Posted on 07/23/2010 6:56:48 PM PDT by Lorianne
D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee announced Friday that she has fired 241 teachers, including 165 who received poor appraisals under a new evaluation system that for the first time holds some educators accountable for student improvement in standardized test scores.
"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, of every ward, in this City," Rhee said in a statement, announcing the first year of results from the revamped evaluation, known as IMPACT. "That is our commitment. Today . . . we take another step toward making that commitment a reality."
Dismissals for performance are exceedingly rare in D.C. schools -- and in school systems nationwide. Friday's firings mark the beginning of Rhee's bid to make student achievement a high-stakes proposition for teachers, establishing job loss as a possible consequence of poor classroom results.
The Washington Teachers' Union said Friday that it will contest the terminations.
The firings also are likely to spark a new round of debate about Rhee's treatment of teachers. D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray, who is challenging Mayor Adrian M. Fenty in the Sept. 14 Democratic primary, has not committed to retaining Rhee if elected and has made her hard-edged management style part of his critique of Fenty's education policy. Gray said Friday that he "wanted to look further at the basis for the dismissals" before making conclusions and added that there is "still controversy" regarding IMPACT.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
The interesting side to this...is that a fired teacher is dumped out on the street. They could move to another state, but if they ask about the last evaluation or call up the DC area for a recommendation...it’ll be a negative situation.
I’m guessing the union folks are going into Maryland and trying hard to find jobs for these fired teachers...and hope that Maryland administrators are stupid.
So the teachers union says that their jobs are more important than the students they are supposed to be teaching.
Well, if they want to live up to their collectivist ideals then the needs of the many, (Students), outweigh the needs of the few, (Teachers). Therefore the Teachers should be ecstatic in providing role models for their students.
I look forward to seeing how this works out.
Maybe they will leave teaching. The world is full of people who tried teaching for a few years and moved on. They could do likewise.
Wow! now if we can just get her to replace Steele...
From what I’ve read about her, those teachers probably deserve it.
she can call me Cracker
Or, a least she doesn't understand the culture of 'something for nothing.'
Washington DC. How soon is she going to be thrown under the bus? (SEIU/NEA mode on) Can’t be firing incompetent teachers, dontchaknow. Inner city schools are just suppose to be day care centers, kids are not supposed to learn anything except how evil and racist Bush and capitalism is (SEIU/NEA mode off).
God watch over and protect her.
OOOH, pick me, pick me!
LOL - teaching elementary was ok, teaching CC was a joy, teaching at University convinced me to do something else.
Flawed and completely unfair system from the get-go.
Until they are willing to factor in the large number of children of Illegal Aliens their evaluation system will not work.
They should be sued to the ground until they weigh in all factors.
Just go with former GE CEO Welch’s way. Bottom 10% get fired every year?...something like that.... That generates focus. Top 10% get fabulous rewards.
The LESSON of the teachers unions is: students don’t pay union dues.
It’s that simple.
I taught high school math for several years in a major urban school district. Clearly there were a few teachers who needed to be fired, others who could work harder, and many that were working very hard. The problem for the latter group was that they couldn’t follow their students home and make them study or do their homework. As so many studies have shown over the years, about 60-70 percent of the variation in student achievement is due to factors over which teachers have little or no control.
I consider myself to have been one of those hard working teachers and I “got through” to about half of my students. But in today’s climate, I’m not sure I’d be considered an “effective” teacher because I doubt I could raise all students’ test scores to the levels demanded by today’s educational ideologues.
My sister just retired from teaching elementary school. She said one big problem with trying to get credit for raising test scores was that she would work for months with some disadvantaged kids, improve their reading scores considerably, then, they would move suddenly to a different school. Their progress would not be reflected in her class test results. Other kids would move into her class a month before the test, and she would have no time to bring them up to speed, but their poor scores would show up on her results.
Poor parents are sometimes very unstable parents, and they get evicted mid-year, or something, and the kid gets moved. Maybe there could be an adjustment in a teacher’s performance rating based upon such things, but of course that would require common sense.
Excellent reality checks so those outside the classroom can understand why calling for “yearly progress” is not simply a function of effective teaching in the classroom. Those other 16-18 hours away from the classroom have an effect, too.
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