City Teachers Deserve Decent Evaluation System Now

Original post on The New York Times/WNYC's SchoolBook by Jonathan Schleifer.

Across the country, the debate over how best to evaluate teachers has emerged as the most polarizing education issue in recent memory. Look no further than Chicago, where thousands of teachers are walking the picket line today in part because the local union and the city can’t come to terms on what an evaluation system should look like.

Here in New York City, the lack of meaningful evaluation, while not as dramatic, is just as damaging as 75,000 teachers returned to class last week without a long-promised system to provide them the vital feedback they crave. Teachers, including our 5,000 Educators 4 Excellence members in New York, want to be the best they can be for their students, but how can they improve their craft without a meaningful way of getting feedback?

Jonathan Schleifer is the executive director of Educators 4 Excellence New York.

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