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public opinion

January 9, 2012

UFT appeals directly to parents in teacher evaluation showdown

by Philissa Cramer, at 11:02 am

UFT President Michael Mulgrew wants parents to know that he doesn’t mind if new teacher evaluations cause some teachers to leave their jobs.

Ever since negotiations over teacher evaluations fell apart during winter break, Mulgrew has taken fire for costing the city federal funding and opposing changes that could make teachers easier to fire.

But in a full-page advertisement that appears in today’s New York Daily News, titled “An Open Letter to New York City Parents,” Mulgrew argues that evaluations that are conceived and executed according to the union’s specifications would indeed usher teachers “who cannot succeed” out of the profession.

More than that, he argues, better evaluations would help struggling teachers get the support they need to stay in the classroom. An exodus of teachers from city schools stands at 66,000 teachers in the last decade, he said — equivalent to more than three quarters of the city’s teaching corps.

“Teachers leave one of the toughest jobs in New York City for a variety of personal and professional reasons, but the most common single reason is a lack of support from supervisors and the Department of Education,” Mulgrew writes.

In the ad, Mulgrew also reiterates his call for third-party negotiation to hammer out the final details of a new evaluation system for at least some city schools. Both Chancellor Dennis Walcott and Mayor Michael Bloomberg have dismissed the call for arbitration, saying that the sticking point — whether an independent party would hear the appeals of teachers who get low ratings, as the union wants — is not open to discussion.

The union’s complete ad is below.

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  • http://twitter.com/nycdoenuts NYCDOEnuts

    Cuomo: The teacher evaluation system .. doesn’t work
    Silver: We should start over with a new evaluation system
    Mulgrew: Let’s use the evaluation system we were just finalizing

    –Hey, no fair! My lobbyist is the only one calling for this tougher evaluation system for teachers!

  • Ms. Real Talk

    Mulgrew….too little, too late! 

    So many have had their careers destroyed while the union has stood by and watched silently. 66,000 teachers is just the tip of the iceberg….the many young talented novice teachers who have had their probationary periods denied and extended by incompetent power hungry principals. How about the teachers who die prematurely? Die from the stress they undergo in schools at the hands of vindictive principals who are never held accountable. No due process, no equity….My prediction: In the next 5 years the teaching core with be severely depleted and no amount of marketing/advertisement will be able to reverse the horrendous damage being done.These attacks are happening in the public sphere. Future educators are listening/watching…..NO ONE will want to TEACH!!! Would you?  

  • realteacher

    Mulgrew, how can you as our union leader say that we have made no progress.  What does this say to the 75,000 teachers who are still in our classrooms working hard every day.  Thanks for spending our dues to insult us!

  • Mr. Blue

    It is about time that my dues money went to an ad in the paper. (I mentioned last year that the UFT should have done a newspaper ad to counter the anit-LIFO bill that was being pushed) Anyway, I believe this one is constructed well. However, I do not like the statement regarding the new evaluation process: “at the same time it would help to ensure that those who cannot succeed in the classroom leave the profession”. I am not sure where he is getting at with that statement. The problem with the new evaluation proposal is that the cards will be staked against teachers and they will not be able to succeed in the classroom.

  • Vote NO!

    Look  at  the  NAEP  scores  in  the  Daily  News  article,  that is  how  he  can  say  it.

  • Vote NO!

    When  there  are  66,000  teachers  out  of   80,000  total,  that  is  a turnover  rate  of  greater  than  80%  over  10  years.   How  can  any  UFT  official  even  think  that  this  new  evaluation  law,  and  the  Danielson  framework  will  do  anything  but  accelerate  that  rate?  The  Danielson  framework  is  an  absolute  disaster  for  inner-city  public  schools.

  • Marty

    I think we’d have to subtract the retirees before we can determine what the turnover rate is.

  • Vote NO!

    Marty,

    Since  many  teachers  retire  before  age  62,  I  like  to  consider  it  a  choice.  I  do  accept,  that  even if  you’re  less than  62  years  of  age…Thirty  or  more  years  is  a” long  time  in  the  classroom.”  However,  it  is  still  a  “choice”  and  I  include  it  in  “turnover.”

  • Therealreason

    80,000 teachers in the system. Most are not worried about Danielson or any evaluation. Seems as if only those who know they are unsatisfactory or ineffective that are worried about an evaluation system.

  • Nycdoenuts

    So good, effective professionals aren’t thinking about the metrics by which they are measured?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_H7HPQRSKDD2NGFWPSXOV4GWCWE decoflair

    WOW!    If these fiqures of the teacher turnover rate are accurate, this means that under the Mayor’s leadership the DOE has chosen more than 80% of all the newly hired teachers over the last ten years. Remember, over ten years ago the blame for students not performing well on state tests fell upon the veteran teachers in the system at that time. Now, most are long gone.  Yet, recent student test results show no improvement across the board. Hmmm, maybe the fault for poor student performance had less to do with teachers after all.
    Why are the Mayor and DOE complaining about teacher quality when they have had the power to hire and hand pick the best (80% of the teaching staff) over the last ten years?

  • MARIEPETERSEN17

    WHY IS IT SOLELY THE TEACHERS’ FAULT THAT THE STUDENTS DON’ T DO WELL IN SCHOOL? ARE THE STUDENTS STUDYING ? DO THEY DO THEIR HOMEWORK ? DO THEY PREPARE FOR THEIR EXAMS ? DO THEY EVEN LIKE SCHOOL OR ARE THEY MORE INTERESTED IN RAP MUSIC, REALITY SHOWS AND ARGUING WITH EACH OTHER ON FACEBOOK ? AND OH YES, LET’S NOT FORGET THE X-BOX AND OTHER GAMES THAT THEY PLAY ! YES, AS THE OLD SAYING GOES, YOU CAN LEAD A HORSE TO WATER BUT YOU CAN’T MAKE HIM DRINK.
    OH, AND WHY ARE THERE SO MANY SPECIAL EDUCATION CHILDREN AND WHY ARE TEACHERS MADE RESPONSIBLE  IF THESE CHILDREN ARE UNABLE TO LEARN ?

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