RESOLUTION: QUANTIFICATION OF TEACHER EVALUATION

Whereas, teachers in NY State are now bound by an evaluation system which has been created by state law, and

Whereas, NYSUT has been able, through political and legal steps, to assure that large parts of this system are subject to collective bargaining, and

Whereas, the system ties teacher evaluation to a numerical scale based on a combination of student standardized test scores, local assessments, and locally bargained measures, and

Whereas, we, as teachers and school professionals, strongly believe that teaching is an unquantifiable art rather than a measurable science, and

Whereas, we also believe that attempts to quantify our ratings will lead to divisiveness, inaccuracy, misplaced emphasis on standardized testing at the expense of a well rounded education, and the mislabeling of educational professionals, and

Whereas, we fully accept that we, as professionals, are and ought to be accountable for our professional performance, but that that performance must be measured in a reasonable and humanistic manner by trained and competent supervisors, be it

Resolved, that NYSUT use its political, legislative, legal, and public relations resources to end the numerical quantification of teacher evaluation in New York State.