Teachers (Photo credit: iwannt)
The NY State Education Department has issued GUIDANCE ON NEW YORK STATE’S ANNUAL PROFESSIONAL PERFORMANCE REVIEW FOR TEACHERS AND PRINCIPALS TO IMPLEMENT EDUCATION LAW §3012-c AND THE COMMISSIONER’S REGULATIONS.
This is the detailed explanation of how Race to the Top bribes have caused the state to assess teachers based on, among a very few other things, student performance on standardized tests. Most of it talks about ELA and Math teachers in grades 4-8 because those subject are the ones for which there are currently standardized exams, as faulty as they are (I’m sure you’ve heard of the pineapple problem; the multiple choice math questions, one with two right answers and the other with none).
Teachers will also be assessed by their principal as to whether they have met Student Learning Objectives. All teachers, except pre-K teachers are included, whether or not they teach subjects covered by standardized exams.
There’s a complex explanation of how the percentages of the influence on student learning any one teacher has will be computed. Examples of the math involved in that are not likely to show up on state tests because I doubt whether most mathematicians would understand it.
The document makes very clear that “School librarians and career and technical teachers are teachers in the classroom teaching service and are, therefore, subject to the new law beginning in the 2012-2013 school year.” (page 17)
Education On The Plate 
Clarifies , indeed. Reminds me of the old adage “If you can’t dazzle em with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.”
Imagine if someone could actually write in plain English what they expected to teachers to do. Probably do more than all the RTT money.
Thanks for the post.
And just as Common Core standards are coming into play, my school has decided to NOT have a scheduled library time. We can fit in too study halls a day, but scheduling Sustained Silent Reading was too difficult. Now I’ll have to scramble to see how I can best see all of the students in order to deliver the state standards. Oh, yeah. And get books to children, which is actually not anywhere in my job description!