In a piece on the Washington Post's Answer Sheet blog, Carol Burris (EdD 2000), the award-winning principal of South Side High School in the Rockville Centre School District in New York, recaps her announcement on April 14 that she will retire early in protest of New York State's new teacher evaluation system, in which student test scores will count for half of the evaluations of teachers and principals.

Burris has been a vocal opponent of New York State's implementation of the Common Core standards and of the high-stakes standardized tests.

In a speech to a group of music teachers,  Burris explained:  "The New York State legislature celebrated the Eve of April Fools by making a bad teacher evaluation system even worse," adding that she will "dedicate all of my energies to fighting the assault on our public schools and our teachers. I will not participate in an evaluation system such as the one designed by the governor  or legislature. It is morally and ethically wrong."

Before becoming principal at South Side in 2000, Burris taught at the middle and high school levels. Her award-winning dissertation at Teachers College, which she wrote for her doctorate in Inquiry and Administration Practice, studied her district’s detracking reform in math.

Burris was named New York’s 2013 High School Principal of the Year by the School Administrators Association of New York and the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and was tapped as the 2010 New York State Outstanding Educator by the School Administrators Association of New York State.

LINK TO POSTING:  Why an award-winning principal feels she must retire early

Published Friday, Apr. 17, 2015