NYSUT members have a strong presence on the Regents Task Force on Teacher and Principal Effectiveness, which is working under a tight time frame to help define the details in the new educator evaluation system that will be phased in starting next September.
The task force, which will issue recommendations to the Regents before the end of this school year, has a membership of one-third teachers, one-third principals and one-third other stakeholders.
NYSUT leaders on the panel are pictured above with union staffers on the State Education Department steps before a recent meeting. NYSUT members include: NYSUT Vice President Maria Neira; United Federation of Teachers' Aminda Gentile, Michael Mendel and Janella Hinds; Utica TA's Penny VanDusen, Plattsburgh TA's Karen Rock, Syosset TA's Jeff Rozran, Central Islip TA's Dafny Irizarry, Avon TA's Lori Rider and Amsterdam TA's Stacey Caruso-Sharpe.
"The task force will give practitioners a strong voice in defining student growth, multiple measures, the role of environmental factors in student learning and key elements of a fair evaluation system," said NYSUT Vice President Maria Neira. "While there are timelines, our goal is to have thoughtful deliberation. We need to keep our eye on the future so that five years from now, we have a research-based evaluation system that is fair to teachers and improves student learning."