ALBANY, N.Y. May 19, 2015 - New York State United Teachers today applauded the state Assembly for taking swift action in addressing major flaws with the teacher-principal evaluation system and the concerns of students, parents and educators about the state’s over-reliance on standardized testing.
The union strongly supports the legislation, expected to pass the Assembly this afternoon, that, among other things, allows school districts to use locally agreed-upon measures of student achievement as part of the evaluation system; gives parents of the right to opt their children out of standardized tests; reduces the emphasis on those tests; and decouples evaluations from budgeted state aid increases.
“We commend the Assembly and its leadership for taking a strong step toward getting our schools back to what’s really important: teaching and learning,” said NYSUT President Karen E. Magee. “This bill, while not perfect, clearly begins meeting the concerns of students, parents and educators.”
NYSUT Executive Vice President Andrew Pallotta added: “This is a strong bill that will address many of the problems with APPR and testing. We will now work with the state Senate to address these important issues.”
New York State United Teachers is a statewide union with more than 600,000 members in education, human services and health care. NYSUT is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association and the AFL-CIO.
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