The new APPR law is being greeted with enthusiasm by school administrators, parents, and educators alike, who say critics do not understand how much was wrong with the APPR system to begin with.
“What people don’t grasp about the APPR system is that it wasn’t working,” said Bob Lowry, deputy director for the New York State Council of School Superintendents.
The new APPR law, which passed both houses almost unanimously in May, garnered support from a broad coalition of education groups, encompassing superintendents, principals, parents and school boards, as well as legislators on both sides of the aisle.
Superintendents say old APPR was ‘warped’
In 2023, superintendents across New York expressed their frustration with the old APPR system in a statewide survey.
“Our survey showed that only 10 percent of superintendents thought the system was working, and more than 4 times that number said that APPR was having a negative impact on improving teaching,” Lowry said. Why? “One reason was a sense that the requirement to use the evaluations as a tool for high-stakes employment decisions warped the whole system,” he said, adding that 2015 amendments diminished the value of teacher observations, harming the best part of the review process, the part that fostered professional growth and improvement.
While some critics have portrayed the new APPR law as the retreat from accountability, the new law still protects administrators’ right to remove underperforming teachers. “This law doesn’t weaken the ability of districts to deny tenure or to dismiss teachers who aren’t demonstrating the ability to be successful,” said Lowry.
School administrators say APPR reforms were needed
“It was clear that professional evaluations needed to be revised,” said Cindy Gallagher, director of government relations for the School Administrators Association of New York State, which represents principals, deputy principals and other administrators.
SAANYS also canvassed their members about the APPR system in 2023. Over 70 percent of the principals and administrators surveyed did not feel that APPR was effective, and 65 percent supported delinking state assessments from professional evaluations, Gallagher said. Principals and administrators also asked for increased flexibility in observations and differentiation between tenured and non-tenured educators.
Administrators also said the old APPR system came with a lot of cumbersome provisions and paperwork that took time and manpower to execute. The new APPR law will free up resources and refocus the evaluation process on professional development, where it belongs, Gallagher said.
“The new law provides an opportunity for teachers, principals, and school districts to re-examine current evaluation designs and to develop evaluations that appropriately support professional growth and meet district needs,” Gallagher said.
“Professional evaluations are supposed to be a form of feedback. They are not supposed to be a ‘gotcha’ system, and unfortunately, that’s what APPR was,” said Tony Cardamone, Director of Elementary Education at Baldwinsville CSD and SAANYS president. “This new system will go the greater distance to hold people accountable, while making professional development more of a collaborative effort. It will be something that is being done ‘with people’ and not ‘to people.’”
“We are excited that the governor and the Legislature listened to feedback from the field and realized that APPR wasn't doing what it was meant to do. The system didn’t allow for professional growth or development; instead, we were pretty much just checking boxes,” said SAANYS member Robert Woughter, k-12 principal, Keene Central School District. “I am optimistic that the new system will do what the original system couldn’t: improve teacher practice.”
Parents say old APPR system eroded students’ education
Parents also applaud the new APPR law, saying that the old APPR system was poorly designed and over-emphasized flawed state tests, which they already criticized for being too long and developmentally inappropriate.
Worse, parents said, excessive test-prep is high-jacking instructional time and forcing teachers to focus on math and ELA at the expense of other subjects like science, social studies, art and music, and eroding students’ access to a well-rounded education.
“NYS PTA is thrilled to see movement away from the current flawed and punitive system of evaluation, toward a model that truly supports educators in meaningful ways and recognizes the professionalism and work teachers and principals do each day in the classroom and school building,” said New York State Parent Teacher Association Executive Director Kyle Belokopitsky.
The new system, with its emphasis on collaboration, meaningful observation and authentic performance measures represents a big improvement for students and educators alike, she said.
Educators voice their support for APPR reforms
Meanwhile, educators are united in their approval for the new APPR law, in part because it de-emphasizes the importance of high-stakes tests, which they said rob our students of authentic learning experiences.
“End-of-year tests should not be the focal point for an elementary child’s whole school year. We need to do something different to ensure coming to school and learning is meaningful and fun,” said Jason Valenti, Rochester Teachers Association.
“The old APPR law forced districts to commit resources to activities that teachers, administration and district officials all agreed were unnecessary,” said Mike Silvestri, president of the Schenectady Federation of Teachers. “This new law allows us all to create more effective evaluation systems that will free those formerly mandated resources so that they can be used to better educate students.”
“The reason why I think this law is so important for educators and students alike is that it allows for authentic learning to happen,” said Andrew Bogey, member of the NYSUT Board. “We can go beyond a one-and-done assessment, and that will de-escalate the stress and pressure of testing and open the door to more hands-on and experiential learning.”
“Teachers and students alike are so much more than the glimpse a high-stakes test supposedly captures,” said Beth Willson, president of the Troy TA. “We can continue to develop engaging lessons, meet our students' needs, and keep the rigor, but eliminate the pressure for students to score some arbitrary number.”