Ever the excellent teacher, Rochester's Rich Ognibene offered news reporters a compelling analogy to explain why he and seven current and former New York State Teachers of the Year are saddened and frustrated over the Board of Regents' decision to allow up to 40 percent of a teacher's evaluation to be based on their students' state standardized test scores.
"Our nation has an obesity epidemic. Imagine a law that required all doctors in New York to report the weight of their patients every year. Any doctor with a large number of overweight patients would be deemed 'ineffective' and given lower reimbursements. Most people would say this was unfair. Doctors can't control who comes into their office. And weight is related to very complex factors like income, culture and access to healthy food. Even the best doctor might not be able to change that particular number on a patient's chart. So the law would punish doctors who work with the neediest patients ..."
While it sounds like a far-fetched scenario, that's essentially what the State Board of Regents recent action would lead to, under regulations that offer districts and local unions the option of negotiating the use of student results on standardized state tests to account for 40 percent of a teacher's annual evaluation.
Ognibene stood on the steps of the State Education Department on Monday with current Teacher of the Year Jeff Peneston of Liverpool and former Teacher of the Year Patricia Jordan of Long Island. They delivered a letter to Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch and State Education Department Commissioner-designate John King, urging them to reconsider last week's approval. The Teachers of the Year thanked NYSUT and, in particular, Vice President Maria Neira for continuing to advocate for a fair, comprehensive and transparent evaluation process with input from practitioners.