A battle over evaluating educators is threatening to sink an unusually buoyant collaborative streak between the teachers union and city officials.
United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten promised a full-arsenal fight if the Department of Education attempts to judge individual teachers based on their students’ test scores.
Education officials acknowledged this week that they’ve started a pilot program in 140 schools that, if successful, would enable administrators to eliminate factors such as class size and student behavior in comparing the effectiveness of teachers.
“There are so many educational and technical flaws in this concept that I find it shocking that the school system is even considering it,” Weingarten said.
Deputy Chancellor Chris Cerf said the program, which involves 2,500 teachers, uses a complex algorithm to hold more than a dozen classroom variables constant.
That allows administrators to compare teachers with similar experience and who serve similar student populations based on their students’ state reading- and math-exam results.
Cerf said education officials did not agree with Weingarten’s contention that the contract would need to be revised in order to change the evaluation system.