Michelle Rhee fires 241 under performing teachers in Washington. Can you fire your way to better schools?
Washington, D.C., school Chancellor Michelle Rhee is drawing national attention for her ambitious reforms in the nation’s Capitol and for her no-nonsense management style that includes firing teachers she feels are not producing student gains.
Michelle Rhee, chancellor of Washington public schools, announced today that 241 teachers will be fired.
Today, the District of Columbia Public Schools announced the firing of 241 teachers for poor classroom performance. Teachers are being evaluated under a new detailed accountability system called IMPACT that looks at student progress, using what is commonly called a growth model.
In addition, 737 employees rated “minimally effective” by the new rating standard have a year to improve or face dismissal next year.
The academic growth of their students account for half of a teacher’s evaluation; most of the rest of the evaluation hinge on detailed classroom observations of the teacher.
The mass firings prompted this response from American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, who doubts the efficacy of firing your way to better schools. She argues the solution is helping teachers become better:
Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s signature education philosophy appears to be that you can hire and fire your way to better schools. Rhee fired more than 75 teachers last year under her old evaluation system. Last November, she used a budget crisis as an excuse to dismiss another 266. Today, the initial implementation of the new IMPACT system already has resulted in terminations of more than 200 teachers. Questions have been raised not only about the validity of IMPACT, but about the chancellor’s penchant for firing teachers rather than providing supports to develop their skills.
Mass firings such as these, and questions about the validity and reliability of IMPACT, are precisely why DCPS agreed with the American Federation of Teachers and the Washington Teachers’ Union and signed two side letters to the contract dealing with the system. One letter calls for an independent review, and the other provides teachers with an opportunity to share their concerns regarding the IMPACT system.
Our hope is that the recently approved contract for DCPS teachers will usher in much-needed changes for District schools. The terms of the contract call for all teachers to receive targeted professional development throughout their careers, with particular support for new teachers and for those who need specific supports.
Firing teachers en masse may sound to some like strong action is being taken, but in the absence of real professional supports and valid teacher evaluations systems, it simply perpetuates a destructive and failing strategy. Rhee’s approach ignores the fact that good teaching is much more of a learned skill than it is innate. All of us who have taught know this. Our common goal must be to improve teaching and learning so that the children educated in the District’s public schools are prepared to succeed in college, work and life.
Chancellor Rhee has numerous tools available to her in the contract we recently reached. She has a responsibility to follow the lead of school systems that successfully use such tools to develop highly skilled teaching forces, rather than stubbornly adhering to the destructive cycle of “fire, hire, repeat.”
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233 comments Add your comment
Ole Guy
July 23rd, 2010
9:17 pm
In order to protect their jobs, how will the surviving teachers react? This would be an excellent opportunity for the survivors to “enhance” the art of grade inflation.
It is alltogether possible that 241 teachers were deemed under performing because their students were making the lousy grades they deserved. With educational leadership like this, Georgia and D.C. may soon be battling for the bottom rung on the National educational scene.
@ abe
July 23rd, 2010
9:19 pm
What if it is NOT? I am tired of waiting … It’s time to act.
E Pluribus Unum
July 23rd, 2010
9:20 pm
@Bob- That was my point- Where is the evidence ? The assertion could be correct
,but because a person states that 241 teachers fired were “bad” teachers doesn’t
mean that they were worse than other teachers kept. Didn’t we just go through a
well publicized example of people jumping to conclusions on limited information ?
abe
July 23rd, 2010
9:20 pm
“Her “destructive” policies, in spite of continued union interference and outrage from ineffective (former) staff have landed DC in the top tier of schools NATIONALLY in terms of improvements in math and other scores. ”
Give me the evidence. I can give you a lot of counter evidence, including the fact that the amount of increase under Rhee has slowed, and was greater before she came. Shall we discuss this?
abe
July 23rd, 2010
9:26 pm
Vince,
You said “I like the growth model to look at teacher effectiveness. It is the only fair way to judge impact.”
Judging student growth is much more complicated than a standardized test. I used to work in business, and business is easy compared to education. With education you are often dealing with emotionally and psychological injured children. In business, people with emotionally and psychological problems are fired (and often end up in jail or homeless). In education, you can’t fire emotionally and psychologically injured children. You have to stay with them.
And in business, an employee can quit a job. A child cannot quit education until they are 16.
abe
July 23rd, 2010
9:29 pm
“How did this country manage to develop
the technological advances in the past 50 years without the laser focus on test scores as the
dominant focus ?”
The tests you took in school were curriculum based tests. In order words, it is based on what you were taught in class.
The tests Rhee is judging the teachers by is of another kind, it’s a standardized test. It is not directly based on the curriculum.
By the way, when I went to graduate school we never had tests. We had projects and practicums instead. I learned far more from the projects and practicums than I ever did memorizing from a test.
abe
July 23rd, 2010
9:44 pm
Let me tell you something about standardized tests, the ones Rhee is using to fire teachers.
Say you have two children. Child A’s parents are from India. The parents speak Hindi or Urdu at home and amoung relatives. So Child A hears Hindi amoung the family. But when she goes out to the neighborhood and play, she speaks English. She also speaks English at the park district, in the stores and in the library.
Now you have Child B. His parents are from Mexico. The parents speak Spanish at home and amoung relatives. So Child A hears Spanish amoung the family. However, when he goes out to the neighborhood and plays, he speaks Spanish. He also speaks Spanish at the park district, in the stores and in the library. The only time he hears English is from his teacher or on TV, even on the playground he hears Spanish.
Which child is more fluent in English, Child A or Child B? Of course, Child A is. The problem with standardized tests for Child B is that he doesn’t have the English fluency to pass it at grade level, because he can’t speak English at grade level. I know because I have taught many Child B’s.
Another problem with standardized tests is that they are written in white English grammar. For many African American children they only hear white English grammar from their teachers and the TV. The rest of their life they hear Black English grammar. So when they write essays for the tests they write in Black English grammar. Although they are quite fluent in black English, they are marked down for using it. I know this because I’ve given plenty of standardized tests to African American students and I have seen it happen time after time.
This is so evident in education when you teach minorities I don’t understand why Michelle Rhee doesn’t take it into account.
David S
July 23rd, 2010
9:48 pm
You most certainly can – fire everyone. Then when the dust settles, let the private and charity market operate under truly free market conditions (absolutely no government involvement except to provide a judicial process to address force or fraud). The problem will not be solved overnight, but we will finally be on the right path. We will never reach that goal on the path we are on today.
Happy Teacher
July 23rd, 2010
9:57 pm
ST671 – I believe an “amazing” teacher will stand out in most any environment, no matter how deep the morass, especially when compared to peers. And I think it is rather self defeating to look around and say,”Well, problems all sround, so I’m going to hold myself less accountable.” Yet, I truly believe this happens all the time.
Our school culture is the product of the vision of our leadership, but the daily, rigorous application of that vision is done by the teachers and wouldn’t exist without us. I believe that teachers create the culture of the school, and that administrators can provide little more than a vision. The negativity in our profession is overwhelming, to the point that we have completely lost sight of thee enormous power we have. By blaming parents and administrators for all of our woes, we have given them all the power over our careers.
I do think that motivated teachers can improve with the right kind of development, but I seriously doubt that this type of teacher was the one fired in DC. I think a lot of teachers have an inflated self-opinion of their skills and are generally resistant to real change. It’s unfortunate, but from what I have observed across many schools, it’s true more than it should be.
And yes, giving too much responsibility can be a problem, but my experience this past year was so far outside the norm that it is useless as real “data” to evaluate. But I will say that in my years in a public school, I never felt like I was asked to do too much, though there were some deadlines that felt arbitrary and rushed.
A Unique One
July 23rd, 2010
10:01 pm
The MOST pathetic thing here is that someone believes that a woman that came in after ONLY teaching for 2 years before she found some nonprofit philanthropic morons to say she is qualified to lead a group that she never truly followed is ridiculous. One CANNOT run education like a business because guess what? The degree of what every teacher receives is different. You cannot tell me that alllllllllll of these teachers are sorry. Please. Get a grip. And the sad thing for her is that her day will run out just as soon as these bureaucrats get off one sided measures of accountability and on towards reality which is the society as a whole. She will lose her job soon. Mark my words. To fire these many people during a recession because you are trying to please politicians. The pendulum is swinging again and you reap what you sow more than you sow and later than you sow. PS If she’s the strong leader she is, anybody knows that growth in HUMANS/education should be measured w/in 3-5 years (learned in leadership 101). pathetic and a waste of time.
Witch on a witch hunt
July 23rd, 2010
10:06 pm
Google Michelle Rhee covers up Kevin Johnson minor scandal and you’ll see all you need to see that Michelle Rhee has little to no ethics.
Witch on a witch hunt
July 23rd, 2010
10:07 pm
I wonder if Louise Kowitch would say You Go Girl if her daughter was one of the girls Kevin Johnson interacted with.
Witch on a witch hunt
July 23rd, 2010
10:15 pm
“Rhee, Obama, Duncan…all Democrats. Time to get past labels, because if Democrats have started to see that weak teachers are dragging down the profession, it can’t simply dismissed as partisan politics.”
Sure it can happy teacher. It’s the Democrats vision that the nanny state is responsible for solving problems, not the individual taking personal responsibility, so if we spend billions on an entrenched bureaucracy that calls on more “teacher training” to solve all education problems, it fits right into the partisan agenda.
One just has to take the blinders off and look at the educational leaders they have supported, despite the scandals they have been involved with.
Happy Teacher
July 23rd, 2010
10:17 pm
Holding adults (teachers) responsible for the job they do is a “nanny state”? Supporting children, even if they have terrible parents is a “nanny state”?
Ok.
Fired Up
July 23rd, 2010
10:24 pm
A friend of mine was fired about 10 years ago from a DC school because he had too many kids failing and would not change the grades. He told the principal to change the grades so the principal fired him.
Education is like plumbing . . . it starts from the top and flows downhill. When systems implement ridiculous policies that undermine the profession, then of course their teaching and student learning is affected. What’s wrong with correlating classroom grades to standardized test scores? If there were really “truth in grading” policies, then we really wouldn’t even need to have standardized test scores (except to appease politicians). If a child is not performing up to expectations, then it should be up to them, parent(s) and student, to seek additional help, not solely the teacher’s responsibility. It’s the teacher’s job to let the student and parent(s) know where the student is at before a standardized test, it’s called classroom grades or “truth in grading.” I worked at a school where students could not receive a zero for not turning in any work; they were giving a 49. If they made below a 50%, we had to give them a 50, per “management.” If we did not abide by this policy then you deemed a “bad” teacher!
Let’s face it, if want YOUR child to succeed, then YOU have to teach them; the classroom teacher will facilitate their learning.
ScienceTeacher671
July 23rd, 2010
10:26 pm
Happy Teacher, I thought this was only your 2nd or 3rd year teaching?
Happy Teacher
July 23rd, 2010
10:28 pm
Just started my 4th (5th if you count the year I subbed…). Why?
Flavio do Leme
July 23rd, 2010
10:33 pm
I told y’all that this woman is crazy as h_ll.
Concerned 1
July 23rd, 2010
10:34 pm
Does the AJC fire 100 reporters because readership goes down? Right…other factors you say, oh could be intellect of metro readers, competition of other media…a whole host of things you say? Excuses, excused…. It has to be the quality of the reporters. Let’s see, try this 6 week journalist crash course and make sure you have quotas to reach. Who cares what the stories are about as long as we reach our quota. Back to the trenches.
Concerned 1
July 23rd, 2010
10:35 pm
Right…filter.
ScienceTeacher671
July 23rd, 2010
10:36 pm
Happy Teacher, I think that some teachers are better than others, and I think there are a few exceptional teachers who stand out in any school – just as there are exceptional salesmen, engineers, doctors, lawyers, etc.
I think the culture of a school starts with the administration – are teachers supported? Is there discipline? Do the students feel that teachers and staff care about them? Does the administration stifle or support teaching and learning? Are the paperwork burdens manageable, or are teachers buried in administrivia? Is a collegial atmosphere promoted? Then you have the question of whether or not parents value and support education.
I also think the administration can help influence whether new (and more experienced) teachers improve or whether they burn out and leave the profession early. When new teachers are given the “worst” classes and students; when they are given the “hardest” preps and too many preps for a new teacher to manage; when they aren’t mentored adequately — new teachers can be set up for failure.
JEM
July 23rd, 2010
10:36 pm
I teach in a school where about a third of the teachers are inept. It is obvious to those of us who work hard and care about the students who these people are. We don’t need test scores to label them. But, of course, when CRCT scores came out, these teachers’ classes bombed it. They made the school not make AYP. So, yes, fire these teachers. The students deserve more than what they have been getting from them. No more excuses in a time when many fine teachers can’t get a job.
ScienceTeacher671
July 23rd, 2010
10:41 pm
Happy Teacher, asked about your years of experience because your 9:57 post makes it sound as if you’ve been teaching for at least a decade in several different districts.
Happy Teacher
July 23rd, 2010
10:43 pm
ST – I agree with some of your points, but I also feel that some are reflective of how the majority of teachers, new and experienced, wait for others to make changes and improvements for them, instead of being proactive about creating their own environment. I know that doesn’t work for everyone, all the time, but it is tried too infrequently and without being proactive, it is much easier for a toxic environment to develop.
Happy Teacher
July 23rd, 2010
10:47 pm
ST- My certification route and masters program, plus pd opportunities I have had have allowed me to spend a LOT of time in different schools, observing lots of teachers. Plus, I consistently volunteered in schools during my previous career, which was what inspired me to change careers.
Witch on a witch hunt
July 23rd, 2010
10:54 pm
Happy Teacher holding teachers for the job they do, but then not letting them do that job by refusing to support them in holding students accountable is in fact nanny state thinking.
What if Maureen couldn’t ban anyone, no matter how vile, profane or abusive to others a group of posters, were and as a result readership dropped. Would you hold Maureen accountable for the number of readers because she “didn’t make the subject matter interesting enough that only good posters posted” or would you hold the person who refused to ban anyone accountable?
And did you totally avoided the question of if this isn’t about politics, how is the Obama administration supporting educational leaders who have demonstrated reprehensible ethics?
And that isn’t partisan. Bush did it too; Google Houston Miracle if you want to know that sleazy story.
Happy Teacher
July 23rd, 2010
10:55 pm
I looked at your “story” and didn’t find sourcing credible enough to comment on.
ScienceTeacher671
July 23rd, 2010
10:57 pm
HT, I worked in a “toxic” school one year. Many of the teachers seemed totally miserable, and gave the impression that they’d leave the classroom in a heartbeat if they could get another job. The principal was prone to long intercom rants filled with threats of punishments for students when something displeased him, but he rarely if ever followed through with those threats. He would secretly tape classes over the same intercom, and stand outside classroom doors listening, and if he heard something he didn’t like he was liable to burst into the classroom and berate the teacher in front of the students.
This was before the days of standardized testing, but I can’t imagine that school would have made AYP.
Witch on a witch hunt
July 23rd, 2010
10:58 pm
If DC teachers reps didn’t include in their contract specific language as to how teachers would be supported in terms of chronically and severely disruptive students whose insubordination and defying of teachers’ authority hijacks the learning process, then those reps sold their teachers out, pure and simple.
Witch on a witch hunt
July 23rd, 2010
11:00 pm
And let me guess, Happy Teacher, you haven’t found any credible sources that would implicate any leaders of any school systems in the largest cheating scandal in Georgia’s educational history either right?
Happy Teacher
July 23rd, 2010
11:02 pm
Oh no! Trust me, right there with you on the cheating thing! I see first hand the damage that has done to children and families, but I see little connection to the topic at hand. Though I’m sure you are about to regale me…
Witch on a witch hunt
July 23rd, 2010
11:02 pm
Forget the 11:00 snark, and deal with a real question of ethics Happy Teacher.
What if Maureen couldn’t ban anyone, no matter how vile, profane or abusive to others a group of posters, were and as a result readership dropped. Would you hold Maureen accountable for the number of readers because she “didn’t make the subject matter interesting enough that only good posters posted” or would you hold the person who refused to ban anyone accountable?
If we are going to hold teachers accountable, don’t we have a moral and ethical obligation to allow them to hold students accountable for behavior and academics? Are you convinced that’s happening in DC?
ScienceTeacher671
July 23rd, 2010
11:04 pm
One post in the filter….
I have seen some evidence that teachers with higher SAT/ACT scores etc. and better college achievement also do better at improving student achievement.
The question is, how do you attract more of the “better” students to teaching as a career? It doesn’t pay as well and it doesn’t command as much respect as many other fields for which those students would qualify, and requirements for admission to schools of education are ridiculously low.
justbrowsing
July 23rd, 2010
11:07 pm
@Retired Teacher: Good teachers are not required to stay past 4pm to prove they are good teachers- I have seen effective teachers who left at 4 do as well or better than those who stayed until 6. Let’s not forget that teaching is a craft that works when you work it.
As for Michelle Rhee: Next- she will never set the model for others to follow as she so aspires. She equates to pure ignorance in my opinion. An educrat who loves the spotlight and political grandstanding.
Happy Teacher
July 23rd, 2010
11:12 pm
I think the Maureen analogy is weak, because teachers are dealing with children, from questionable (at best) backgrounds, often with little to no upbringing. Does this situation suck? Yup. Does it put teachers in terrible positions? Yup. But it’s the reality of the job. Do I wish that students had more accountability? Yes, but as the teacher in the room, I also recognize that I am too close to most situations to see the big picture clearly. And though I feel there are some terrible administrators out there, I think the right thing gets done an overwhelming majority of the time. I’m sure we could trade anecdotes all night, but I think it is just a cop-out to constantly point all blame outwards.
Witch on a witch hunt
July 23rd, 2010
11:13 pm
Here’s the basic problem Happy Teacher, as presented in the hypothetical about the blog. Holding teachers “accountable” in isolation, and not holding others who affect their performance accountable, is as moral and ethical as the steering wheel responsible for the way a car with four flat tires is driving.
And neither party has been ethical enough to address it.
Happy Teacher
July 23rd, 2010
11:17 pm
I’ve always enjoyed filling out evaluations of my administrators. And in my career, I’ve seen more administrators fired than teachers, so I guess I just don’t see things the same way you do.
Witch on a witch hunt
July 23rd, 2010
11:19 pm
“And though I feel there are some terrible administrators out there, I think the right thing gets done an overwhelming majority of the time.”
40,000 falsified discipline incidents in Gwinnett indicates things are being done right “most of the time”?
40 schools in APS saying they had zero discipline incidents because “perhaps our reforms are working so well, there are no discipline problem to report” indicates things are being done right most of the time?
A Public Agenda survey on teachers, indicating over 50% of them say they don’t get proper administrative support and are too frequently second guessed indicates things are “being done right most of the time”?
“Most of the time” no one is getting blown up in Kabul, Afghanistan. Would you extrapolate therefore the situation is therefore ok?
Happy Teacher
July 23rd, 2010
11:20 pm
Wow, equating schools to a war? Hmmm…
Have a good night.
Witch on a witch hunt
July 23rd, 2010
11:24 pm
It’s called an analogy Happy Teacher. Again why avoid the other points I brought up. Are they truly “isolated incidents” in your book, and not a sign of a systemic problem?
Is it morally right to hold teachers accountable for a performance if we don’t provide them with the authority to do their jobs?
I’m sure Ron Clark holds teachers accountable. But he also establishes the primacy of the teacher as adult authority figure in the classroom. Has Michelle Rhee done the same?
Witch on a witch hunt
July 23rd, 2010
11:36 pm
“And in my career, I’ve seen more administrators fired than teachers, so I guess I just don’t see things the same way you do.”
Don’t see them the same, or don’t want to see them the same? Maybe choosing not to be aware of certain realities makes one a Happy Teacher so whose to blame you?
really
July 23rd, 2010
11:52 pm
went to the Washington post blogs and some of the same things being said about education.
guess its nationwide how bad NCLB and testing has brought our public schools to its knees
Nikole
July 23rd, 2010
11:59 pm
@ Happy Teacher—There is no way you have taught in a school with high poverty, serious discipline problems, no parental involvement and more than 50% eligible for early intervention or special ed services. I could teach tap dancing from the ceiling and children would still ignore me. Six year olds can repeatedly stab me with pencils and their mothers will say “Ok, I’ll try and talk to him”. Etc. etc. etc. There is no way you teach in such a stifling environment. Your perspective would definitely be different. I don’t have too much self-esteem as a teacher, but I will not allow a child that does not care about what I am sharing with them to make feel like a failure. You’re fooling yourself if you think that factors outside of a teacher’s control have no impact on a student’s achievement. The fact that your mom let you stay up all night to watch Flavor of Love, and now you are sleep during math hurts a first grader’s achievement. The fact that your mom brings you to school 40 minutes later every day hurts a first grader’s achievement. There are at least a million things that can be listed and I would have seen them all in my class or in my school. You definitely could not have experienced many of these issues.
Why do you Hate happy teachers
July 24th, 2010
12:07 am
Seems that whenever a teacher gets on the blog and says he likes his job, he’s treated like a freak. If you all hate teaching so much, quit. Don’t knock the rest of who love what we do and do it well. Stop blaming the kids for your own shortcomings. The bitter teachers on here give the rest of us a bad name.
Witch on a witch hunt
July 24th, 2010
12:08 am
It’s a question of ethics Happy Teacher. Is it ethical to hold a teacher accountable to do her job, yet don’t give her the tools to do her job as far as supporting here in the essential task of holding students accountable for academics and behavior?
Can anybody provide any evidence that Michelle Rhea has acted ethically in that regard before firing teachers?
William Casey
July 24th, 2010
12:09 am
People seem to forget that schools are highly political institutions. Two incidents brought it home for me:
1. I was fired as Dean of Students (returned to classroom teaching) at Chattahoochee H.S. in 1997 because I championed a program to deal with our widespread cheating problem (yes, kids at high performing scools cheat, too.) I involved faculty, students & parents in the process. Did it right. The Principal decided that making such a big deal out of it would hinder his career advancement. He was right, he squashed me (and many others) and retired last year as Associate Superintendent of something or other.
2. In 2004, I was back in the classroom at Northview when Board Member Katie Reeves called for my head because she had heard that I was teaching liberal propaganda. Principal Peter Zervakos did the right thing (possibly doing harm to his career prospects), investigated and found that my lessons had been “fair and balanced.” Happy ending. But, what if the other guy had been at Northview?
It’s all politics, baby. There are some bad teachers, but very few who aren’t redeemable by good leadership.
William Casey
July 24th, 2010
12:14 am
I was mostly a happy teacher. It was a “calling” for me during my 31 years. I had LOTS of good students. But, many teachers don’t. When GM is asked to make quality cars out of pine straw and then held accountable, I’ll give creedence to the opinions of “business types.”
witch on a witch hunt
July 24th, 2010
12:40 am
“When GM is asked to make quality cars out of pine straw and then held accountable, I’ll give creedence to the opinions of “business types.””
And what does a GM exec recommend for employees who continually A) don’t show up B) don’t work when they show up C) curse and otherwise verbally abuse others who are trying to work and D) act completely insubordinate and even threatening when management addresses the issue?
I think they recommend termination. So when the business folks will grant teachers the authority to remove those who are that hell-bent on disruption, exactly like they would do in the same boat.
And please don’t use the lame excuse that they are “children”. I’m sure if the employee in question was 18, like some many high school students, they wouldn’t tolerate the behavior because he’s a “child.”
witch on a witch hunt
July 24th, 2010
12:41 am
Nikole, I’m sure there were plenty of soldiers in Fort Dix, NJ who were saying we’d have won in Vietnam if “the solders” would only fix their attitudes.
witch on a witch hunt
July 24th, 2010
12:43 am
“In 2004, I was back in the classroom at Northview when Board Member Katie Reeves called for my head because she had heard that I was teaching liberal propaganda.”
Sounds like some classic micromanaging, but being Fulton, not the least bit surprised that SACS ignored it.