Coalition of six school district reps is developing standards for what teachers should know and be able to do.
View full sizeU.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan (right) speaks during a visit Monday to NYSUT headquarters in Latham, near Albany. Duncan visited the largest the stateâs largest union days after New York was awarded nearly $700 million in Race to the Top funds. A round table discussion was held as school administrators from around the state talked about their concerns on education. Listening to Duncan make a point is NYSUT President Richard Iannuzzi. Latham, NY -- U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan today told a coalition of New York State educators who are developing a new teacher evaluation model that they are working in a national spotlight.
The coalition of labor and management represented six school districts, including North Syracuse.
District Superintendent Jerome Melvin, North Syracuse Education Association President John Kuryla and recent past association President Sylvia Matousek were among the group to meet with Duncan for about an hour at the offices of New York State United Teachers in Latham, outside Albany.
“As you guys know, the implications aren’t just for your state or your district, but the country,” Duncan said.
Duncan and the Obama Administration are pushing to have states hold teachers and principals more accountable for student performance, and states, including New York, are doing that, partly to try to win federal “Race to the Top” money.
New York state just received nearly $700 million from Race to the Top.
The other districts in the coalition are Albany, Plattsburgh, Hempstead, Marlboro and Newburgh. The coalition is a project of New York State United Teachers, paid for by grants from the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association. The group includes teachers administrators.
Education faces two challenges, Duncan said during his discussion with the coalition. One is lack of funding and the other is lack of courage to make change, he said. “And what this group is exhibiting is amazing courage,” he said.
View full sizeNorth Syracuse School District Superintendent Dr. Jerome Melvin (left) makes a point during a discussion on educational issues with U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan and representatives of five other school districts. Listening are North Syracuse NYSUT President John Kuryla (center) and former President Sylvia Matousek. Part of the group’s task is to develop a way to tie teacher evaluations to student achievement on tests, which has traditionally been a thorny issue. Melvin said he thinks Duncan called the coalition courageous because it took on that issue before the state Education Department came out with its new evaluation rules. They require that teachers be evaluated based, in part, on student achievement. That requirement is being phased in across the state, depending on when teacher contracts expire.
NYSUT negotiated with the state to come up with the new evaluation rules, said Matousek, who serves on the state union’s board of directors. NYSUT says the new state rules for teacher evaluations were a major reason why the state just won the Race to the Top money.
Being a part of the coalition will give North Syracuse get a head start on how it will meet the new state rules for teacher evaluation, Melvin said.
The coalition’s goal is to produce a model for evaluations that hold teachers accountable and help them improve so that students will do better, too. It also is working to develop a peer assistance review process, which Melvin said is critically important. That’s when highly skilled teachers work with other teachers to help them improve. The coalition is developing standards for what teachers should know and be able to do.
Matousek thanked Duncan for his support and said it will be critical to the coalition as it moves its model out across the state.
Duncan told the group he thinks the nation has an opportunity it hasn’t had in two decades for a breakthrough in public education and if it doesn’t happen now, it won’t happen for another couple of decades. “I couldn’t be more proud of this collective courage,” he said.