Under education reform, school principals swamped by teacher evaluations

And there are still problems with how the data will be used. For now, many will be judged on school-wide data for reading or math, even if they teach history, art, or physical education – a much-publicized phenomenon that has made the system seem ridiculous in some news stories.

“No one wants to read the headline about the 12th grade physics teacher being evaluated on 9th grade writing scores,” says Sandi Jacobs, vice president at the National Center for Teacher Quality. “That’s not helpful to the cause.”

Still, Tennessee has the basic support of its teacher’s union – even though president Gera Summerford says she has a lot of issues with the implementation of the reforms.

New York, on the other hand, faces a far deeper crisis.

Earlier this month, it was cited by the Department of Education as one of three Race to the Top states lagging on the promises it made in its application (the other two were Florida and Hawaii), in particular due to its problems with the getting new evaluation system in place.

"New York has a chance to be a national leader or a laggard, and we are only interested in supporting real courage and bold leadership," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a statement, noting that failure to follow through on its commitments "could cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars for improving New York schools."

A cadre of concerned principals, more than a quarter of all principals statewide, has signed an open letter questioning the wisdom of basing so much on test scores and rushing so quickly.

“I believe in testing. But to use the tests the way they’re being used by the state I don’t think will improve education,” says Katie Zahedi, principal of the Linden Avenue Middle School in Red Hook, New York. She worries that the system will discourage teachers from taking on more challenging students and that it will crowd out any instruction not directly tied to the test.

Chris Brewer, a principal at the rural Morrisville-Eaton Middle High School in Morrisville, N.Y., agrees – and says that the one silver lining has been that opposition over the evaluations has brought together the administration and the teachers’ union in opposition.

At the training he attended on conducting observations in the new system, Mr. Brewer says he was shown a video of an airplane being built in the sky – an analogy for the figure-it-out-as-you-go process educators are now in.

“At the very end, it shows a little kid on this airplane looking out and smiling,” he says.

“But this system has not been tested, has not been tried. I’m not willing to put my kid on board this plane.”

But supporters of the new evaluations say that kids are just who they do care about.

“The status quo in American public education for decades and decades has put all the risk on the students,” says Bill Sanders, a retired University of Tennessee professor and senior research fellow at the SAS Institute.  “What we’re talking about now from a policy point of view is how do we balance the risk.”

At the Department of Education, Jupp, for many years a classroom teacher himself, is sympathetic to the fears of teachers and principals like those in New York, and believes their concerns should be taken seriously – but says they need to give the reforms more of a chance.

One thing he’s learned from years of pushing big changes, he says, is that “your worst fears don’t necessarily occur.” 

“I don’t think it’s going to be pain-free to move from one era to the next, but I do think it’s a great opportunity for us as a profession.” 

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