In 2010, legislation was enacted (Chapter 103 of the Laws of 2010), prescribing
changes to the annual performance evaluation of all teachers and principals.
The requirement does not apply to teaching assistants, teacher aides or
pupil personnel titles.
Under the law, school districts and BOCES are required to conduct an Annual
Professional Performance Review (APPR) for each teacher and principal, resulting
in a rating of “highly effective,” “effective,” “developing,” or “ineffective.”
The 2015-16 state budget included provisions that substantially altered the
APPR system, including greater reliance on state standardized tests. NYSUT
went to court to challenge the State Education Commissioner’s regulations and
advocated strongly for legislative changes. In Fall 2015, increased resistance
to the poor implementation and improper use of state assessments associated
with the Common Core Learning Standards led Gov. Cuomo to create a task
force charged with making recommendations for the state’s standards, curriculum
and assessments. NYSUT successfully pushed hard for the task force
to recommend decoupling the consequences of state assessments from APPR
until a new system could be phased in.
In December 2015, the Board of Regents voted to implement a four-year
moratorium on the consequences of using the state’s
grades 3-8 ELA and math assessment in APPR, while
the State Education Department works on revising
the standards and transitioning to a new vendor
for the state assessments. The Regents recognize
they must do this work first to restore confidence
in the state assessments and will then consider
changes to the teacher and principal evaluation
system. During this transition period, school
districts and local bargaining units negotiated
transitional APPR plans. Ratings are now determined
using a new matrix that includes teacher observation
and other measures of student performance
to show student growth. Teacher’s growth measures,
derived from the grade 3-8 ELA and math
assessments, will continue to be calculated but
are provided for informational purposes only.
NYSUT continues to oppose the use of state
assessment in APPR, to advocate for a fair appropriate
evaluation system that fosters professional
development, removes the punitive aspects of 3012-d
and returns local control.
What Every NYSUT Member Should Know About...