PA Legislation Mandates Change in Teacher Evaluation Process for 2013-2014

PA House Bill 1901 (Act 82 of 2012) approved by PA Governor Tom Corbett on June 30, 2012 replaces the old system of teacher evaluation (satisfactory or unsatisfactory).

Source: PA Dept of Education, Pennsylvania's State Assessment System, Proposed Transition July 2012  from the Education Policy and Leadership Center. 

If you live in Pittsburgh you must be wondering how this law might effect the teacher furlough process. According to the current collective bargaining agreement between the Pittsburgh Public School District (PPSD) and the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers (PFT), teacher furloughs are based strictly on seniority.

You may recall, on April 25, 2012, the Pittsburgh Public Schools Board of Directors passed a resolution that called for the Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Linda Lane, to talk to the Union leadership (due to anticipated furloughs of about 20% of the teaching workforce):

"to improve the current furlough process for teachers in order to consider factors beyond seniority in light of the growing body of evidence around teacher effectiveness as well as the disproportionate impact that seniority-based furloughs have on the district's most vulnerable schools."

Read the article by Eleanor Chute, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, July 3, 2012 12:44 pm: School board wants end to seniority-based layoffs

The controversial resolution caused an uproar in Pittsburgh with teachers, parents, organizations quickly taking sides: Union vs. the District, pro-seniority vs. anti-seniority.  The Union and the District each took a hard stance on either side of the issue (yes, this is the same Union and District that received national recognition for working together to create the Empowering Effective Teachers plan funded with $40 million dollars by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation).

Many argued that for three years PPSD utilized a system developed collaboratively by PPSD and PFT to measure effective teachers, the Researched-based Inclusive System of Evaluation (RISE). In addition, PPSD has available data from two other research-based measures of effective teaching, Value Added Measures (VAM) and the Tripod Student Survey.  Furlough decisions then, in addition to seniority, must consider these data to identify the District's lowest performing teachers.    

Others argued that the collaboratively designed effective teacher measurement system, RISE, was developed only to improve teacher practice, not as criteria for furlough decisions.  William Hileman, Vice-President of the PFT, wrote an editorial (Pittsburgh Post Gazette July 3, 2012 12:44 pm) to convince readers that,

"Teacher-effectiveness measures are not yet adequate to guide layoffs in Pittsburgh"

Read more: Overturning teacher seniority would hurt students

Now, all PA public school teachers, with the exception of Charter School teachers (more about this in last week's post: Charter Schools have a pass), beginning in the 2013 school year will be evaluated based on a system of teacher performance measures instead of their old system of satisfactory or unsatisfactory performance.

For more information, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) has published a list of FAQ's (here).  There is no mention of using teacher evaluation measurements as criteria to determine furloughs.

Do you believe this legislation will lead to a change the PPSD teacher furlough process prior to the next collective bargaining agreement due on June 30, 2015?