Filed under: News
The District of Columbia public school system announced on Friday that it will be letting 226 teachers go for poor performance under the education assessment system called "IMPACT."
The district also announced that it has notified 737 employees that if their performance doesn't improve, they will be terminated after the upcoming school year.
Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee said in a news release:
"Every child in a District of Columbia public school has a right to a highly effective teacher -- in every classroom of every school, of every neighborhood or every ward, in this city."
Under the program, teachers were judged on five classroom observation visits by principals and outside education experts. The system also rates teachers based on their students' achievement.
In response to the firings, the Washington Teachers Union released the results of a membership study showing that "a large majority of teachers believe that IMPACT is not a fair evaluation system."
Washington Teachers Union President George Parker said:
"It is evident from this survey that our members agree that IMPACT is a flawed instrument with many loopholes."
The union claims that teachers under the IMPACT system need clearer communication on expectations, among other things.
The teachers union has no say in which evaluation system the D.C. public school system chooses to use, and by contract, teachers can be let go for low evaluations.
Parker added that the union plans to challenge the firings of about 81 of the teachers.
Rhee is no stranger to unpopular decision making: She shut down a dozen schools and fired 36 principals amid loud criticism from parents and has said that she is angry over a "system that values job protection for teachers over the interest of the child."
As an incentive for teachers, though, if they are willing to go on "probation" for a year - giving up their job security - and can successfully prove their talent, they can earn more than $100,000 a year and as much as $130,000 after five years - a huge salary for a teacher.
Rhee told Newsweek:
"We do not have a nation right now where every child has an equal chance in life, because poor black kids don't have an equal shot in life, because they go to crappy schools, and the Democratic Party is not tackling this issue, which I think is one of the biggest problems that exist."
The problem with these wide scale firings is that the success of teachers is really difficult to measure: Are you a good teacher if all of your students receive As? Are you a good teacher if you've finally gotten through to a student with a behavior problem and had the student begin to talk about their problems, though their grades may not be great? Are you a good teacher if students are engaged and excited to be in your classroom, while they test poorly on standardized tests?
Often the impact of teachers is not realized until years later for students. You often hear celebrities thank one elementary school teacher for making a difference in their life - surely they didn't realize this at the time. A few of my elementary school friends had an argument about how they hated a teacher in elementary school that by almost anyone's standards was a good, but tough, teacher with high expectations for everyone.
Some students thought her expectations were too high. For anyone who has ever taught, you realize you can't please everyone.
About a third of parents in D.C., tired of Rhee's heavy-handed policies, have now opted to send their children to charter schools. Many of the charter schools score well because teachers work from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and on Saturday, and carry cell phones, so their students can reach them at any time. Summer vacation lasts only about a month.
Do you think Rhee has the right idea or should she be implementing the charter school tactic? What is the solution to this problem?
Watch Rhee talk about how she swings the hatchet here: