Statement by NYS Senator Addabbo on Disclosure of Teacher & Principal Evaluation Information

Queens, NY, June 26, 2012 -- NYS Senator Joseph P. Addabbo, Jr. (D-Queens), today released the following statement with regard to the Senate and Assembly approval of legislation (S.7792/A.10786) governing the disclosure of teacher and school principal evaluation information to the public and parents:           

The legislation that we passed strikes the correct balance between protecting the confidentiality rights of school teachers and principals while ensuring that parents will be able to gain access to information about the performance of their own children’s educators. As a member of the Senate Education Committee, I am pleased that a reasonable compromise was reached on this difficult issue. 

Earlier calls to fully disclose teacher evaluations to the public, with the names of all teachers attached, simply went too far.  While I support the concept of teacher evaluation, I also recognize that performance judgments may be subjective in some ways and not reflect the day-to-day challenges that teachers face in trying to engage children of diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds.  Every child is different, with varying strengths and weaknesses, and every child’s path to academic success will differ as well. 

Under this legislation, information about teacher and principal performance, without individual names, will be made widely available to the public to provide a statewide picture of the effectiveness of individual school districts in helping their students to succeed.  Parents will be able to request and receive information about the principals and teachers who are directly involved with their own children and will also be provided assistance in understanding the meaning of the evaluations.   

Now that this measure has received final Senate and Assembly approval, and will soon be signed into law by the Governor, New York will have met all of the requirements under the federal “Race to the Top” program. We can now go forward to use this needed federal funding to help ensure a quality education and brighter future for every child in our state.

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Judy Close, Press Secretary
NYS Senator Joseph P. Addabbo, Jr.
15th Senate District - Satellite Office
66-85  73rd Place
Middle Village, NY   11379
Ph:  718-497-1630