Albany, New York- Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato (D-Rockaway Beach) announced that she passed legislation to remove the mandate that state-created or administered assessments be used for teacher and principal evaluations, allowing local school districts to adopt evaluation systems best suited to their community’s needs (A.783).

“Every kid learns differently, and we need to empower the people who are actually in the classroom to figure out how to meet their needs,” Pheffer Amato said. “The best educators focus on the child in front of them, not the next standardized test. We need to get the emphasis back on learning.”

The legislation makes critical corrections to the teacher evaluation system. First, it would eliminate the mandate that students’ performance on state-created or administered assessments, including the grades 3 through 8 English Language Arts (ELA) and math tests, be used to determine a teacher’s or principal’s evaluation. The state mandate, which sparked widespread anger, was put on hold in December 2015 for four years.[1] Pheffer Amato is hopeful that the bill she passed will help allow teachers to craft lesson plans that are most effective for their students rather than following a cookie-cutter approach that could leave some of our young learners behind.

Under the bill, the state Commissioner of Education would be required to promulgate regulations providing alternative assessments for districts that choose not to use state assessments. The selection and use of assessments would be subject to collective bargaining. All teachers would be required to have a student learning objective (SLO) consistent with a goal-setting process determined or developed by the commissioner. The legislation would also make permanent the provision prohibiting grades 3 through 8 ELA and math state assessments from being included on a student’s permanent record.

“This change is long overdue,” Pheffer Amato said. “High-stakes standardized tests should not be hanging over the heads of our children or teachers. It’s time to truly let teachers concentrate on the young minds they’re helping mold and inspire.”