By Victor Skinner
EAGnews.org

TRENTON, N.J. – New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie this week released details on how he wants to evaluate teachers, but union officials are already balking at the proposal.

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Christie wants to base 35 percent of evaluations for math and English teachers in grades 4 through 8 on student growth on state tests, 15 percent on two achievement measures determined by teachers and principals, and 50 percent on classroom observations, NorthJersey.com reports.

Teachers in subjects and grades not measured by state tests (pretty much everyone else) would have 15 percent of their evaluations based on two achievement measures – such as other tests, or student portfolios – and 85 percent on classroom observations, according to the news site.

Queue the whining from the New Jersey Education Association.

“Why are we moving so quickly?” NJEA spokesman Steve Wollmer complained to NorthJersey.com. “For those unfortunate teachers in tested areas, 35 percent of their evaluations will be based on untested formulas.”

“They are trying to serve the cake before it’s baked,” NJEA Executive Director Richard Bozza said.

The fact is the cake has been in the oven for quite a while.

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The regulations were based on three years of research, piloting and input from educators, according to a statement released by state Education Commissioner Chris Serf.

The proposal also has built-in safeguards to ensure the student scores used in the evaluations aren’t applied unfairly. A teacher would have to have at least 20 students to use student growth measure, and only scores for those who have spent 60 percent of the school year with the teacher would count.

But that doesn’t really matter to the NJEA. Union bosses don’t care about student test scores, or student achievement, or even fairness. They care about pleasing their members, and their members don’t want increased expectations and accountability.

Christie’s proposal would take a more critical look at how teachers are performing, and would undoubtedly help weed out weaker educators who would simply slip through the cracks in the current system.

The NJEA will undoubtedly push its members to come out in full force to protest the proposed reforms as they make their way through the public comment phase and come up for a vote by the state Board of Education.

Christie wants to put the new measures in place for next school year, but that will depend largely on whether the public – and the state school board – falls for the union’s line about ‘unfair’ test scores, or whether they recognize the NJEA’s self-serving complaints for what they really are.