How good are East Rockaway and Lynbrook teachers?

While 91 percent of Lynbrook teachers were rated highly effective or effective in the New York State Education Department’s latest compilation of teachers’ performance, that was 4 percentage points lower than the state average and 7 points below the Nassau County average, and Lynbrook ranked third in the county in the percentage of teachers who were deemed ineffective.

Superintendent Dr. Melissa Burak said she believed that that small group — seven of the 240 educators on staff, or 3 percent — were judged ineffective on the Annual Professional Performance Review for the 2012-13 school year because of the district’s stringent standards. Each district submits its own review criteria to the state, she explained, and teachers’ ratings are based on those criteria.

Overall, less than 1 percent of the 15,978 teachers in Nassau County were rated ineffective. Only the Roosevelt and Hempstead school districts had more teachers in that category than Lynbrook. While Burak said she could not disclose whether those teachers were still employed by the district or where they taught in 2012-13, she said that the district is now trying to “move on” and “continue to strengthen the quality of education in the district.”

She added, “Administrators will continue to keep a close eye on development in the schools. We have administrators very much visible in each classroom, and will continue to monitor our teachers.”

East Rockaway

East Rockaway Superintendent Lisa Ruiz pointed out that 2012-13 was the first year of the new APPR. Eighty-six percent of the district’s 104 teachers were rated highly effective or effective — 9 percentage points below the state average, and 12 points lower than the county average — but just two teachers were deemed ineffective.

“Last year, we saw some anomalies in our teacher scores,” Ruiz said. “Some teachers who had received effective ratings in all three subcomponents of the evaluation system nonetheless got lower, ‘developing’ scores overall.” Teachers whose performance falls below effective but above ineffective are categorized as developing.