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lucky 13 (updated)

February 16, 2012

UFT wins third-party review for some ‘ineffective’ teacher ratings

by Geoff Decker, at 9:04 pm

Today’s agreement on teacher evaluation appeals wasn’t a complete loss for the union – just 87 percent of one.

When talks over an evaluation system broke down last year, the conflict centered on who should have the final say on teachers rated ‘ineffective’ under the new evaluation system. The city wanted all appeals to be decided by the chancellor, while the union wanted an independent third party to make the final call.

The subsequent deal that was struck as part of today’s statewide teacher evaluations on paper appears to favor the city. Eighty-seven percent of first-year ineffective rating appeals will still be heard by the chancellor. Second-year ineffective ratings will go straight to a 3020-a termination process that takes into account, but does not depend on, a third-party reviewer’s assessment of a teacher’s quality.

The fact that the union managed to salvage a sliver of its demand – getting the city to agree to refer 13 percent of ratings to a third party – is a small win. Bloomberg and the Department of Education initially walked away from the negotiating table in late December and refused to return until the union gave in to all of their demands.

In an interview today, Mulgrew said he was content with winning the 13 percent figure, which he said was based on the proportion of “unsatisfactory” ratings that were overturned before Bloomberg took office. In a statement, he called the deal “the kind of independent, third party component that the UFT has been seeking.”

This afternoon, city officials offered more details on the agreement, which won’t go into effect until the union and city officially settle on a complete evaluation system. Today, Mulgrew repeatedly indicated that he would not cooperate with the city further on negotiations if they continue to move forward on plans to close and reopen 33 schools.

“I will put every legal remedy on the table and we will do everything in our power,” he told GothamSchools today.

Under the agreement, the union has the option to challenge and refer 13 percent of first-year ineffective ratings to a panel of third-party reviewers. City lawyers said the union would be limited to teachers whose low rating might have stemmed from “harassment” by their principal.

Another set of third-party reviewers, called “validators,” will be assigned to all teachers whose first ineffective ratings are upheld. A “teacher improvement plan” will be created for the teachers and the validators will monitor them over the course of the second school year.

Whether the validators’ assessment of each teacher’s performance matches the principal’s will be crucial if the teacher receives a second low rating. Currently, to the city’s chagrin, the burden of proof in 3020-a termination proceedings is on the city, meaning that lawyers must convince a third party that a teacher is incompetent and should be fired. Under the new agreement, the city will still bear the burden of proof if the validator doesn’t agree with the city’s rating. But if a validator has supported the principal’s low rating, the teacher will have to prove she is not incompetent in order to keep her job — stripping her of a protection the city says has made it nearly impossible to fire weak teachers.

The validator role is modeled after a similar position in New Haven, Conn., where the teacher evaluation system has been cited as a model. UFT Secretary Michael Mendel said tonight that the emergence of the role in negotiations was key to bringing together the agreement.

“The independent validator we believe was a huge win for our members,” Mendel said.

City officials envision that the validator positions would be filled by “master teachers” and experienced evaluators who would be hired as vendors working with the Department of Education. Although city officials said they would like to work with the union to pick the vendors jointly, they added that the UFT would not have the final say. That decision would be made by the State Education Department.

“It’s the only thing we can do to ensure fairness,” Mulgrew said of the need for the independent evaluators.

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  • Marty

    There’s no union anymore.  Can we start referring to it as a “professional association”?

  • Blah

    Is there a way I can get a refund back on my union dues?   I wish NYS were a “Right to Work” state.

  • Anonymous

    It’s a bit late for me, and I had a long day.  Did I just read this correctly?   Know the dust has to settle on this one, but this makes it clear that ONLY 13 percent of ineffective ratings will be viewed by an independent evaluator and in the case of 87 percent of ineffective ratings the Chancellor has the final say.  Are you kidding me Mulgrew?  You are kidding me with this deal you struck at 5:30 in the morning right?

  • Oldsneakers_2000

    Gotham Schools bad edit on the Decker article. The 13% is for the panel of 3. 100% get the validators in the second year. It is a good thing reporters don’t get rated.

  • Pogue

    “Sliver” is an interesting word.

    Teachers’ rights have shrunken to a sliver.

    Teacher respect is less than a sliver.

    Teacher raises haven’t been a sliver in a long time.

    I am ashamed of my union…again.
     

  • Invictus

    I just don’t see how the faction that controls the UFT will be able to sell to its membership that they did what was possible.  Primary and Middle School teachers, where the Union is the strongest will be the people that will first be affect by this “sell out” deal.  So, it seems to me that the Union might fall apart.  They truly have sold the hand that feeds it, without care nor concern.  

  • Julia Alvarez

    This means teachers get support, feedback, objectivity, and still have an appeals opportunity through an expedited 3020a process if they really feel unfairly treated.  Seems like a rational solution to me.  In negotiations the union is representing the profession, in due process it is the individual.  I think Mulgrew and the Governor did well on this!

  • Invictus

    The top ten lies in NYCEd speak:

    1-You will get “support”
    2-You will get “feed…(a big something) in your “BACK.”
    3-You will get an “objective” treatment from me, someone who is “objective.”

    Recommendation:  get away as fast as you can from someone who calls him/herself “objective.”

  • Gdecker

    Oldsneakers_2000 – There are two different levels on which teachers can appeal.  The first is an appeal of annual ratings. That’s where 13% of ‘ineffective’ teachers get the third-party reviewer in year one, and where 0% get it in year two. 

    The validators won’t have any say in appealing ‘ineffective’ ratings. They are purely involved in the final 3020a termination process. But remember, as I wrote, the validators shouldn’t be thought off as nearly as independent. They will be hand-picked by the DOE and SED with limited union input.  

  • Clay

    I have faith in Mulgrew. In this current climate of persistent teacher bashing he managed to negotiate a fair deal. Kudos!

    I hope there will be consequences when certain Leadership Academy troglodytes are found guilty of harrasment.

  • Oldsneakers_2000

    Paragraph # 1. That is not exactly what you wrote.

    Paragraph # 2. I am not sure you are correct about the validator selection. The way I read it from the traditional press is that the union will have equal say as to the validator selection.

  • Indigo112

    Wow! I f-ing hate the UFT. This is the worst deal ever!!!!! End your COPE now.

  • Philip Nobile

    We always knew Mulgrew was no Joe Hill, but did he have to do a full Judas on evaluations … for a measly 13 percent?    
     

  • Vote NO!

     
    Under  this  system  95%  of  current  NYC  teachers  will  no  longer  be  teaching  in  NYC  by  2020.  There  is  no  way  any  urban  teacher  will  be  able  to  avoid  the  “ineffective”  ratings  when  test  scores  play  such  a large  role  in  the  evaluation.  I  can’t  believe  the  unions  capitulated  on  the  points  that   the  court  ruled  in  their  favor.

  • Invictus

    So, only 13 out of 100 of these Troglos will be prosecuted and afterwards, they will be given a slap in their wrist and be reassigned to another school, to continue wrecking havoc.  Sometimes we are very naive.  

  • Gdecker

    Oldsneakers – I see what you’re saying now. This was an oversight – the wrong edit made it into our “first” edition. I’ve updated and am sorry for the error. 

  • Guest

    That’s a really silly comment.  THe UFT may have many many issues, but the UFT is much better than any “Right -not to- work” state.

  • Guest

    If I get an ineffective i go to court.  A real court.  I know enough of what goes on in my school and can prove all the games the administrators play.  Keep all your records.  ALL OF THEM.  Note all the important, but small things.

  • Clay

    That doesn’t make sense to me. Stop your COPE contributions? So we can have a President Romney or Santorum?

    Seems like cutting off your own nose.

  • Blah

    Are you serious? Do you work for Mulgrew?  Every teacher I spoke to tonight is appalled at this “agreement”.  If Mulgrew feels this is right, put it to a vote by the membership.  Hey, it’s changing our lives–not HIS!

  • Blah

    The UFT has betrayed its membership.  This is not a silly comment.  Michael Mulgrew is ruling like Bloomberg.  Put this up for a vote by the membership. This basically changes tenure and totally abrogates many clauses in our contract……
    Maybe the UFT would care more about its membership if we had the right not to pay dues.

  • Marty

    I guess the principals were more militant than the UFT on this one.  At least the ones who signed the petition.

  • Marty

    I was thinking the same thing.  Where else can you have the chance to prove that the data is unreliable?

  • bee

    NYC lawyers will be raking in the DOE.

  • Pogue

     How much worse could they be for teachers than the Republican President we have now?

    Who currently owns NCLB and Race to the Top?

    Education policies of the last 11 years have broken many a teacher’s nose.

  • Sold Out

    No appeal in the world is going to help a teacher who is rated ineffective due to test scores. The UFT sold out it’s members for good. I find it insulting that in the UFT email today that there was NO MENTION AT ALL about the 40% use of test scores that will be the cause of massive firings.

  • Nycdoenuts

    That faction’s membership now consists of retirees and members from it’s own faction. And, of course, they won’t have to sell a thing to the DA, who votes whatever Unity says anyway.

  • Nycdoenuts

    This is from Mulgrew’s letter to members last night (which is based largely on the press release):
    “A teacher who has an ineffective rating the following year will receive an independent validator. (The person is chosen through a joint process and will not be a UFT or DOE employee.) The independent evaluator will observe the teacher at least three times during the school year and issue a report with his or her rating of the teacher.”

    I read ‘the following year’ as the second year. Meaning teachers receiving a second ineffective will be assigned an independent evaluator…who will then ‘ observe the teacher at least three times’ in what would have to be the third year.

    That would mean three years, then straight to the 3020, not two.

    Granted, there is more confusion about this agreement than clarity, but based on Mulgrew’s letter to members, it looks like a three year timeline, not two.

  • nuff said

    Unintended consequences of 40% rule–Gone will be the Rube Goldberg projects, baking soda and vinegar rockets, science projects about space and time, investigations of myths and legends (Atlantis, aliens,time warps, black holes)—ther will no longer be time for other than drill and fill——-sad

  • nuff said

    Of course if so much is hanging on test scores ALL Teachers should get each and every childs base score and the score required on future tests to meet highly effective rating on “THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL” in September——-You can’t meet a target if it is not fixed and immovable————-

  • I noticed that…

    Concerns:  How many principals are truly qualified to observe teachers?  Will the union provide more protection to chapter leaders from abusive, corrupt administrators? Will there be a new evaluation system for social workers, guidance counselors, secretaries, and other UFT members based on data/VAM?  What mechanism will be in place for those students who are constantly absent (not enough attendance teachers), who are emotionally unstable (not enough social workers), who may have an absent parent (incarcerated), who have disciplinary problems (not enough deans) and who refuse to take the regents (absent constantly for these exams) so teachers’ rating based on these 40% assessments will be fair instead of punitive? 

  • Guest

    Black holes aren’t real?!?!

  • reality-based educator

     Whether it’s Barack Obama bringing you to neo-feudalism at 80 MPH or Mitt Romney bringing you there at 100 MPH, you’re still getting to the same place.

    Currently for education that means a school system where tests trump everything else and a pathological president and his stooge Ed Sec say they want teachers to stop teaching to the test even as they force teachers to teach to the test by tying teacher evals (and if the new Obama budget is to believed – teacher pay) to the tests.

    Sorry – Mitt Romney wouldn’t make an ounce of difference to Ed Policy from Obama.

    There’s a reason why Newt Gingrich, Jeb Bush and Arne Duncan all pal around at Bush’s education conferences – it’s because there on the same side of the corporate education reform movement.

    Unfortunately there are STILL teachers who do not see Obama is THE problem in education today.

    Wanna know why you now have your evals tied to test scores.

    It’s because of Obama and RttT.

  • Guest

    Pogue — there are people who are nit teachers. nice demonstration that teachers put their career interests above everything else though.

  • Guest

    I doubt that.

  • Curious

    GothamSchools ought to post an article stressing that the final ratings of
    principals, assistant principals, teachers, and other pedagogical staff members
    have always been available under the Freedom of Information Law.
     
    Apparently, a number of people didn’t catch on to the fact that the link in the second paragraph of the following
    article was to a list of ratings of named principals:

    http://gothamschools.org/2011/04/14/linked-to-test-scores-principal-ratings-took-a-hit-last-year

    Will the ratings of pedagogues reflect reality under the new system?

    Did such ratings reflect reality under the old system?

  • Michael Fiorillo

    Reports state that if an “independent evaluator” (that’s a hot one, as these vendors will be chosen by an SED that is led by the former head of a non-union charter chain) agrees with a principal’s rating a teacher ineffective, then the burden of proof shifts to the teacher.

    Does that mean that that the union will no longer provide resources or representation for that teacher, and they are left completely on their own?

  • Steve

    I am somewhat confused.  I’ve read and seen a sliding scale- 0-40 is Ineffective, 40-65 is developing, 65-90 is effective, above that is highly effective.  How are these grades determined?  40% is tests, but is it a certain amount of students that need to pass a regents that if you don’t hit you don’t attain that 40% to add to your score?  Do you only have to show progress in your scores each time they take them?  Does this take into account your last two years or does it start next year? How does a Global teacher justify passing rates if he doesn’t teach every student or teaches a group of kids one year but another teacher has them the next?  (I am a 2nd year teacher and would just like to know what I am up against). Any help would be greatly appreciated!

    Thanks guys

  • http://twitter.com/leoniehaimson leonie haimson

    the new percentiles acc. to the Gov’s press release is

    Ineffective: 0 – 64
    Developing: 65 – 74

    Effective: 75 – 90

    Highly Effective: 91 – 100 

    http://www.governor.ny.gov/press/02162012teacherevaluations

  • Steve

    Right, I understand that, I copied it wrong, any help on the other things?

  • Nycdoenuts

    There is a lot that is confusing’ about the law, but I’m actually pretty confident about this:
    For city teachers, it’s going to be 20% state tests (our percentage is based on a target that will be set by the state (which sounds like a VAM formula that the state will develop for every subject)) and 20% from the city. How that will work, no one quite knows. You should see (i think) Leonie’s bog. Her piece from yesterday about possible NYC scenarios is a good place to start.

  • Janlee1

    So now 9 year olds who, don’t care, don’t their homework, will choose any answer to be done with things and have parents who don’t give a darn, will now determine if teachers have a job??????????????? Outrageous!!! Here the come the lawsuits!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Stevekteach

    Thanks. Where can I find that blog? So all this data should start next school year and not this?

  • JEFF S

    After reading whatever has been made available, and listening to his Excellency Emperor Michael I on the radio this morning gloating, it has become more apparent that the UFT has thrown its members under the bus.  If turnaround is allowed to happen, it will just go to show how impotent the UFT has become.  Evidently on the orders of Randi Weingarten, the UFT has now thrown its members to fend for themselves (imagine they will only represent 13% of so called  ineffective teachers). 

  • Bemused

    This is a typical position taken by truly incompetent teachers. “I can’t teach and don’t want anything but a paycheck but my principal is a communist/heretic/ anything else I can think of to deflect guilt from me”

  • Nycdoenuts

    Blah,
    This has been a hanging reality for almost two full years. It was always known that two poor ratings were going to get us fired with this new system and that the standard for receiving a good grade was going to be high. The time to be appalled was two years ago, when the law was being written…and I don’t remember seeing you at any of the activists pancake socials back then.
    This sellout, which happened two years ago, was only finalized today. Against that reality, Julia Alvarez’ comments are right on point. Objective feedback, support by wst is a detailed improvement plan are things we’ve never had. Hope for a fair appeals process is something we haven’t had since the chancellor’s name was …that guy before Klein… This deal may change things terribly for us, but those points are very valid and yout shouldn’t just ignore them.

  • Vote NO!

     ”This is a typical position taken by truly incompetent teachers. “I can’t
    teach and don’t want anything but a paycheck but my principal is a
    communist/heretic/ anything else I can think of to deflect guilt from
    me”

    That  statement  is  fine,  until  you  work  for  one  of ” those  principals.”
    Fortunately  they  aren’t  the  majority.  But   that  is  moot  anyway.  Principals  were  losers  with  this  horrible  law  as  well.  Since  teachers  must  be  rated ” ineffective”  if  students  don’t  improve  on  standardized  exams, a  lot  of  school  based  personnel  decisions  will  be  taken  out  of  the ” principal’s  hands.”

  • S T

    UFT wins???!!!  Keeping Leonie’s report of the rating distribution in mind, it is likely that Bloomberg will get his dream of eliminating half the teachers.
    With this kind of sell-out characteristic of the UFT’s dominant Unity caucus, is there any wonder that many teachers are mobilizing to form a new caucus to challenge its reign of ineptitude? 200 met already in a preliminary conference on February 4.  Keep an eye online for State of the Union, Part II. Join us in March to launch a caucus to challenge the sell-out policies to the tyrany of Cuomo, Bloomberg and Duncan.

  • Philip Nobile

    You are so right. The Unity Caucus must be destroyed along with its un-Jeffersonian proclivities. Consider Randi’s and Mulgrew’s  total censorship of New York Teacher, the latter’s firing of honest reporter Jim Callaghan, Mendel’s arrogant closing of the Executive Committee’s “open mike,” Leo Casey’s suppression of dissenting voices on Edwize, the rigging of the DA’s question period, etc. Unity isn’t a caucus, it’s cafockted.

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