The nation’s education chief yesterday said states can seek waivers to shield poorly performing teachers from the ramifications of new evaluations for a full year.
US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s announcement came after heavy lobbying — from American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten — to delay plans by New York and other states to hold teachers accountable to higher standards known as Common Core.
In a recent speech in the city, Weingarten — the former local teachers union president — singled out New York state for wrongly testing kids on the higher standards this year before rolling out a related curriculum.
She said judging teachers based in part on those test scores would be unfair.
State education officials insisted waivers wouldn’t have any local effect, because the new evaluation system is written into state law.
But Duncan’s list of states eligible to request a waiver includes New York.
“The Department will consider . . . allowing states up to one additional year before using their new evaluation systems,” Duncan wrote.
The city Department of Education did not immediately respond to a request for comment.