Here’s NYC schools Chancellor Joel Klein at a semi-impromptu press conference at the state capitol earlier today in which he, along with other school officials finished pleading with Senate and Assembly leaders to drop a bill that he contends would derail long sought reforms to the teacher tenure system.
Added to the state budget at the behest of the politically potent teachers unions, the bills would prevent measures such as “value added testing,” in which school officials can compare student test scores in classes taught by various teachers. The technique could potentially allow comparisons of which teachers are the most effective and it could identify teachers whose students turn in poor results.
It’s a hot button issue as teachers unions fear it could teachers to be pit against one another.
But school boards (the state School Boards Association government affairs director David Little joined Klein) believe the testing could serve a useful purpose.
Today’s meeting came after at least two newspapers ran editorials taking legislative leaders to task for putting in the bills, which editorial writers say is akin to a rather craven attempt to block tenure reform.
