New APPR law returns local control to teacher evaluations

YSUT capped off one of its most successful legislative seasons in years thanks to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s approval of many long-sought reforms. Thanks to the tireless advocacy and efforts of our members, along with the support of our allies in the Legislature, issues important to students, educators, families and communities across the state won support.

While the inner workings of the state Legislature might seem far removed, NYSUT constantly pushes for new state policies that have real, tangible benefits for our members in their classrooms and their personal lives.

This year, our legislative wins included getting the Final Average Salary calculation dropped from five to three years for Tier 6 members, saving SUNY Downstate Hospital from closure and increasing Foundation Aid by $430 million more than the executive proposal.

But of all the pro-educator, pro-student policies that NYSUT ushered through the legislative process, none carries quite as much weight with educators as the major reforms to the Annual Professional Performance Review, or APPR, system.

The governor signed our bill into law on Friday, June 28, marking the conclusion of a more than decade-long fight to end New York’s flawed APPR system. The previous system, powered by a punitive test-and-punish formula, will now be replaced by evaluations decided at a local level for community needs.

“Today 700,000 NYSUT members are celebrating a victory that will transform classrooms across New York,” said NYSUT President Melinda Person. “This is about restoring the daily joy of teaching and learning, and it is about evaluating our educators like the professionals they are.”

While APPR was enacted in 2010, it was radically altered in the 2015-16 state budget by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. This alteration included a greater reliance on state standardized tests to be used for teacher evaluations, a move that forced many teachers to adopt a “teaching to the test” approach, instead of more holistic instruction.

“If you’re saying that APPR is a tool for teacher growth, then how can an 11th grade English exam tell me what worked or didn’t work for my students,” said former Poughkeepsie Public School Teachers Association President Stephanie Green, who teaches third grade. “How do I get better if my evaluations are based on an 11th grader’s score?” Due to grading scale changes in 2018, only 48 percent of students in Poughkeepsie passed the ELA exam, down from the traditional 70 percent. That sank nearly every teacher’s rating under the HEDI — “highly effective,” “effective,” “developing,” or “ineffective” — scale, and put them at risk of punitive Teacher Improvement Plans or, for untenured teachers, dismissal.

The new APPR system, signed into law by the governor, must be bargained collectively and locally developed, and it doesn’t require student performance measures to be used. The new regulations also must include multiple measures aligned with state teaching and leadership standards. Annual evaluations will no longer be required for tenured teachers — the length of time between evaluations will be decided through bargaining. Untenured teachers will still receive annual reviews. The HEDI system will be replaced with a four-level numbered rating system, with four indicating exemplary performance. Districts will have up to eight years to institute the new evaluation system.

HOW IT HAPPENED

In March, after years of negotiations with education coalition partners and the New York State Education Department, NYSUT President Melinda Person and SED Commissioner Betty Rosa hand-delivered the APPR reform bill to Education Committee Chairs Sen. Shelly Mayer and Assemblymember Michael Benedetto. NYSUT worked collaboratively with the NYS Council of School Superintendents, the NYS School Boards Association, the School Administrators of New York State, the Conference of Big 5 School Districts, and the NYS Parent Teacher Association to rework a system that everyone agreed was broken.

“It was an accountability system focused on accounting, not ability,” said Rosa when the bill was delivered, referring to the overreliance on student performance measures on standardized tests and the state-approved, one-size-fits-all teacher observation rubric. “It’s the feedback, the constructive feedback that helps you become a better professional.”

Beyond delinking test scores from teacher evaluations, the new system also focuses on collaboration between local unions and administrators to come up with an evaluation system that best suits the needs of the local community and best supports the students. “Our teachers welcome fair evaluations and they love feedback on their performance and their practice,” said Person in March. “This will create space for student curiosity and love of learning, and support teachers in becoming better educators, which is ultimately what we want.”