Monday, June 03, 2013

Hurtful Blow

 

Science teachers are worried, and rightly so. Students who don't complete the required number of labs are not permitted to take the regents. This missing labs cause a zero to be averaged into a teacher's statistics and might cause an effective teacher to be rated ineffective.

The state is saying the teachers have it wrong.   If students miss labs through no fault of the teacher, the teacher will not be penalized.  Each case will be judged on an individual basis by the teacher's supervisor.

I say teachers really need to be worried.  I know a supervisor who held teachers accountable for student's attendance.  Recently, a teacher in that department had issues with a boy's attendance.  Although she called the home numerous times and reported the issue to guidance, he did not show up.  In fact, he missed most classes.  The AP wanted to put a letter in her file condemning her failure to get him to attend class.  Luckily a good chapter leader intervened and this did not happen. 

Hopefully some court will decide these evaluations are illegal and should be struck down.

(article in Newsday--sorry, I can't post article, Newsday doesn't share with non subscribers)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

There are so many open questions about this evaluation system. How many teachers will now want to teach students with special needs? How will teachers whose students do not take specialized exams be rated against their peers of students who do take exams? Having students evaluate teachers in inappropriate. How will AP's be rated? and on and on and on....