Evolving Evals

Could be a big day on the ongoing evaluation conversation in New York.   In a few years we’ve gone from outright data bans and firewalls in New York and then stuff like this to a conversation about how to do this responsibly.  Regardless of how it turns out, underneath all the noise and ridiculousness, progress is happening.

Update:  No deal?

8 Replies to “Evolving Evals”

  1. So, no one will be held up to ridicule for thinking that publishing the scores was somehow a great idea. When a teacher makes a mistake it is horrendous and worthy of public humiliation. But when a policy expert makes a boneheaded judgement error it is called the “price of innovation.”

    This kind of double standard is simply unsustainable. It cannot lead to any kind of healthy outcome.

  2. Good point, Bill
    Nice obsevration, Linda.

    The bag of tricks that the Professional Education Reform Movement must be nearly empty.
    What will we read or hear 5 years from now when VAM and publishing “evaluations” didn’t lead to all students scoring advanced on the state tests?
    I’ll wager a gimlet at the Irish Channel in Crofton, MD that it won’t “Sorry, we were wrong.”

  3. Cuomo: “Nothing that we have left, frankly is that urgent that it can’t take more time,” said Cuomo. “And frankly, wouldn’t be better with more time.”
    So, what about the kids come this fall( and really, this next school year)?
    They will be saddled with a wretched teacher because Cuomo didn’t give it his all?

  4. Regarding the screw ups on tests, NYCDOE said”
    City officials said the exams were not high-stakes and not required for minimum graduation requirements.
    Needless to say, the officials were wrong about them being high stakes.
    But, ignorance of facts is the hallmark of PERM.

  5. Cuomo: Transparency for others (esp. teachers) Secrecy for Me.

    ALBANY — Aides communicate with untraceable messages sent from BlackBerry to BlackBerry. Nothing delicate is shared using e-mail. And in-boxes are regularly wiped clean.

    When he ran for office, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo vowed to operate the most transparent administration in New York State history. And his aides argue that he has: they say that their communication methods differ little from those of other elected officials, and that Mr. Cuomo will preserve more documents than any of his recent predecessors.

    But while Mr. Cuomo has taken steps to improve citizen access to the State Capitol, literally as well as digitally, he and his aides have also set up an executive chamber that prides itself on leaving few footprints.

    “It communicates a culture of — I don’t know if paranoia is the right word; maybe it’s control,” said Bill Samuels, a Democratic activist and the founder of the New Roosevelt Initiative, a government-reform group. “But it’s not healthy long-term.”

    The Cuomo administration’s sensitivity to sunlight is well known. Aides in the governor’s office have been warned about discussing work matters at Albany haunts. On one occasion, Mr. Cuomo’s spokesman worried publicly that someone was rummaging through the office’s trash. And the administration has been aggressive in redacting documents before sharing them with the public; in June, when it turned over months of Mr. Cuomo’s schedules to The New York Times, even the daily weather forecast was blacked out. (The office has since pledged to release the forecasts.)

    Of course, this is not surprising.

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