Albany, July 19, 2011 -New York State United Teachers today welcomed the State Education Department's inclusion of a NYSUT Innovation Initiative model in its list of approved rubrics for the new teacher evaluation system. The rubric was designed by teams of teachers and administrators working in collaboration.

Districts and their local unions from across the state will choose a rubric from that list in developing their system of evaluating teachers.

"Once again, collaboration among stakeholders and an emphasis on the excellent work of practitioners results in the highest standards that will ultimately lead to student success," said NYSUT President Richard C. Iannuzzi. "

The NYSUT Innovation Initiative began two years ago with a grant from the American Federation of Teachers Innovation Fund and has since received a federal i3 grant to continue that work. The AFT is one of NYSUT's national affiliates.

Guided by national experts, the NYSUT Teacher Practice Rubric was developed by teams of practitioners from the school district labor/management teams involved in NYSUT's Innovation Initiative. The rubric development was informed by current research on teaching standards and teacher practice rubrics from the Danielson's Framework, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and others.

The NYSUT rubric is organized to assess teacher performance aligned with the state teaching standards in a fair and transparent manner using multiple measures. The rubric was piloted in the five school districts - Albany, Marlboro, North Syracuse, Hempstead and Plattsburgh.

NYSUT Vice President Maria Neira said: "This is an example of taking the lead in defining excellence as we work to enhance instructional practices. This is complex work and it needs to be done right."

For further details, go to http://usny.nysed.gov/rttt/teachers-leaders/practicerubrics/.