Gov. Andrew Cuomo is DFER’s Ed Reformer of the Month

Friends,

Governor Andrew Cuomo was going to be our Ed Reformer of the Month for May, but he's been rocking so hard, we're giving him June too.

Last but not least on DFER, NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo is DFER's Ed Reformer of the Month:

New York's application to the federal Race to the Top program won $700 million, in part because the state promised to develop a robust system for evaluating teacher effectiveness.

A few weeks ago, when the New York State Board of Regents released their recommendations for overhauling teacher and principal evaluations, Cuomo sent them back to the drawing board. He was right to do so; the draft they released was pretty squishy. Evaluation systems need to be rigorous and, in the draft, 60% of the evaluation would've been based on "other measures."

An effective evaluation system is absolutely critical to ensuring that every child has a high-quality teacher. The new proposal would go a long way toward seeing an effective system in every district.

In response, the New York State United Teachers threw a hissy. NYSUT decided to "suspend its collaboration with the State Education Department … so we can re-evaluate this relationship." They're also threatening to sue.

This is the moment to show Gov. Cuomo that he has backup in his battle against the blob. Please click here to contribute. We'd love to collect as many contributions (large or small) as possible, to demonstrate how broad the coalition is. Could you kick in $25 today?

Thanks,

Joe