On Board Online • Issues in Education • March 16, 2009

New York State gets a grade of “F” on its policies for identifying effective teachers who are worthy of tenure, according to a recent report from the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ).

The problem, according to NCTQ, is threefold:

• New York does not have a complete student- and teacher-level longitudinal data system in place that connects student academic records with individual teachers.
• New York prohibits the use of student performance data in teacher evaluations.
• New York’s probationary period for new teachers is only three years. So, even if the state allowed schools to use student performance in the granting of tenure, the time period is too short to accumulate sufficient data on teacher effectiveness.

The report recommends developing a longitudinal data system with unique student identifiers that can connect their records with those of their teachers. It also recommends allowing the use of state student assessment data in teacher evaluations and making the new teacher probationary period five years. To download the report, go to http://www.nctq.org/stpy08/.