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New York City Expects Revenue Windfall from New Teacher Evaluation System

News Item:
New York City restaurant owners say they are racking up thousands of dollars in fines because the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is conducting more frequent inspections.

The city is projecting that it will collect $36.3 million in fines from food establishments in the fiscal year ending June 30; as of Nov. 17, it had collected $12.1 million.
Last year, the city collected $32.9 million, up from $27.8 million in the previous year and $17.3 million in fiscal year 2006. The figures don't include fines levied against food vendors.
--"Restaurant Owners Feeling Taxed by Grading "
Wall Street Journal, Dec. 18, 2010

At a news conference held at the four-star Eleven Madison Park, new schools chancellor-in-waiting Cathie Black rolled out a new teacher evaluation plan, "One with teeth," says Ms Black, former head of Hearst Magazines.

Black announced, "It is my pledge that schools will learn from business. My new plan for teacher evaluation will keep teachers on their toes and develop a positive flow revenue stream."

Black said she was inspired by the city's restaurant inspection program, pointing out that the New York City Public Health Sanitarians conduct unannounced inspections of food service establishments to evaluate food workers' practices, including the manner in which they receive and store foods, how they process foods and the temperatures at which they cook, cool, hold and reheat food. "How can we do less with the daily practices of our child workers?" said Black, announcing an inspection system on the delivery of classroom lessons based on video tracking of every classroom. The city revenue stream will be enhanced by a system of fines to be levied for observed teacher infractions.

Black announced that a team of teacher excellence inspectors is being trained "at this minute" by a $63 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. "With video replay and stop motion, we can see how every last teacher twitch or spasm correlates with student test scores."

Mayor Bloomberg, standing at Ms Black's side during her presentation, enthusiastically endorsed the plan. "I told she was a superstar manager who succeeded spectacularly in the private sector! There's no one who knows more about the skills our children will need to succeed in the 21st century economy!"

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, standing three feet behind Bloomberg and Black, affirmed, "We support transparency."

Professional Value-Added Teacher Standards Teacher fulfills dress code standards: tie jacket skirt length color coordination Teacher's desk projects neat and tidy mind. Teacher maintains appropriate bulletin board configuration. Teacher's lesson plan lines up to city-wide schedule for delivering Common Core Standards. Teacher engages every student by name every 12 minutes 19 seconds. All students stay awake throughout class. Teacher uses technology at a minimum of every 2 min 18 seconds. Teacher pays homage to a leader in 18th century thought. Teacher employs strategies to engage students in higher order thinking 8 times during the lesson. Teacher differentiates goals and objectives based on 7 developmental levels of students. Teacher conducts a minimum of 14 mini-assessments during class to ensure students are on track. Teacher sits down during the class period. 93.7% students leaving the class can recite Common Core Standard(s) they learned.

Fines Imposed for Observed Teacher Infraction $4.18 $12.32 $11.17 $42.63 $00.93 $19.10 $26.34 $1.18 $2.06 $73.89 $59.67 $14.12 $17.86 $92.18 $18.32 $116.73

— Susan Ohanian


2010-12-18

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