Tuesday, April 10, 2012

::Public Testimony

Public Testimony of Mary Ann Stewart to The Joint Committee on Education
Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz, Co-Chair, Room 312D
Representative Alice Peisch, Co-Chair, Room 473G
Boston State House, Room B-1
April 10, 2012

Madam Co-Chairs, Honorable members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to speak before you today about a proposal that threatens to undo what a 40-member task force was only able to accomplish in many, many hours of meeting discussions from August 2010 to March 2011.

My name is Mary Ann Stewart, I’m a parent of three, and three weeks ago I became the Immediate Past President of the Massachusetts PTA. As President, I served as a member of the Educator Evaluation Task Force. The PTA is the oldest and largest child advocacy association in the country - in Massachusetts we are 112 years old. I think it's fair to say that PTA has been standing for children longer than anyone. I know I did not spend hundreds of hours working for improvements to the evaluation system only to have a national group - with no particular expertise in education - threaten to undo them. This proposal is way out of step with what is happening in Massachusetts schools today.

Parents and teachers do not disagree on the need for outstanding teachers and schools and we already have a rigorous evaluation system to do that. The Task Force recommended balanced changes to the evaluation system for all educators through a collaborative, deliberative process. I am very proud of the Task Force's work and pleased that the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education adopted new regulations for improvement in June of last year, following a public comment period. Districts across the Commonwealth are preparing now for full implementation for the 2013-2014 school year.

I agree with Secretary Reville that we must give these Ed Evaluations a chance to work. There is no need to implement another system before the new one is rolled out. We need to stay the course and not get distracted from the real issues.

Thank you.