Dive Brief:

• The New York Department of Education has decided to delay the use of new test-based teacher evaluations from November 2015 to September 2016.
• The November 2015 deadline for evaluations had beenapproved by the state's legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who flip-flopped from his previous stance that evaluations in the state would be delayed.
• According to Cuomo's aggressive 11-point ed reform policy, if schools didn't submit evaluations by November 2015, they risked losing state aid. State Board of Regents Chancellor Meryl Tisch, however, directed the board to push back the deadline, which she called "unrealistic."

Dive Insight:

It sounds like Tisch delayed what could have been a major disaster. If schools missed the deadline, they would potentially be out of funding. Given the tight time frame, that very well could have happened in multiple districts. That could have been very unfortunate for districts that are already fiscally tight.

Additionally, it could have perpetuated a difficult-to-break cycle. Lost funding would have resulted in fewer resources, in turn resulting in lower scores that would perpetuate low eval scores. While not everyone agrees that student scores should be tied to evaluations, at least with the deadline being in 2016, schools have fair notice.

Recommended Reading

WGRZ : Education Dept. delays new teacher evaluations