Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

New teacher evaluations linked to student outcomes approved

  • by Jacqueline Rabe Thomas
  • June 27, 2012
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

The State Board of Education Wednesday approved teacher evaluation requirements that pave the way for up to a third of a teacher’s grade to be linked to how his or her students perform on standardized tests.

The state’s 50,000 teachers will also be evaluated on the results of announced and unannounced classroom observations and anonymous parent or student surveys, if their local school board decides to use surveys to fulfill the feedback requirement.

“This is probably one of the most important things we are going to be doing this year,” Allan B. Taylor, the chairman of the state board, said before the unanimous vote.

While the requirements are being praised by various education groups — including those that represent principals, superintendents and school boards — the state’s largest teachers’ union does not support the evaluations because of their heavy reliance on standardized test scores and surveys.

These new evaluations will begin in 16 pilot districts — which collectively have 5,000 teachers — in the coming school year, and there will be statewide rollout in the 2013-14 school year. The results of these evaluations will influence tenure and dismissal decisions beginning in the 2014-15 school year, which was the centerpiece of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s education reform proposal this year.

Malloy said in a statement that today’s vote “is a significant step forward in the implementation of our education reform program. We look forward to the upcoming pilot of the new system.”

Hopkins

Education board Vice Chairwoman Theresa Hopkins-Staten asked that once a rating is given, what insurances are there that a student is not stuck with a poorly rated teacher all year

Lingering questions

Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor said during Wednesday’s day-long meeting at the state Capitol complex that while he is “proud” that the state has made it to this point, “profound disagreements” and questions remain among key stakeholders.

Some of those questions include whether these evaluations will actually improve education. What happens when there’s a dispute in how much weight to give standardized tests in a teacher’s grade? And, finally, who will pay for all these new requirements?

“We don’t have enough administrative personnel to carry this out [statewide]. We are going to be laying off teachers to carry out these evaluations,” said Joe Cirasuolo, executive director of the state’s superintendents association, who is supportive of these new evaluations but cited cost concerns after the meeting of the panel that forwarded these recommended guidelines to the state board.

For the pilot year, the state legislature has provided $2.5 million so the first districts can begin evaluating their teachers. The source of the money needed in the subsequent years to implement the detailed evaluations and provide the required support to improve struggling teachers remains to be seen.

“This could be a huge budget mandate. The funding for this would have to be raised at the local level if the state deserts the funding,” said Sharon Palmer, president of the state chapter of the American Federation of Teachers.

Many education officials have said that to have the ratings system, but no follow-up support, the evaluations would have all been done in vain.

hartt

“Evaluation and support: That is the spirit and intent of all this,” Pryor said Wednesday. “That is our big task.”

Stephen Wright, a state board member from Trumbull, suggested the board seek a legislative fix to ensure that professional development receive funding since, “that the first thing that’s cut when budgets get tight.” He recommended that the state’s education funding grant be dependent on whether a district provides a sufficient amount of professional development.

Pryor didn’t say whether he would propose such a measure to legislators but noted that the Malloy administration allocated $5 million in the adopted state budget so the education department could offer professional development and help with teacher recruitment for low-performing schools.

Mary Loftus Levine, executive director of the state’s largest teachers’ union, said she’s not sure that will be enough money to provide meaningful professional development, but added that she is reserving judgment.

Weighing standardized tests

Teacher unions have opposed allowing standardized tests to account for up to one-third a teacher’s evaluation. These new evaluations do require teachers and principals to mutually agree on how much standardized tests count and what goals a teacher will be expected to meet throughout the school year. The new guidelines require that standardized test count for at least 22.5 percent.

Levine said while the intention of this “mutually agreed” upon requirement is good, she worried about nontenured teachers being pushed into agreeing that their evaluation be weighted heavily with standardized test results.

“My concerns have not changed,” she said during a break in Wednesday’s meeting.

A looming question remains what will happen when a teacher and principal cannot “mutually agree” on what goes into the teacher’s evaluation. The state board decided to let local boards come up with a procedure to resolve these disagreements, which the state board will have to approve.

Pryor said that a state model will be created for those districts that can’t resolve the impasse.

Will it work?

There was no shortage of optimism Wednesday about these requirements leading to improved student performance.

“I think it’s going to make such an important difference in our schools,” said board member Patricia Luke, from East Hampton.

“The core requirements before you today reflect the best practices and the lessons learned elsewhere,” said Jennifer Alexander, of ConnCAN, an education policy group that advocates for teacher evaluations linked to student performance.

The National Council of Teacher Quality reports that 13 states require teacher evaluations to be tied to student achievement.

But officials at the Connecticut Education Association says there’s no proof the process will lead to increased learning.

“This is going to blow up,” Levine said. “All you have to do is look around the country and see it has a lot of unintended consequences… My fear is that it’s going to drive more people out of the profession.”

The state has arranged for the University of Connecticut’s Center for Education Policy Analysis to evaluate the pilot program.

Casey D. Cobb, the director of UConn’s center, said his team intends to report on the rollout of the evaluations, but not whether the system is improving student outcomes.

“The pilot could be a spot-on system for evaluating teachers. Most likely it’s not and will need to be fine-tuned. That’s where we come in,” Cobb said. “A validity study cannot be done in a year. That’s a much longer study.”

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jacqueline Rabe Thomas

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
The state’s largest COVID vaccine center is up and running — but so far, there’s no formal plan to pay for it.
by Jenna Carlesso and Dave Altimari

State officials say the vaccine rollout is similar to the mass testing plans and hunt for protective equipment last spring.

Pandemic eases, and complicates, legislating
by Mark Pazniokas

The legislature’s Labor and Public Employees Committee co-chairs skipped the masks, but they were very socially distant.

Health issues carried weight on the campaign trail.
by Victoria Knight | Kaiser Health News

Even with the Democrats’ newfound Senate majority, differences in health policy between the party’s moderate and progressive wings will persist.

Trump’s pardons included health care execs behind massive fraud
by Fred Schulte | Kaiser Health News

At the last minute, President Donald Trump granted pardons to several individuals convicted in huge Medicare swindles that prosecutors alleged often harmed or endangered elderly and infirm patients while fleecing taxpayers. “These aren’t just technical financial crimes. These were major, major crimes,” said Louis Saccoccio, chief executive officer of the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association, […]

‘It’s a nightmare:’ A growing number of seniors are unable to book vaccine appointments as problems mount
by Dave Altimari and Jenna Carlesso

The state acknowledged Friday in an email to local health workers that some residents are waiting days for a callback.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion Miguel Cardona, who are you?
by Ann Policelli Cronin

When I ask Connecticut teachers about Miguel Cardona, those who know him or have worked with him say that he is really nice guy who knows what the challenges in our classrooms are, knows how to help teachers to improve their teaching, and respects public schools. All good. But what is his vision for teaching and learning that he will bring to the U.S. Department of Education?

Opinion Connecticut needs a strong two-party system, this Democrat says
by Edward Marcus

J.R. Romano’s recent resignation as the state’s Republican Party chair has brought into focus the need for a viable opposition party in Connecticut. It is not healthy politics when everything is totally controlled by one party:  the legislature, the governorship, and most of the major municipalities in our state.

Opinion Connecticut’s $100 million college shell game
by Stephen Adair

The plan to consolidate the 12 community colleges in Connecticut into one college with 12 campuses is called “Students First,” which is ironic because it does not fund students first.  It funds a new administration in a new, statewide bureaucracy. The Board of Regents (BOR) and the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) system office […]

Opinion Inconsistent television captioning is a barrier to equal access
by Jeffrey Bravin and Barbara Cassin

Our world long ago entered the age of the 24-hour news cycle, and a full understanding of the “who, what, when, where and why” of the news is critical for deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing citizens. Yet, Connecticut’s inconsistent quality of television captioning locks our community out of the complete sense of what is happening.

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO