Posted january 11, 2012
South Colonie Teachers And Administrators Move Forward on State APPR Regulations
While Governor Cuomo makes the headlines by criticizing school districts for failing to make adequate progress on developing a new system for evaluating teacher/principal performance, South Colonie continues to move forward on the plan within the timeframe of the law.
New York was one of two states cited by the U.S. Education Department this week at risk of losing million of dollars in Race to the Top grants because of delays in implementing the evaluation system known as APPR (Annual Professional Performance Review).
That led to the governor, in his State of the State address and weekly radio show, to call New York State’s 2010 law enacting the APPR requirements for school districts a “failure.” Cuomo promised education reform in 2012, saying he will appoint a new education commission to oversee changes and keep APPR on track.
Meanwhile, South Colonie continues to make strides in the APPR process and is “on schedule” for meeting the terms of the state’s APPR regulations, said Tim Backus, the district's Assistant Superintendent for Instruction. According to the legislation, school districts that already have a collective bargaining agreement in place with its teachers union have until a new agreement is approved to negotiate exact terms of the APPR process. The South Colonie Teachers Association and district have a contract in place until June 30, 2013.
“So we will be working for the remainder of this school year and next to meet the APPR regulations,” Backus said.
In September, the South Colonie Board of Education approved an extensive APPR Plan (pdf) to guide the district through the process. Part of this plan includes holding a series of workshops in January on the new classroom observation process it will use to evaluate teacher instruction. Known as the “Danielson’s Framework For Teaching For Classroom Observation" (pdf), 85 teachers and administrators attended the first workshop on this evaluation process at Lisha Kill Middle School on January 4. A second session is being planned for later in the month.
This training will be an Introduction to the Frameworks and is a one day training. The training is designed for those unfamiliar with the framework, the session provides background and the research foundation for using the Framework to enhance professional practice in different applications: teacher preparation, mentoring and induction, professional development, and teacher evaluation. Participants explore the themes within the framework and become familiar with the components, their organizational structure, and are introduced to the rubrics that guide improving professional practice.
Below, South Colonie teachers and administrators attend the first Danielson's Framework workshop on January 4th.
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