When it comes to evaluating teachers across New York, we side with what the state School Boards Association executive director had to say.
Timothy Kremer released his statement last week after state lawmakers struck a deal regarding disclosure of teacher evaluations. While not perfect, the legislation keeps an unprecedented amount of data about teacher performance available to the public, especially parents.
Here is Kremer's statement:
"State lawmakers had two choices: Keep the status quo of allowing full public disclosure of the names of teachers and principals along with their evaluations, or make an individual teacher's overall rating score available only to parents.
"We believe they struck the right balance in enabling parents to know the quality ratings and composite effectiveness scores of their children's teachers, and giving the general public access to teacher ratings and scores by school building.
"Teachers and principals are entitled to some level of confidentiality, but parents have an undisputed right to know how well their child's teacher is performing.
"Let's hope this is a workable solution. Now, let's focus our attention on job number one: improving student learning."
