NYSUT: Uphold high standards of tenure process
Statement by NYSUT President Richard C. Iannuzzi
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"NYSUT is on record supporting a rigorous, comprehensive process for granting tenure. Sadly, Chancellor Klein and the state school boards association made it clear today that they are pressing for a cheap, down-and-dirty process, rather than meeting their obligations to uphold the high standards this process deserves.
"Last year, the Legislature and the governor made a commitment to invest additional resources in the state's neediest schools. At the same time, they instituted new accountability measures - measures that NYSUT supports. The new accountability provisions include setting minimum (not maximum) standards statewide for the process of deciding on tenure.
"The current bill language on tenure isn't new; it delineates accountability provisions put into place last year by the Legislature and the governor.
"The intent was to standardize the statewide process by establishing a foundation for tenure determination, with local districts still free to negotiate requirements based on their own community needs.
"As part of tenure determination, teachers can be evaluated on how they use student test scores to adjust and improve instruction as one measure of teacher effectiveness - absolutely critical at a time when testing occurs at every age and grade level.
"Student tests are designed to be diagnostic, to identify students who need extra help and to help teachers plan instruction. These tests were never intended as a blunt instrument to evaluate teachers. In addition to being a use for which they were never designed, such misapplication would penalize educators who take on difficult teaching assignments and those who work in the neediest, most hard-to-staff schools.
"The process set by the Legislature last year also calls for peer review when possible - one of the highest standards available.
"As always, tenure decisions continue to be made at the district level by administrators, superintendents and school boards. In fact, the current bill language broadens the scope of administrative options.
"The standards established by the Legislature are part of the state's multi-year commitment to providing additional resources and quality instruction to close the achievement gap for students in need. The Legislature should be praised for raising the bar and following through on that commitment."
NYSUT represents more than 585,000 teachers, school-related professionals, academic and professional faculty in higher education, professionals in education and health care and retirees. NYSUT is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association and the AFL-CIO.
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UFT President Randi Weingarten on state Legislature's clarification on tenure. "It is troubling that the chancellor, along with superintendents from other parts of the state, argues that this clarification amounts to taking away local control from school districts when in fact it merely reasserts what all parties had agreed last year was a sensible means for using test scores in the tenure process. Why the sudden change?"
In the media
WAMC (with audio): The Tenure Process and Education Spending in the New York State Budget. President Richard Iannuzzi and NYSCOSS Executive Director Thomas Rogers join Dr. Alan Chartock April 1 to discuss teacher tenure and the State budget on WAMC's Vox Pop radio show.
WAMC (with audio): Much ado about tenure. "To apply something like the student assessment [to teacher evaluation] is so inappropriate," says Iannuzzi. "It's like taking a car's emissions test and using it to decide whether or not my brakes work."
Times Union: Tenure clash over tests. ""There are serious concerns about using a student diagnostic exam to evaluate teachers," said New York State United Teachers President Richard Iannuzzi, who notes that the tests being used are now designed to test student, not teacher, performance."
Associated Press: School officials claim 'nefarious' effort would make teacher tenure easier. "What I'm reading between the lines here," Iannuzzi said, "is that the chancellor and perhaps the school boards would like is a cheap, quick method for making tenure determinations rather than a strenuous, comprehensive method. That's what applying an inappropriate test does -- it's cheap, quick and dirty."
Buffalo News: State attempt to lessen role of school districts in tenure stirs debate. "To judge teachers by tests that everyone acknowledges have nothing to do with testing a child's critical thinking or creativity is absurd," said Philip Rumore, president of the Buffalo Teachers Federation.
Binghamton Press: Teacher tenure becomes issue in New York budget talks. ""I think all the players in the Legislature understand the issue and really don't see any basis for where school boards and the (New York City) chancellor are coming from other than their need to throw their weight around and push some blunt way of dealing with an important issue," [Iannuzzi] said."
CONTACT
NYSUT Media Relations
800 Troy-Schenectady Road
Latham, NY 12110-2455
(518) 213-6000 ext. 6313
mediarel@nysutmail.org
www.nysut.org
