NYC's New Tougher Teacher Rating System

Interesting data from NYC:

New York City's new system for rating teachers could be dramatically tougher on educators than the previous one, according to new data released by the city last week.

About 6% of the city's fourth- through eighth-grade teachers were rated ineffective based on their students' scores on state tests last year, the most controversial portion of the new evaluations.

The scores released on Friday won't count for city teachers, because the Department of Education and the teachers union, the United Federation of Teachers, couldn't reach a deal on the details of the new system in time for this year. The state Education Department imposed a system in June and it will take effect in the fall, helping the city and state qualify for hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding.

But the rankings provided a quick snapshot of how the teacher-evaluation system imposed by the state in May could work in real life. Teachers could be fired if they are deemed ineffective on both state test scores released Friday and on a separate set of school-based tests for two consecutive years.

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