New York State Governor Kathy Hochul has signed a bill that aims to reform the Annual Professional Performance Review system. As per NYSUIT, the current system evaluates educators based on student performance measures on grades 3-8 English language arts, math assessments, and an overall general rubric.
According to Adam Urbanski, the president of the Rochester Teacher’s Association, the new system for evaluating teachers will be a more effective method.
According to Urbanski, a system that is both instructive and tailored to the individual needs of teachers would be ideal. He suggests that such a system could help teachers improve their skills without having to conform to a one-size-fits-all approach.
According to him, this enables local control of the system, rather than being under the jurisdiction of the state government.
According to the speaker, if a state imposes a uniform system, they fail to understand the unique needs and characteristics of their district, teachers, and students. He believes that local negotiation allows for a more tailored and effective approach to education. This enables them to create a rigorous, yet respectful system that promotes the growth and development of both teaching and teachers.
According to Urbanski, our local education system will receive significant benefits from this.
According to him, the city of Rochester and public schools can revert back to the evaluation system they had 15 years ago, which involved the participation of knowledgeable fellow teachers and outstanding practitioners, in addition to the supervisors. This change is necessary since the present evaluation process is predominantly carried out by non-classroom personnel, whereas fellow practitioners are better equipped to evaluate a teacher’s performance.