More than 200 D.C. teachers fired

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would be interested to know the geographic distribution of the dismissed teachers. While I'm in favor of teacher evaluation and assessment, since such a significant percentage of the IMPACT assessment is test scores, teachers WOTR have a lot more wiggle room that teachers EOTR. I don't know if the data will bear this out, but it may be that IMPACT penalizes teachers for the socio-economic status of their students. I'm not sure that does anyone any good.

That's not how DCPS views it - they think all teachers should be judged by the same standard, irrespective of differences in the kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do not understand why people are upset that poor performing teachers were fired. Granted I have only taught at the college level but part of my employment review was my student evaluations. This wasnt even quantative data, like test scores, but qualatative data, how they felt about me as a teacher. Why shouldn't test scores be part of their review? We all have employment reviews, why should they be immuned? Hell, it sounds like they are changing test scores anyway.

What's the beef with TFA, too?

If teachers are truly poor performing, fine -- but there's no evidence that IMPACt is truly identifying them.

As for using student evaluations for college teachers -- I think that's a bad idea too - unless the prof is mistreating students and it can be proven.

I bet you wouldn't get in any trouble if a student who missed half your classes and flunked the exams got an F. Imagine your teaching skills being rated on a class full of students like that.

[Anonymous]

As for TFA -- they are beginning teachers - no experience at all and most of them aren't interested in making a career of teaching.

There is no reason to think they will be superior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would be interested to know the geographic distribution of the dismissed teachers. While I'm in favor of teacher evaluation and assessment, since such a significant percentage of the IMPACT assessment is test scores, teachers WOTR have a lot more wiggle room that teachers EOTR. I don't know if the data will bear this out, but it may be that IMPACT penalizes teachers for the socio-economic status of their students. I'm not sure that does anyone any good.

I'm not certain, but I believe that the test-score part of IMPACT includes a statistical adjustment for the socio-economic status of the students in a teacher's class -- so if you get mediocre test scores with a class full of high-income students, you get a pretty bad rating, but if you get the same scores with a class full of low-income students, you get a much better rating. At least in theory, that evens out any differences in student populations.

[Anonymous]

The other SES adjustment in Impact that people should know exists is the value-added component. So if you have a third grader reading at a 1st grade level and you get him to a high 2nd grade level you are rewarded for progressing that child a grade, you are not just penalized for him not passing the DC CAS. It is teachers that can move kids like this that IMPACT attempts to reward.

[Anonymous]

What irks me about this is the timing. If you fire 206 teachers in mid-July - who are you going to find to replace them? Most of the good teachers (at least on paper) already have jobs. I'm not against firing for performance (though I still have many issues with Impact and how it is implemented), but this should be happening in the the spring or at the latest to coincide with the end of the school year.

[Anonymous]

I think this is because of how it was negotiated. This is the fiscal year end and notifications are scheduled at this point. However, PP I agree with you that it has a negative effect in getting the most talented teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What irks me about this is the timing. If you fire 206 teachers in mid-July - who are you going to find to replace them? Most of the good teachers (at least on paper) already have jobs. I'm not against firing for performance (though I still have many issues with Impact and how it is implemented), but this should be happening in the the spring or at the latest to coincide with the end of the school year.

This allows DCPS to hire from the stable of TFA teachers they have lined up. These new grads know they will get jobs because they know a couple hundred teachers will be fired and DCPS has a contract to hire TFA teachers.

It's only the fired teachers who get screwed, but no one cares about them because they are ineffective.

[Anonymous]

OP here with the "irk" comment. That's good to know about Teach for America. But, I have a few friends who teach in Fairfax/Arlington who are interested in coming to DCPS. They say that they way DCPS hires is very disorganized and doesn't work for them. While I'm all for TFA - I wouldn't mind getting some stable and experienced teachers from nearby districts too. Does anyone know how many we hire from any of the surrounding counties?

[Anonymous]

After today's headlines, I doubt that very many experienced teachers from other districts would want to come to DCPS. Why would they?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is great news. Do I relish seeing individual teachers lose their jobs? No. But frankly the education of our kids should take priority.

My guess is that after the next few years, you're going to see much less turnover as the teacher corps is professionalized. As it becomes clear to the majority of teachers that they have nothing to fear from IMPACT (and may even stand to gain with bonuses) I think the controversy will be gone in a year or two.

You're an uninformed idiot.

Now there's a compelling response.

There's no point in getting into a mudfight with a pig.

[Anonymous]

Final IMPACT scores can not calculated until DCAS test results are in (mid-July). DCPS needs to expedite this process to be fair to teachers who will be fired/excessed and principals who will need to find their replacements.

Applying for a job in DCPS is now a long process that some highly prospective teachers might not want to deal with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Final IMPACT scores can not calculated until DCAS test results are in (mid-July). DCPS needs to expedite this process to be fair to teachers who will be fired/excessed and principals who will need to find their replacements.

Applying for a job in DCPS is now a long process that some highly prospective teachers might not want to deal with.

I rather doubt that the application process is the major disincentive. IMPACT and serial firings of hundreds of teachers would seem like a major red flag to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Final IMPACT scores can not calculated until DCAS test results are in (mid-July). DCPS needs to expedite this process to be fair to teachers who will be fired/excessed and principals who will need to find their replacements.

Applying for a job in DCPS is now a long process that some highly prospective teachers might not want to deal with.

I rather doubt that the application process is the major disincentive. IMPACT and serial firings of hundreds of teachers would seem like a major red flag to me.

Agreed.

Also, DCPS could care less about hiring experienced teachers. They just want to fire teachers and replace them with TFA's

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do not understand why people are upset that poor performing teachers were fired. Granted I have only taught at the college level but part of my employment review was my student evaluations. This wasnt even quantative data, like test scores, but qualatative data, how they felt about me as a teacher. Why shouldn't test scores be part of their review? We all have employment reviews, why should they be immuned? Hell, it sounds like they are changing test scores anyway.

What's the beef with TFA, too?

If teachers are truly poor performing, fine -- but there's no evidence that IMPACt is truly identifying them.

As for using student evaluations for college teachers -- I think that's a bad idea too - unless the prof is mistreating students and it can be proven.

I bet you wouldn't get in any trouble if a student who missed half your classes and flunked the exams got an F. Imagine your teaching skills being rated on a class full of students like that.

Doesn't DC have truant officers? Maybe some of bureaucrats at Central Office should start doing family visits to get these kids to school. I don't understand why they are missing so much school? I did have to fail students and they took it out on my evaluations but all teachers get some bad reviews. There were also other elements to my review, like an observation and overall grades of my students.