NYSUT's Teacher Practice Rubric has been approved by the State Education Department as one of five options available to all school districts to meet the new Annual Professional Performance Review regulations. Districts and locals wanting to use a teacher evaluation rubric not on the approved list would have to submit their plan to SED for approval.
Guided by national experts, the NYSUT Teacher Practice Rubric was designed and field-tested by practitioners from the six school/district labor-management teams working on NYSUT's Innovation Initiative project. The initiative began with a grant from the American Federation of Teachers Innovation Fund and has since received a federal i3 grant.
NYSUT's rubric — which is free to all districts — was informed by current research on teaching standards and teacher practice rubrics from the well-known Charlotte Danielson's Framework, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and others. Pilot locals in Albany, Marlboro, North Syracuse, Hempstead and Plattsburgh field-tested the model this spring with teachers who volunteered to try it out.
The rubric is organized to assess teacher performance with the seven New York State Teaching Standards approved by the Regents earlier this year. It also addresses the state's four new ratings: highly effective, effective, developing and ineffective.
"What makes our rubric different is that it was developed through labor-management collaboration," said NYSUT Vice President Maria Neira. "We're taking the time to do this right, with field-testing and constant feedback from the practitioners who do the work everyday."
The rubric is one of the cornerstones of NYSUT's Comprehensive Teacher Evaluation and Development System. The system relies on multiple measures, professional learning linked to evaluation feedback, clearly articulated teaching standards and training for stakeholders and evaluators. Training will be available through NYSUT's Education & Learning Trust, in partnership with teacher centers.
For more information, go to www.nysut.org. To see the full list of approved options, go to www.nysed.gov.