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After months of negotiations, the city and teachers union announced a deal today on a set of reforms that will allow the state to claim millions of dollars promised to struggling schools.

The announcement comes a week after the state ramped up pressure on the city to finalize its plans for how to improve its lowest-performing schools. The state’s deadline to complete its application for federal School Improvement Grants is just two weeks away. New York City is eligible for up to $65 million to help 33 “persistently low-achieving” schools undergo one of four processes over the next two years.

The 33 schools will undergo one of two revamp options, “restart” and “transformation,” according to the agreement. Those models are the least aggressive and also the least objectionable for the teachers union: They do not involve removing teachers or asking them to reapply for their jobs. “Restart” assigns a new management organization, and “transformation” replaces the principal and brings in additional resources.

Decisions about which model each of the 33 schools on the list would undergo will be made “over the next week,” according to the city’s press release. Last year, 11 city schools underwent the “transformation” process, and nine schools are undergoing the restart process this fall.

The city’s press release is long on relief but short on specifics other than that the city and union have agreed to implement the state’s new teacher evaluation model — but only in the 33 struggling schools.An impasse over the evaluations had caused the months-long holdup in negotiations. A key sticking point was whether teachers would be allowed to discuss their observations with their principals: The union wanted meetings built into the agreement, but the city said the extra step would add unnecessary delay to the evaluation process. The issue is absent from the city’s press release but union officials said it had been resolved.

Supporters of the state’s toughened teacher evaluations said today’s agreement could be a blueprint for the rest of the city’s schools.

“This agreement is a good first step towards placing highly effective teachers in every classroom, but I urge both sides to institute this evaluation system across the board immediately so that every child has a chance to learn from the city’s best educators,” said Joe Williams, executive director of Democrats for Education Reform, in a statement.

The city’s press release also heralds a performance pay program for teachers at the struggling schools that was finalized more than a year ago. That performance pay program will now be aligned with the state’s teacher evaluation law, and only teachers who fall into the highest of four tiers will be able to occupy higher-paying “master teacher” and “turnaround teacher” positions.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew looked only to the future in the city’s press release. Reiterating the union’s concern that the city has inadequately invested in struggling schools in the past — a concern that fueled the union’s lawsuit to halt 22 school closures — he said the priority is to direct the new federal funds to needy schools and their students.

“This agreement helps lay the groundwork,” Mulgrew said. “Now we have to focus on providing the resources these struggling schools need to make a real difference in the lives of their students.”

AGREEMENT BETWEEN DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TEACHERS’ UNION WILL HELP SECURE $65 MILLION IN FEDERAL FUNDS FOR STRUGGLING SCHOOLS

DOE-UFT agreement also includes a new, 4-category teacher evaluation system in these schools

Schools Chancellor Dennis M. Walcott and United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew today announced an important agreement that will help secure up to $65 million over the next two years in federal School Improvement Grants, a U.S. Department of Education program that provides funding to help transform our nation’s struggling schools.  The funding will go to implement either “restart” or “transformation” at 33 City schools identified by the State as persistently lowest achieving (PLA) and therefore at risk of being closed.

“With this agreement, we will be able to bring millions of dollars in federal funding to these struggling schools and recruit top quality teachers to help students succeed and mentor other staff,”  said Chancellor Dennis Walcott. “I also want to thank Michael Mulgrew for his commitment to working with us to implement a more effective and meaningful teacher evaluation system to in these schools.  I believe our collaboration on matters like this is critical to student success.”

UFT President Michael Mulgrew said, “This agreement helps lay the groundwork.  Now we have to focus on providing the resources these struggling schools need to make a real difference in the lives of their students.”

In the 33 schools, the DOE and UFT have also jointly agreed to implement a new teacher evaluation system that is aligned with the State’s new teacher evaluation law.  The evaluation system in these schools will be based on a four-category rating system of highly effective, effective, developing and ineffective, instead of the current system that simply gives teachers a rating of satisfactory or unsatisfactory.

Federal guidelines identify four models for school improvement—a “transformation” model, a “turnaround” model, a “restart” model, and a “closure” model—each  involving different strategies to improve low performing schools.  Last year, 11 of these 33 schools were chosen for “transformation.”

Under the “transformation” model, the principal of the school is generally replaced, and the schools will be able to hire new teachers in the categories “Master Teacher” and “Turnaround Teachers.” A Master Teacher working in a PLA school will receive 30% above their base salary and is expected to serve as a mentor for other teachers in the school, working an additional 100 hours per year.  A Turnaround Teacher working in a PLA school will receive 15% above their base salary and open their classroom up to other teachers to learn best practices, working an additional 30 hours per year.  To remain eligible for either position, teachers must maintain a rating of “highly effective.”

Under the “restart” model, schools will be teamed with a non-profit educational partner organization (EPO) that will work with the principal and school staff to make recommendations on specific interventions to raise student achievement. This model does not require leadership or staff changes, but also allows for the hiring of master and turnaround teachers.  All proposed changes from the EPO will need to conform to collective bargaining agreements.

The City will work with the schools over the next week to determine which model suits the 33 schools best.  The following is the full list of schools:

02M460           WASHINGTON IRVING HIGH SCHOOL
02M500           UNITY CENTER FOR URBAN TECHNOLOGIES
02M615           CHELSEA CAREER AND TECH ED HS
05M685           BREAD & ROSES INTEGRATED ARTS HIGH SCHOOL
08X405           HERBERT H LEHMAN HIGH SCHOOL
08X530           BANANA KELLY HIGH SCHOOL
09X022           JHS 22 JORDAN L MOTT
09X339           IS 339
09X412           BRONX HIGH SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
10X080           JHS 80 MOSHOLU PARKWAY
10X391           MS 391
10X660           GRACE H DODGE CAREER AND TECH HS
14K126           JOHN ERICSSON MIDDLE SCHOOL 126
14K610           AUTOMOTIVE HIGH SCHOOL
15K136           IS 136 CHARLES O DEWEY
15K429           SCHOOL FOR GLOBAL STUDIES
15K519           COBBLE HILL SCHOOL OF AMERICAN STUDIES
16K455           BOYS & GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL
19K166           JHS 166 GEORGE GERSHWIN
20K505           FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT HIGH SCHOOL
21K540           JOHN DEWEY HIGH SCHOOL
21K620           WILLIAM E GRADY VOCATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
22K495           SHEEPSHEAD BAY HIGH SCHOOL
32K564           BUSHWICK COMM HIGH SCHOOL
24Q455           NEWTOWN HIGH SCHOOL
24Q485           GROVER CLEVELAND HIGH SCHOOL
24Q600           QUEENS VOCATIONAL & TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOL
25Q460           FLUSHING HIGH SCHOOL
27Q400           AUGUST MARTIN HIGH SCHOOL
27Q475           RICHMOND HILL HIGH SCHOOL
27Q480           JOHN ADAMS HIGH SCHOOL
30Q445           WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT HIGH SCHOOL
30Q450           LONG ISLAND CITY HIGH SCHOOL