NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A10475
SPONSOR: Nolan TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to state assessments and
teacher evaluations; and to amend chapter 56 of the laws of 2014, amend-
ing the education law relating to providing that standardized test
scores shall not be included on a student's permanent record, in
relation to making certain provisions permanent
PURPOSE:
This bill would amend the annual teacher and principal evaluation system
to eliminate the mandatory use of state assessments to determine a
teacher or principal's evaluation.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill would establish a new subdivision 16 of section
3012-d of the Education Law to make the use of state-created or adminis-
tered tests optional instead of mandatory. This includes all state-
created or administered tests including the grades three through eight
English language arts and mathematics state tests and the high school
Regents examinations. Additionally, it empowers the commissioner to
promulgate regulations for alternative assessments that can be used to
determine a teacher or principal's evaluation in place of the state-
created or administered tests. The selection and use of an assessment in
a teacher or principal's evaluation must be subject to collective
bargaining. School districts would be allowed to continue to use the
system they currently have in place until a new system is negotiated.
Section 2 of the bill modifies subdivision 4 of section 3012-d of the
Education Law to eliminate the use of the state-provided growth model in
a teacher or principal's evaluation. All teachers would be required to
have a student learning objective (SLO) consistent with a goal-setting
process determined or developed by the Commissioner as the first subcom-
ponent for the student performance category.
Section 3 of the bill modifies subdivision 5 of section 3012-d of the
Education Law to eliminate certain rules used to determine a teacher or
principal's overall rating.
Section 4 of the bill modifies subdivision 7 of section 3012-d of the
Education Law to eliminate certain rules used to determine a teacher or
principal's overall rating.
Section 5 of the bill modifies subdivision 10 of section 3012-d of the
Education Law to provide conforming language.
Section 6 of the bill makes permanent provisions prohibiting state-ad-
ministered grades 3 through 8 standardized English language arts or
mathematics assessments scores to be included on a student's record.
Section 7 of the bill provides the effective date as immediately.
JUSTIFICATION:
In 2015, New York State adopted a new annual teacher and principal eval-
uation system that required the use of state-created or administered
assessments as a subcomponent to determine a teacher or principal's
effectiveness. This approach to evaluating a teacher's performance and
student's achievement has created many disparities and has not been
widely accepted by teachers and parents, prompting families to opt out.
This bill seeks to maintain the rigorous standards set for teacher and
principal evaluations, while simultaneously addressing some of the
concerns from parents and educators. By allowing school districts and
teachers, who know their students best, the ability to negotiate whether
they would like to use the standardized tests in teacher or principal
evaluations, this legislation ensures that a more fair and effective
evaluation system for teachers and principals will be established.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This bill will take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10475
IN ASSEMBLY
April 26, 2018
___________
Introduced by M. of A. NOLAN, HEASTIE, MORELLE, PELLEGRINO, JAFFEE --
read once and referred to the Committee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to state assessments and
teacher evaluations; and to amend chapter 56 of the laws of 2014,
amending the education law relating to providing that standardized
test scores shall not be included on a student's permanent record, in
relation to making certain provisions permanent
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 3012-d of the education law is amended by adding a
2 new subdivision 16 to read as follows:
3 16. a. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, rule or regulation
4 to the contrary, the grades three through eight English language arts
5 and mathematics state assessments and all other state-created or admin-
6 istered tests shall not be required to be utilized in any manner to
7 determine a teacher or principal evaluation required by this section.
8 b. The commissioner shall promulgate rules and regulations providing
9 alternative assessments that may be used in grades three through eight
10 instead of all other state-created or administered tests, which shall
11 include all of the assessments that have been approved by the commis-
12 sioner for use in determining transition scores and ratings.
13 c. The selection and use of an assessment in a teacher or principal's
14 evaluation pursuant to paragraphs a and b of this subdivision and subdi-
15 vision four of this section shall be subject to collective bargaining
16 pursuant to article fourteen of the civil service law.
17 d. Notwithstanding any provision of subdivision twelve of this section
18 to the contrary, nothing in this section shall be construed to abrogate
19 any conflicting provisions of any collective bargaining agreement in
20 effect on the date this subdivision takes effect and until the entry
21 into a successor collective bargaining agreement, provided that notwith-
22 standing any other provision of law to the contrary, upon expiration of
23 such term and the entry into a successor collective bargaining agreement
24 the provisions of this subdivision shall apply; and, provided further,
25 however, that any assessments used in determining transition scores and
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15596-02-8
A. 10475 2
1 ratings shall be used in determining scores and ratings pursuant to this
2 section instead of the grades three through eight English language arts
3 and mathematics state assessments until the entry into a successor
4 collective bargaining agreement.
5 § 2. Subparagraphs 1 and 2 of paragraph a of subdivision 4 of section
6 3012-d of the education law, subparagraph 1 as amended by section 3 of
7 subpart C of part B of chapter 20 of the laws of 2015 and subparagraph 2
8 as added by section 2 of subpart E of part EE of chapter 56 of the laws
9 of 2015, are amended to read as follows:
10 (1) For the first subcomponent, [(A) for a teacher whose course ends
11 in a state-created or administered test for which there is a state-pro-
12 vided growth model, such teacher shall have a state-provided growth
13 score based on such model, which shall take into consideration certain
14 student characteristics, as determined by the commissioner, including
15 but not limited to students with disabilities, poverty, English language
16 learner status and prior academic history and which shall identify
17 educators whose students' growth is well above or well below average
18 compared to similar students for a teacher's or principal's students
19 after the certain student characteristics above are taken into account;
20 and (B) for a teacher whose course does not end in a state-created or
21 administered test such teacher] a teacher shall have a student learning
22 objective (SLO) consistent with a goal-setting process determined or
23 developed by the commissioner, that results in a student growth score;
24 provided that, for any teacher whose course ends in a state-created or
25 administered assessment [for which there is no state-provided growth
26 model], such assessment [must] may be used as the underlying assessment
27 for such SLO;
28 (2) For the optional second subcomponent, a district may locally
29 select a second measure in accordance with this subparagraph. Such
30 second measure shall apply in a consistent manner, to the extent practi-
31 cable, across the district and be either: (A) [a second state-provided
32 growth score] based on a state-created or administered test [under
33 clause (A) of subparagraph one of this paragraph], or (B) [a growth
34 score] based on a state-designed supplemental assessment[, calculated
35 using a state-provided or approved growth model]. The optional second
36 subcomponent shall provide options for multiple assessment measures that
37 are aligned to existing classroom and school best practices and take
38 into consideration the recommendations in the testing reduction report
39 as required by section one of subpart F of [the chapter] part EE of
40 chapter fifty-six of the laws of two thousand fifteen which added this
41 section regarding the reduction of unnecessary additional testing.
42 § 3. Subdivision 5 of section 3012-d of the education law, as added by
43 section 2 of subpart E of part EE of chapter 56 of the laws of 2015, is
44 amended to read as follows:
45 5. Rating determination. The overall rating determination shall be
46 determined [according to a methodology] as follows:
47 a. [The following rules shall apply: a teacher or principal who is (1)
48 rated using two subcomponents in the student performance category and
49 receives a rating of ineffective in such category shall be rated inef-
50 fective overall; provided, however, that if the measure used in the
51 second subcomponent is a state-provided growth score on a state-created
52 or administered test pursuant to clause (A) of subparagraph one of para-
53 graph a of subdivision four of this section, a teacher or principal who
54 receives a rating of ineffective in such category shall not be eligible
55 to receive a rating of effective or highly effective overall; (2) rated
56 using only the state measure subcomponent in the student performance
A. 10475 3
1 category and receives a rating of ineffective in such category shall not
2 be eligible to receive a rating of effective or highly effective over-
3 all; and (3) rated ineffective in the teacher observations category
4 shall not be eligible to receive a rating of effective or highly effec-
5 tive overall.
6 b. Except as otherwise provided in paragraph a of this subdivision, a
7 teacher's composite score shall be determined as follows:
8 (1)] If a teacher receives an H in the teacher observation category,
9 and an H in the student performance category, the teacher's composite
10 score shall be H;
11 [(2)] b. If a teacher receives an H in the teacher observation catego-
12 ry, and an E in the student performance category, the teacher's compos-
13 ite score shall be H;
14 [(3)] c. If a teacher receives an H in the teacher observation catego-
15 ry, and a D in the student performance category, the teacher's composite
16 score shall be E;
17 [(4)] d. If a teacher receives an H in the teacher observation catego-
18 ry, and an I in the student performance category, the teacher's compos-
19 ite score shall be D;
20 [(5)] e. If a teacher receives an E in the teacher observation catego-
21 ry, and an H in the student performance category, the teacher's compos-
22 ite score shall be H;
23 [(6)] f. If a teacher receives an E in the teacher observation catego-
24 ry, and an E in the student performance category, the teacher's compos-
25 ite score shall be E;
26 [(7)] g. If a teacher receives an E in the teacher observation catego-
27 ry, and a D in the student performance category, the teacher's composite
28 score shall be E;
29 [(8)] h. If a teacher receives an E in the teacher observation catego-
30 ry, and an I in the student performance category, the teacher's compos-
31 ite score shall be D;
32 [(9)] i. If a teacher receives a D in the teacher observation catego-
33 ry, and an H in the student performance category, the teacher's compos-
34 ite score shall be E;
35 [(10)] j. If a teacher receives a D in the teacher observation catego-
36 ry, and an E in the student performance category, the teacher's compos-
37 ite score shall be E;
38 [(11)] k. If a teacher receives a D in the teacher observation catego-
39 ry, and a D in the student performance category, the teacher's composite
40 score shall be D;
41 [(12)] l. If a teacher receives a D in the teacher observation catego-
42 ry, and an I in the student performance category, the teacher's compos-
43 ite score shall be I;
44 [(13)] m. If a teacher receives an I in the teacher observation cate-
45 gory, and an H in the student performance category, the teacher's
46 composite score shall be D;
47 [(14)] n. If a teacher receives an I in the teacher observation cate-
48 gory, and an E in the student performance category, the teacher's
49 composite score shall be D;
50 [(15)] o. If a teacher receives an I in the teacher observation cate-
51 gory, and a D in the student performance category, the teacher's compos-
52 ite score shall be I;
53 [(16)] p. If a teacher receives an I in the teacher observation cate-
54 gory, and an I in the student performance category, the teacher's
55 composite score shall be I.
A. 10475 4
1 § 4. Subdivision 7 of section 3012-d of the education law, as added by
2 section 2 of subpart E of part EE of chapter 56 of the laws of 2015, is
3 amended to read as follows:
4 7. The commissioner shall ensure that the process by which weights and
5 scoring ranges are assigned to subcomponents and categories is transpar-
6 ent and available to those being rated before the beginning of each
7 school year. Such process must ensure that it is possible for a teacher
8 or principal to obtain any number of points in the applicable scoring
9 ranges, including zero, in each subcomponent. The superintendent,
10 district superintendent or chancellor and the representative of the
11 collective bargaining unit (where one exists) shall certify in the
12 district's plan that the evaluation process shall use the standards for
13 the scoring ranges provided by the commissioner. [Provided, however,
14 that in any event, the following rules shall apply: a teacher or princi-
15 pal who is:
16 a. rated using two subcomponents in the student performance category
17 and receives a rating of ineffective in such category shall be rated
18 ineffective overall, except that if the measure used in the second
19 subcomponent is a second state-provided growth score on a state-adminis-
20 tered or sponsored test pursuant to clause (A) of subparagraph one of
21 paragraph a of subdivision four of this section, a teacher or principal
22 that receives a rating of ineffective in such category shall not be
23 eligible to receive a rating of effective or highly effective overall;
24 b. rated using only the state measure subcomponent in the student
25 performance category and receives a rating of ineffective in such cate-
26 gory shall not be eligible to receive a rating of effective or highly
27 effective overall; and
28 c. rated ineffective in the observations category shall not be eligi-
29 ble to receive a rating of effective or highly effective overall.]
30 § 5. Subdivision 10 of section 3012-d of the education law, as added
31 by section 2 of subpart E of part EE of chapter 56 of the laws of 2015,
32 is amended to read as follows:
33 10. The local collective bargaining representative shall negotiate
34 with the district:
35 a. whether to use a second measure, and, in the event that a second
36 measure is used, which measure to use, pursuant to subparagraph two of
37 paragraph a of subdivision four of this section [and];
38 b. how to implement the provisions of paragraph b of subdivision four
39 of this section, and associated regulations as established by the
40 commissioner, in accordance with article fourteen of the civil service
41 law; and
42 c. the selection and use of an assessment in a teacher or principal's
43 evaluation pursuant to subdivision four of this section and paragraphs a
44 and b of subdivision sixteen of this section.
45 § 6. Section 2 of subpart B of part AA of chapter 56 of the laws of
46 2014 amending the education law relating to providing that standardized
47 test scores shall not be included on a student's permanent record, as
48 amended by section 35 of part CCC of chapter 59 of the laws of 2018, is
49 amended to read as follows:
50 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately [and shall expire and be
51 deemed repealed on December 31, 2019].
52 § 7. This act shall take effect immediately.
