Gov Cuomo Implementing Performance Based Reviews of Teachers – With or Without Union Input

I agree, I fear though that this will be more about breaking a Union than improving the system.

An effective evaluation system for teachers should be fair for the teachers. There are no details in the article about the performance evaluation plan. This concerns me:

Talks over the evaluations broke down in the city last month when Department of Education officials refused to consider the UFT’s insistence that teachers who receive poor ratings be allowed to appeal them to an independent arbitrator. Appeals of bad ratings are currently handled by the schools chancellor.

I think that bad teachers should be fired, but if appeals are handled by the schools chancellor, then it doesn't appear that teachers have anyone on their side. Some principals are also opposed to the evaluation system.

http://www.nytimes.com/schoolbook/2012/01/10/cuomo-urges-districts-and-unions-to-compromise-on-evaluations/

There is still a lot of work ahead, according to the federal government’s assessment, and the unions are not alone in pushing back on the evaluations. More than 1,000 principals statewide have signed a petition opposing them. The principal at P.S. 130, Lily Din Woo, has not signed, but she has said she does not agree with how much weight the evaluations will give to standardized test scores.

“There is a lot more that happens in a classroom that makes a kid successful than test scores,” she said.