Multiple legislative and regulatory changes to law have left some to question the value of evaluation plans

Once hailed as a game changer for public education by linking student achievement to teacher and principal evaluations, New York's teacher and principal evaluation law today largely represents for school officials an obligation to bargain, according to a new research report from the New York State School Boards Association. 

NYSSBA's report, "Building Trust at the Table," is based on interviews with school officials and an analysis of 100 approved Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) evaluation plans.

For the first time in the award’s history, the New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA) is honoring two school board members with the Everett R. Dyer Award for Distinguished School Board Service.

The winners of the 2016 award this year are Deborah Coates of the Nassau BOCES and Joseph DiMaio from the Jamestown City School District. The award is the highest honor NYSSBA annually bestows upon a single school board member.

The New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA) issued comments to the United States Secretary of Education on the first round of Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) regulations.

Below is a link to NYSSBA's comments:

http://bit.ly/2asSo4r

New learning standards being crafted for New York State are likely to be similar to the Common Core standards they will replace, according to a new research report from the New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA).

The report, entitled "Replacing the Common Core: New name, same standards?" examines what happened when three states – Indiana, Oklahoma and South Carolina – repealed the Common Core Learning Standards and adopted their own state standards in English and math.

The 2016 legislative session brought many positive changes for public education. 

Lawmakers provided funding for lead testing and remediation in school drinking water. Protecting the health and safety of students and staff is every school board's highest priority. 

The winner of the New York State School Boards Association's 2016 Champion for Change Award is a 21-year-old school board member who spearheaded initiatives in the Belleville-Henderson school district while simultaneously earning a bachelor’s degree at Cornell University.

John “J.W.” Allen has had a perfect attendance record at board meetings, held twice monthly, despite the fact that he had to drive four hours each way from Ithaca to Belleville, which is located near Watertown.

Schools subject to receivership or state takeovers have seen mixed and inconclusive results in improving academic achievement, according to an analysis of schools in other states by the New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA).

A new research report from NYSSBA examines state takeover efforts in Massachusetts and Tennessee. The report points out that while students in the Lawrence Public Schools in Massachusetts made some improvements on state math and English language arts (ELA) exams after three years in receivership, those improvements were not sufficient to remove the schools from receivership.

New York State voters approved an overwhelming 98.5 percent of school district budgets on Tuesday, May 17, according to an analysis by the New York State School Boards Association.

"Despite a near-zero tax cap, school districts managed to put together spending plans that in some cases restored educational programs and services, thanks to a large infusion of state aid," said NYSSBA Executive Director Timothy G. Kremer. "The question is, will the state be able to sustain that commitment going forward?"

"The tax cap may be helping to keep taxes down, but it comes at a cost to our schools, which now need the state to make up for the funding they cannot raise locally," Kremer added.

Initial statewide results gathered by NYSSBA indicate voters passed 655 school district budgets. The number of budgets defeated was 10. NYSSBA was still awaiting results for 11 districts.

In the fifth year of the state's property tax cap, 640 districts proposed budgets with tax levies that were within their caps and required only a simple majority to pass. Of those districts, 99.7 percent saw their budgets pass.

We are gratified to learn that funding from the Smart Schools Bond Act, passed by voters in 2014, will finally start flowing to school districts.

Today, post-secondary institutions and employers expect students to be well-versed in technology.