions of probation continue? 30 to over 400 denied tenure it quite a difference. How can you build a union on temporary teachers? Who will strike when they have no stake in the future (tenure)? It’s all union busting. The UFT should have seen this coming and inserted contract language two contracts ago to avoid this. The rubric is insane. What other profession is held to such scrutiny? It’s all just union busting and working at that. 

  • ASTRAKA

    “Along with some of her colleagues, Love and other teachers at
    Aspirations are members of Educators 4 Excellence, the group of young
    teachers that advocates for tougher evaluations and changes to layoff
    rules.”

    Ignorance -> arrogance -> disrespect  -> hubris  =  tragedy

  • I noticed that…

    TYT, I’m sorry to hear about your colleagues not receiving tenure.  But, I’m curious.  What was your passing rate since their rates were so low?  What subject do you teach? 

  • I noticed that…

    TYT, I’m sorry to hear about your colleagues not receiving tenure.  But, I’m curious.  What was your passing rate since their rates were so low?  What subject do you teach? 

  • I noticed that…

    I seconded it, too! 

    I wonder the following:  Maybe Ruben resigned because of the shame the truth will bring him.  Either way it will be interesting to find out about his status.

  • Jayson

    Every teacher up for tenure at my school had it extended.  They were all gung ho, 20-somethings.  They were nice enough, and they really tried to hold students to some standards.  Their pass rates were horrible, of course, because it’s an inner city school of mostly English Language Learners (ELLs) and more than half of them are SIFE and overage.  But they worked so hard with the students and helped a lot of students overcome some real serious problems. 

    All of that is down the train and these young bucks are quite jaded now.  It’s so sad to see.  As for me, I saw the writing on the wall several years ago and got into subjects that do not end in state tests. 

    As far as the admins at my school are concerned I’m golden.  (I also do a great job at teaching useful skills to the students, but if I were in a test-them-to-death class, even I would flop like all others – except for those who cheat and manipulate the data.)  I see the end of a skilled and knowledgable teaching corps.  In ten years teaching will be a temp job on par with working at a fast food restaurant.  The data will be massaged to show ‘improvements.’ and the Atlanta cheating scandal will be universal across Amerika.

  • Follow the Money

    Teachers need to start banding together to do something about this, or it’s only going to get worse.

  • Tiredofyou

    Dear Reformers
    You used these kids to make education a business and you left them out to rot which all of us knew you would do. You used them as a wedge against the union and now they will understand that they were on the wrong side of the issue.Shame on you Bloomberg, Klein,Rhee,etc.

  • ed in the apple

    It would be quite interesting if a teacher who was extended or denied tenure got into court and challenged the use of Teacher Data Report info. Virtually every respected ed expert rejects the use of value-added to evaluate teacher prerformance, it’s supporters are economists, number crunchers. Anecdotally extentions were up dramatically and terminations down. One of the reasons for the uptick in extentions was the mismatch of TDR data and principal observations.

  • http://twitter.com/SoBronxSchool Bronx Teacher

    Hmmmmm. Oh the irony of Samantha Love. For shame, how sad, too bad.

  • http://twitter.com/SoBronxSchool Bronx Teacher

    I hear crickets from Ruben’s blog.

  • Third Year Teacher

    I can’t say for sure what my passing rate was, because I find that if I worry about that I might unfairly pass students.  However it was definitely around the average for my school.  I teach English, generally a subject with a high passing rate in my school, but I do not teach Juniors which is the Regents year at my school.  So there were no Regents results to look at for me.  I can’t say I know everyone denied, but from those I do know, all of them taught Regents subjects.

  • Mdp65

    The scholarship reports are one of the great lies in urban education. Mine fluctuates with the number of truant students that do not attend school. Why is this a reflection on me? Surprisingly, some of my colleagues will pass some of these same students, no questions asked. Disgusting, shameless etc as they portray their superior t skills with this kind of “proof”

  • ed in the apple

    In the non-State tested grades/subjects a key factor was the principal observation reports … in many instances there were few observation reports or the reports were mechncically written. Where a principal advocated and has evidence the teacher of growth the techer received tenure … if a scholarship report showed a high failure rate but the principal could show growth among a cohort within the class the superintendent may have agreed.

    Remember the new state teacher evaluation law will be negotiated somewhere down the road … the days of “S” or a “U” will be gone … and all teachers will undergo much closer scrutiny, with thousands of teachers falling into the “ineffective” category …

  • Know the facts

    Or, just possibly, the E4E folks don’t care about getting tenure because they plan on actually doing a good job for as long as they teach. Thus, they are not worried about being fired for incompetence, laziness, ineffectiveness or the myriad other reasons many tenured teachers so need to be tenured. Feeling entitled to a job is worse than being arrogant.

  • Know the facts

    Or, just possibly, the E4E folks don’t care about getting tenure because they plan on actually doing a good job for as long as they teach. Thus, they are not worried about being fired for incompetence, laziness, ineffectiveness or the myriad other reasons many tenured teachers so need to be tenured. Feeling entitled to a job is worse than being arrogant.

  • Xyz

    No… the new rubric proposed uses the terms Satisfactory and Unsatisfactory. It’ just numbers 4 – 1. It will take away discretion from the principal, which in many cases will be a good thing; especially knowing some of the nut jobs out there hired as principals. 

  • ed in the apple

    Xyz:  Read the regulations on the SED website … every teacher receives a numercial score that determines their place on a continuim … four categories with “ineffective” and “developing” as the two lowest … 20% student achievement, based on State tests or locally developed by subject or grade … 20% locally negotiated and 60% principal observations, etc., while the details have to be negotiated with the local union the plan will place some percent of teachers in the “ineffective” category. If 5% end up in the “ineffective” category tha’s 3500 teachers in NYC!

  • Marat

    Know the facts, thanks for perfectly illustrating the E$E superiority complex and the stereotypes that you hold regarding other teachers.

    You made me laugh, thanks!

  • Krules7k

    Well, Well, Well, Ms Love from aspirations high school and member of educators 4 excellence, it seems you got what you wanted, tougher standards for all those badddddd teachers, well you got it, but damn if it did not come back to bite you in the ass ROFLOL

  • Roma Giudetti

    So then why did the UFT agree to 20% used in evaluation of teachers?  Shouldn’t the UFT be arguing that TDR data should be completely excluded?

  • ed in the apple

    Roma; In May, 2010 the NYS legislature passed a new teacher/principal evaluation law … with multiple measures, including 20% student achievement data … both national teacher unions accept multiple measures … the 20% is at the bottom of what others state have passed … it’s difficult to convince anyone that student data should have NO role in teacher evaluation, under the current system principals have 100% voice … the city and the state are moving toward accepting a common rubric, probably the Charlotte Danielson Frameworks of Teaching … you’ll hear about next school year.

  • Disgusted

    Three teachers in my school were up for tenure this year. One of them is very good, the other two are outstanding. All three were given an extra probationary year based on the fact that they were not observed enough over the past year! Whose fault is that? A teacher has no choice as to how many times an administrator observes them. They were also given less than 24 hours notice to gather data on their students from the previous year. 

  • Mrs. T.

    LMAO @ Ms. Love! All of these young pups want to push out the senior teachers because they think they are so much better than then because of their youthful exuberance. They think they are invincible and don’t support their union, and even actively fight against it at times. I guess they never thought that they might be the target of the unfair bureaucracy, huh? 

  • GladImRetired

    Who is going to speak up for these people now? Where are the big voices in education when such an injustice is done. This is why we need a Union that will step up for its members. This is why tenue is so important. Why is this not important for the reformers and why are they so quiet at this moment.

  • Vote NO!

    If  the  new  teacher  evaluations  go  into  effect  as  approved  by  the  Regents  in  May,  more  than  half  of  NYC  teachers  will  be  rated    “ineffective”  with  tens  of  thousands  being  fired  in  the  first  3  to  5  years.  That  new  evaluation  system  is  not  “fair  and  objective.”  It  was  created  to  destroy  the  teaching  profession  in  the  cities.  NYSUT  was  correct  to  file suit  against  it.

  • Gladimretired

    tenure sorry

  • Dan Leopold

    Give it time, give it time. As a fellow music teacher with 11 years experience in the NYC system, I can see two scenarios becoming a reality, the first being that we will be evaluated according to the NYC arts blueprint, going strand by strand, point by point, to evaluate a teachers effectiveness on a quantitative scale. The second scenario involves the elimination of hiring anyone with a specialized license, such as music education, so principals can change the format of any class to be general education if the need arises. I M just hypothesizing here, but here is one thing I know for sure-the cluster teachers will be under strict scrutiny just like classroom teachers sooner than later.

  • Tax Payer

    I find this article appalling about Aspiration’s High school. All of the teachers at Aspirations HS have made so many strides with problem students and have gone above and beyond their obligated duties.  The fact remains that Aspirations HS’s (now) former Principle was deemed ineffective by the DOE although he was able to keep his tenure and go off and get another teaching position. Why are the dedicated teachers of Aspirations HS being hurt by the ineffectiveness of the former principle and administration? As a tax payer I find this behavior of the DOE unacceptable. How does an ineffective Principle of 3 years make an effective teacher?  Just because the Principle is ineffective does not make the teachers ineffective.

  • Tax Payer

    I find this article appalling about Aspiration’s High school. All of the teachers at Aspirations HS have made so many strides with problem students and have gone above and beyond their obligated duties.  The fact remains that Aspirations HS’s (now) former Principle was deemed ineffective by the DOE although he was able to keep his tenure and go off and get another teaching position. Why are the dedicated teachers of Aspirations HS being hurt by the ineffectiveness of the former principle and administration? As a tax payer I find this behavior of the DOE unacceptable. How does an ineffective Principle of 3 years make an effective teacher?  Just because the Principle is ineffective does not make the teachers ineffective.

  • Tax Payer

    I find this article appalling about Aspiration’s High school. All of the teachers at Aspirations HS have made so many strides with problem students and have gone above and beyond their obligated duties.  The fact remains that Aspirations HS’s (now) former Principle was deemed ineffective by the DOE although he was able to keep his tenure and go off and get another teaching position. Why are the dedicated teachers of Aspirations HS being hurt by the ineffectiveness of the former principle and administration? As a tax payer I find this behavior of the DOE unacceptable. How does an ineffective Principle of 3 years make an effective teacher?  Just because the Principle is ineffective does not make the teachers ineffective.

  • City Teacher

    If the E4E members at this school do not see that E4E is not working in their interest, I too would not grant them tenure.  E4E does not believe in benefits either.  If Miss Love plans teaching as a lifelong career, she should know that E4E is not a fan of pensions.  What E4E does stand for is putting a wedge between new and senior teachers while making a big profit.  Under the new evaluation system which warrants 100% participation by students to get a top rating, we see the E4E influence setting unrealistic goals for teachers.  The only people profiting is the E4E founders, and I have to wonder if they are throwing a $ bone to a certain teacher for continuing to write their propaganda on this site as well as the NYPost which btw both are own by Murdoch.  (Should teachers now expect to have their phones, Twitter and email accounts hacked too if they don’t join E4E? after all, the new technology now run by Klein is owned by Murdoch…..) 

  • Guest

    Ms. Love,
    You should read an article published by the NYTimes a few months ago called “When the Numbers Lie”.  It was written by the only extrodinary education reporter out there–Michael Winerip.  The teacher in question was DENIED tenure even though her principal and other teachers had the highest regard for her.  Because of E4E’s influence that testing be a determining factor, she was denied by a VAM score that was off by less than a percent.
    I don’t know how much research you did on E4E before joining, but if you had, you would see that for someone who hardly taught and didn’t continue to teach full time, they have a lot to say about those that have given their life to this profession.  Are their bad teachers out there?  Absolutely, but principals have not been doing their jobs either to get rid of them and they blame the union for the lack of their own paperwork to prove incompetence.  I have always wanted a fair and balanced evaluation system that would toss teachers out on their butts regardless of their seniority, but you will soon see that E4E who has influence in the input of these evaluations, will make it difficult for a teacher like you to succeed.  The reforms movement’s agenda is simple–destroy the unions and privatize the public schools while getting all the money they can from Gates and Broad.  It’s time to stand up for yourself and not this organization.

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