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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:
Comments: (10)
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By: Mrs. DMS on 7/26/2010 10:32AM
Teaching is one of those professions where you don't get into it for the money. You go for the children and for the love of learning and teaching. I don't doubt however, in this day and time, so many of our children are coming to school and dealing with all types of issues at home. That said, long gone are the days of seniority and in comes the day of performance. In a time of tight, turbulent finances, many entities are taking a look at how they are going business, no matter who the benefactor may be, in this case, it SHOULD be the kids! I can't speak for this school district, but I do know that in the district I live in and that my child when old enough will attend, there are the good teachers and there are the ones, who you can tell, are only there for the paycheck. They are sloppy in appearance and basically do nothing more than read to the kids all day, no interaction other than that. No questioning them, to gage how they are learning and retaining the material, none of that. But then you have the ones I remember when I was in school. Who somehow was able to reach beyond a child's fear and precociousness on a subject, and actually make you embrace learning, those are the great teachers I remember and can only hope my child will encounter. Truth of the matter is folks, there isn't really a price for good education and educators. PARENTS along with the school must take interest in their child's learning, growth and development. This is NOT solely the job of the school. To those teachers who lost their jobs, take this as a learning experience, to those who may lose their jobs, step it up. To those who weren't approached, keep up the good work and don't be next.
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By: paul on 7/27/2010 4:41PM
Interesting that with 241 firings the union is only fighting 81 of them. Tells me that the union knows the others really deserve it. And probably more.
Bill Gates made a good point in a recent speech. He said it wasn't long ago that teaching was one of the only professions for women, so there were lots of very smart women competing for those jobs. Now that women are finding careers in the corporate world, the teaching profession has suffered a "brain drain" and is no longer flooded with over-qualified women.
I think bringing salaries up to compete with the corporate world is a good start. Merit-based pay is the way it works in the real world - why not teaching?
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By: rovenea Turner on 7/26/2010 2:52PM
This assessment is probably too subjective. Furthermore, one needs to look to the college level and or are the teachers being prepared adequately for the huge challenge of teaching urban/rural children.
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By: jackie smurf on 7/27/2010 11:39AM
The first "brain drain" a teacher is faced with is discipline. Student won't listen, disrupts the class, hits other students, never does homework, or class work for that matter, notes to parents are still in the bookbag since Monday and today is Friday. "Christmas trees" every test he/she takes and When its time to leave the class for lunch or music- he/she refuse to line-up and leave with the class. Johnny/Johnette has been in 3 elementary schools between August and January. What about the parents? glad you asked- they never attend a parent conference, phone number is always out of service.But, let Johnny/Johnette go home and tell "Lil Moma" that someone stepped on his/her toe and messed-up his "JORDANS"-the entire clan will be in the office screaming profanities and waving arms and pointing fingers. Everyone of them has tatoos from head to toe! That's what inner city teachers have to deal with everyday.
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By: KeepinItReal on 7/31/2010 3:32PM
I come from a family of educators and I have learned a few things. One thing I know is the majority of teachers want to TEACH. However, over the years, many kids have become unmanageable. It's hard to teach a kid who CAN"T SIT DOWN IN A SEAT. It's hard to teach a kid whose parents were both in special ed. These are the facts. Many times, young white female teachers in inner city schools are given top students (i.e. gifted). Then, the school district says these teachers are better educators. Puhhhlllease. These kids can teach themselves. These kids tend to come from families that value education, are well rested and know how to sit still in a seat, look to the front of the class at teacher and come prepared to learn. I chose not to become an educator because, today, society expects too much from a teacher. A teacher is supposed to TEACH subject matter (math, english, etc.). Instead, society wants teachers to be a police officer (stop fights), social worker (deal with childs home situations), psychiatrist, nutritionist, and a host of other roles. Look...KIDS ARE NOT THAT IMPORTANT TO GO THROUGH ALL THAT. Yes. I said it. Many parents can barely parent their kids and you want super human teachers. Instead...you may get NOTHING. People need to put the blame where it belongs...PARENTS. That's the mother and the all too absent father. If you cannot hold parents accountable, first and foremost, then your kids deserve to remain uneducated.
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By: tired of POOR ME attitude on 7/27/2010 3:13PM
@KeepinitReal Does Al Sharpton know you stole his phrase? Just kidding.
My Daughters are Teachers, my wife is a Teacher. The horror stories I hear day in day out pretty much reflect what you said. One thing you left out was the Teachers. There are many Teachers that have burned out, don't care, can't teach or are using the Union to "do their time" until retirement. It is very hard to fire a poor Teacher. The Union protects the ones that are inadequate and often it is more effort to fire them than it is to put them where they will do the least harm.
Drop out rates in DC are off the deep end and the cost for a DC school is the highest in the country, so much for throwing money at the problem.
Restore REAL discipline.
Give the Teachers more support on controlling the classroom.
Force the parents to be involved with under performing students.
Make it EASIER to fire bad Teachers.
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By: paul on 7/27/2010 3:26PM
I think you're right on the money. I think the biggest difference between inner city schools and suburban schools is the home life of the students. If you removed the kids with a rotten home life from the inner city school and left primarily kids from 2 parent homes with a comfortable home and a living wage, you would be removing 90% of the problem kids. What you had left would approximate the student body in the suburbs as far as parent involvement and preparedness to learn. More resources would be freed up to teach.
It's hard to tell people to stop having kids they aren't prepared to raise properly, but somehow it must be done. Back before welfare and all the assistance programs, people stuck together out of necessity. Teens who got pregnant were whisked off and hidden until the ba$tard (gasp) was born. There was pressure from society to get married before having kids.
These days things are different and our kids and society as a whole are suffering. These days people are rewarded by the assistance programs for having more kids, and punished for getting a job or getting married. It's backwards and, despite the greatest of intentions, the assistance programs are largely to blame.
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By: G REDD on 7/27/2010 4:30PM
NO!!!!!! THE TEACHERS UNION HAS A VALID POINT!!!! THE PROCESS OF JUDGING TEACHERS INVOLVES SO MANY DIFFERENT COMPONENTS THAT A STANDARDIZED EVALUATION CANNOT HARDLY BE CONSIDERED FAIR. IF THE CHARTER SCHOOL FORMAT WORKS WHY NOT TURN THE WHOLE SCHOOL SYSTEM TO CHARTER SCHOOLS AND FORGET ABOUT THIS WILLY-NILLY NIT PICKING SCHOOL BY SCHOOL. I HONESTLY THINK IT HAS AS MUCH TO DO WITH FINANCES AS IT DOES WITH EDUCATION!!!!!!!
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By: Clay Boggess on 7/28/2010 8:11AM
It's one thing to fire teachers if they knew what the standards and expectations were and did not perform up to par; however it's something entirely different if they didn't.
Clay Boggess
http://www.BigEventFundraising.com
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By: Nicole on 7/29/2010 11:07AM
9 times out of ten, it is people who have never taught that think teaching is easy. Additionally, corporate employees believe a teacher should be able to put a child to a task and get a result (let alone a positive result). My answer to Corporate America, politicians, and educational higher-ups who have forgetten what it's like to be in the trenches is walk a month in my shoes.
I challenge all of you to do what I do. If at the end of a non-holiday month you are able to say "I bought 25, ADD, mentally and/or physically abused, malnurished, non supported, underdressed, weapon weilding, gang affiliated, children to grade level. All while working in a 90 year old building with no heat/air when needed or the electrical capability to support the technology I am supposed to implement." Then my colleagues and I will conceed to you.
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