Knifefight Afterdance
2011-07-16 21:17:35 UTC
July 16, 2011
The final bell rang for 413 D.C. public school employees Friday, after
officials announced they were being fired for poor performance and
failure to meet licensing requirements.
Of the terminated staff, 206 are teachers- which adds up to 5 percent
of all the public school teachers in the entire District of Columbia.
The biggest chunk of workers let go - 288 of them - were rated subpar
by the city school district's evaluation system, called "IMPACT."
The program is Michelle Rhee's brainchild from her days as Chancellor
of the D.C. public school system, and it uses five 30-minute classroom
visits to determine who the good teachers are, and who the bad teachers
are. Educators are measured by how high their students score on
assessment tests and how well lessons are laid out.
"'IMPACT' is allowing us to do exactly what we set out to do, which is
recognize and reward our highest performers, which is to support and
develop our people who are struggling, and to move out our lowest
performers," DC Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson said.
Rewards for the "highly effective," can potentially - and literally -
pay off big time. The same set of reviews that terminated 206 teachers
identified 663 top performers, all of whom are now eligible for up to
$25,000 in bonuses.
Still, the Washington Teachers Union has issues with "IMPACT", and they
don't think this particular evaluation system gives their members a
fair shake.
"'IMPACT' as an evaluation system is biased," contends Washington
Teachers Union President Nathan A. Saunders. "And most, if not all,
evaluation systems run by other human beings have been proven to be
biased."
Jason Kamras, the districts chief of human capital, said that the
terminated staff members will have various options to appeal, depending
on which union theyre in.
This is the second year "IMPACT" has been applied to D.C. public school
employees.
About 500 teachers received a poor rating last year. Of the 500, 14 had
requested appeals through their principal. Appeals were granted to four
of the 14 teachers.
The final bell rang for 413 D.C. public school employees Friday, after
officials announced they were being fired for poor performance and
failure to meet licensing requirements.
Of the terminated staff, 206 are teachers- which adds up to 5 percent
of all the public school teachers in the entire District of Columbia.
The biggest chunk of workers let go - 288 of them - were rated subpar
by the city school district's evaluation system, called "IMPACT."
The program is Michelle Rhee's brainchild from her days as Chancellor
of the D.C. public school system, and it uses five 30-minute classroom
visits to determine who the good teachers are, and who the bad teachers
are. Educators are measured by how high their students score on
assessment tests and how well lessons are laid out.
"'IMPACT' is allowing us to do exactly what we set out to do, which is
recognize and reward our highest performers, which is to support and
develop our people who are struggling, and to move out our lowest
performers," DC Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson said.
Rewards for the "highly effective," can potentially - and literally -
pay off big time. The same set of reviews that terminated 206 teachers
identified 663 top performers, all of whom are now eligible for up to
$25,000 in bonuses.
Still, the Washington Teachers Union has issues with "IMPACT", and they
don't think this particular evaluation system gives their members a
fair shake.
"'IMPACT' as an evaluation system is biased," contends Washington
Teachers Union President Nathan A. Saunders. "And most, if not all,
evaluation systems run by other human beings have been proven to be
biased."
Jason Kamras, the districts chief of human capital, said that the
terminated staff members will have various options to appeal, depending
on which union theyre in.
This is the second year "IMPACT" has been applied to D.C. public school
employees.
About 500 teachers received a poor rating last year. Of the 500, 14 had
requested appeals through their principal. Appeals were granted to four
of the 14 teachers.