Protest Reaches 900 Principals, and Climbing

3:48 p.m. | Updated The number of principals who have signed onto a letter objecting to New York State’s system of teacher evaluations has grown to more than 900.

The letter, which was posted online, voices objections to a new state evaluation system that will rate teachers and principals based on student scores on standardized tests.

The principals’ complaints include: The system has not been field tested; there are scores to rate only English and math teachers; state tests have repeatedly been shown to be unreliable.

The overwhelming majority of the administrators are from Long Island. Only 41 are from New York City, where at least 127 principals have participated in the teacher evaluation pilot. All teachers and principals were introduced to the so-called "Danielson rubric" for evaluating teacher practice during professional development, a spokesman for the Education Department said.

The numbers, as of Sunday night:

Over All 902

Long Island 506

New York City 41

Westchester 83

Rockland 31

Orange 25

Editor's Note: This post has been updated to reflect a more specific number, provided by the Education Department, of city principals who have experienced the state's training for the new teacher evaluation system.