The Problem with How Rhee Fired Teachers

by Valerie Strauss

D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee was entirely correct when she said that “every child in a District of Columbia public school has a right to a highly effective teacher” in every classroom.

But if Rhee really thinks that her IMPACT evaluation system of teachers is going to get the system there, then she is fooling herself, and everybody else who agrees with her.

And this is a problem not only for 165 teachers she fired Friday after they received poor appraisals under the system, but for the rest of the teaching corps in D.C. public schools who have yet to go under the IMPACT scalpel.

Rhee, tough as ever, fired a total of 241 teachers; the others were let go because they did not have the proper licensing, as required by the federal No Child Left Behind law, my colleague Bill Turque wrote in a Washington Post story Saturday.

It may well be that all 165 teachers fired because of bad evaluations under IMPACT were bad at their jobs, but IMPACT isn’t designed well enough to tell, according to a number of teachers and other educators.

According to Turque, about 20 percent of the District’s classroom teachers — all of them reading and math instructors in grades 4 through 8 — were evaluated on student improvement in scores on the District of Columbia Comprehensive Assessment System, or DC CAS. Those were the only grades and subjects for which there is annual test score data from DC CAS. “Value-added” — a misnomer that ranks with the best of them — will constitute 50 percent of their evaluation.

Judging teachers on the test scores of their students is all the rage in school reform these days — thanks so much, Education Secretary Arne Duncan — but, frankly, this is unconscionable for several reasons, not the least of which is that DC CAS wasn’t designed to evaluate teachers. That’s a basic violation of testing law. Ask any evaluation expert.

Think back to an important test you bombed because you were tired, sick or just got brain freeze. How would you like your pay linked to the results?

But there’s more to the evaluation system than mere test scores, and this makes almost as much or, rather, little sense.

Under IMPACT, all teachers are supposed to receive five 30-minute classroom observations during the school year, three by a school administrator and two by an outside “master educator” with a background in the instructor’s subject.

They are scored against a “teaching and learning framework” with 22 different measures in nine categories. Among the criteria are classroom presence, time management, clarity in presenting the objectives of a lesson and ensuring that students across all levels of learning ability understand the material.

A number of teachers never got the full five evaluations, apparently because a number of master teachers hired to do the jobs quit, according to sources in the school system.

But even if they all were, let’s look closely at this: In 30 minutes, a teacher is supposed to demonstrate all 22 different teaching elements. What teacher demonstrates 22 teaching elements — some of which are not particularly related — in 30 minutes? Suppose a teacher takes 30 minutes to introduce new material and doesn’t have time to show. … Oh well. Bad evaluation.

In a 2009 story, Turque wrote: “IMPACT documents suggest that no nuance will be left unexamined in the 30-minute classroom visits. Observers are expected to check every five minutes for the fraction of students paying attention. Teachers are supposed to show that they can tailor instruction to at least three ‘learning styles’ (auditory, visual or tactile, for example). They can lower their scores by ‘using sarcasm that visibly hurts or decreases the comfort of one or more students.’ Among the ways instructors can demonstrate that they are instilling student belief in success is through ‘affirmation chants, poems and cheers.’ ”

And there’s more, which you can see for yourself here.

IMPACT is actually a collection of 20 different evaluation systems for teachers in different capacities and other school personnel. One thing teachers say it does not do is provide enough support for teachers found wanting to improve.

The overall impact of IMPACT is not only unfair but not likely to do the job it is supposed to do: Root out bad teachers. Some great teachers are likely to be tossed out, and others, who know how to play along when the observers come in but don’t do much when they aren’t, could get a pass.

Of course, every school system should fire bad teachers. But they need a sophisticated and fair system to do that, and so far, D.C. doesn’t have one. © 2010 The Washington PostValerie Strauss writes the Answer Sheet blog for the Washington Post. E-mailPrintShareDiscuss Posted in Education 19 Comments so farShow All Comment viewing options Flat list – collapsedFlat list – expandedThreaded list – collapsedThreaded list – expanded Date – newest firstDate – oldest first 10 comments per page30 comments per page50 comments per page70 comments per page90 comments per page150 comments per page200 comments per page250 comments per page300 comments per page nosurrender July 24th, 2010 9:38 pm

The government at all levels seems enamored with the “Impact” style formula. Government grant proposals now are filled with inane questions, repeated many different ways. You can get a certain number of points for each answer, but are given a very limited amount of space in which to answer. You must use the space to repeat the question verbatim back to the grant reviewer, leaving you no space to actually explain what you intend to do with the grant. It is clear from the comments of the government grant reviewers that they are of limited intelligence and are simply counting words and adding up numbers to score the proposals. The system is guaranteed to keep any innovative or creative proposals from being funded.

Now matter how many factors correlate, correlation does not
mean causation: Those bad assessments that are used to torture
students every year that were meant to open up more business
opportunities for test preparation, only indicate that students
can be successful at taking those CAS tests.

If teachers are forced
to use precious classroom time to do CAS test preparation
they are not going to be making the presentation they want to make,
or teach what they know, as professionals, needs to be presented.
Hence, the evaluations, if any, will probably show less variety of
instruction. Administration and their business friends will
get their test scores; however. Those test scores do not provide direct evidence
of ability, or show the knowledge and experience of these education workers
in the classroom.

There is also the assumption that evaluators or raters; observers, as they are
called in the social sciences, are utilizing a methodology that is
science. One must ask why is there a presumption of scientific method in how these professionals are being evaluated?

If the workers evaluated were medical doctors, would journalists find it acceptable that they be evaluated by supervisors and hospital administrators; bureaucrats who might take a few minutes now and then to drop in and watch them at work? Surely, this use of an observer’s rating sheet, or formula must be scrutinized when the jobs of hundreds are at
risk.

Where is the accounting for bias in observation and method of
collecting data which all science requires?

A top down education system makes for a top down caused mess.

It also makes the zero tolerance policies to easy to endorse and enforce.

But does little to improve or enhance education.

>^^<

With the onset of “The Computer Age” with every person of note and otherwise having access to “spreadsheets” where one could measure every moment of every day for “Productivity” and chart “Outcomes”, the teaching profession is little more then an exercise in abstract Mathematics.

Karl Marx said “It is not the conciousness of men that determine their being, but , on the contrary, their social being determines their conciousness.”

This observation can be applied to almost everything. The teacher becomes little more then a function of a spreadsheet. Programmers the world over create for society templates, and software packages into which everything can neatly fit and be analyzed and improved upon by tweaking a formula.

Teachers are no longer people educated at the schools and universities , but are now PRODUCTS and functions of spreadsheets and computer PROGRAMS.

As far as those in charge are concerned the variable in the formula that is the teacher is to be replaced by some Programmed automan. The time will come when people call for the elimination of TEACHER entirely and turn the education of children over to a Computer.

This “computer” can then without fail follow the 22 elements of effective teaching.

As absurd as it all sounds, this is what is happening.

Despite the Computer Age, there are newer methods being developed by teachers all over the world on making interactivity among students and teachers about as lively as face to face. It is just that the US lacks the will to get beyond the anti-social mentality that is making the idea of going computers an even worse idea.

Computers are only tools, If the people useing them know what their doing the process will work fine. If the people are insensitive and do not know their subject anything can happen.

>^^<

I could see the problem with the IMPACT program right off the bat. Five evaluations–three by ADMINISTRATORS and two by master teachers. A person would be hard pressed to find an educational administrator who can recognize good teaching. Let’s face it. Educational administrators became such because they did not want to be in the classroom. In other words, they could not effectively teach so they found a way to preserve their seniority, make more money and not have to face the little monsters in a group situation. It is all part of a medieval labor/management model in which the worker is considered to be clueless and the master has all the answers.
When teaching is recognized as a profession, the same as doctors and lawyers, plumbers and architects, there is a chance that kids will get an education.

As an anti-authoritarian teacher for 30 years, I was sure to get the “difficult” students assigned to my classes by administrators and “guidance counselors” who didn’t like me much–didn’t matter, I liked the snarky kids. I’m glad I’m retired now, though.

The trouble is the “marginally intelligent” (as Ironblood puts it) think everything can be quantified. Not a one of them, being marginally intelligent, recognizes that his very observations are subjective anyway.

As America falls further into chaos, the blame game gets hotter. Our schools are doing exactly what they are supposed to do. Teachers are held in thrall to idiot rules and idiot regulations, enforced by marginally intelligent administrators, who work hard to ensure that students spend most of their productive time getting ready for another meaningless test. What jobs that are available to these kids are boring, meaningless activity – just like the ‘teaching’ that teachers are driven into. The schools are doing the job. Most of the teachers I have ever known have been bright, creative, dedicated people. They really want to give kids an education [which does not mean forcing them to think of history as a list of wars, with dates and generals]. Thinking is hard work, and teaching kids to think is even harder. There is NO one way to do it, and kids benefit from a variety of approaches. That cannot happen when teachers are forced into one mold, one way of presentation, one curriculum.

The best way to judge a teacher’s performance is to check back with each of his students thirty years later.

Michelle Rhee = Dolores Umbridge

Reform marches on! First we got rid of all the bad teaching theories and replaced them with good ones. That didn’t work. Then we fired all the bad public schools and replaced them with good charter schools. That didn’t work. Then all the bad reformers grew old and died and they were replaced with new good reformers. That didn’t work. Then we got rid of al the bad tests and replaced them with good assessments. And that didn’t work. Then we fired all the bad school boards and superintendents and replaced them with good school boards and superintendents. That didn’t work. Then we got the parents involved but the bad parents got involved along with the good ones so that didn’t work. Now in a down economy we can fire all the bad teachers and replace them with good teachers fresh out of Harvard, Princetion, Williams and Brown at least while the economy is in the tank and these good young teachers are waiting for the Investment banking jobs to become available–and besides as teachers they only work part time and get full time benefits. As someone with 37 years of teaching experience I can see that we are getting closer to the real problem and the ultimate solution–getting rid of the bad students and replacing them with good ones. Simple. Or what would Sarah Palin do?

Great post!!

Would she make lemonade out of lemons? Or make hay while the sun shines? Like create a private industry with profits in the billions for creating the tests, and the text books, and the reading programs school districts are being forced to buy … and, let’s give our rich friends new lucrative teaching jobs with regular bonuses.

Now that schools are following a corporate model, they are sure to succeed, and the kids will be so much smarter, and the teachers so much better.

I think Rhee should be evaluated teaching for five 30-minute intervals and demonstrating how it’s done and her effectiveness proven by a pop quiz given the students right afterwards.

Yeah, she would fail in a heartbeat. I wonder how all those students feel about getting their teachers fired?

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