More than 200 D.C. teachers fired

The District fired 206 teachers for poor performance Friday, the second year in a row it has dismissed significant numbers of educators for sub-par work in the classroom.


They were dismissed for poor scores on the evaluation system known as IMPACT, which grades teachers on five 30-minute classroom observations and their compliance with nine broad standards. These include ability to express course content clearly, teach students with differing skill levels and manage time effectively. For some teachers, half of their appraisal is contingent on whether students meet predicted growth targets on standardized tests.


Large-scale dismissals of teachers for job performance is still a rarity in big city schools, experts say. Collective bargaining agreements and often-cumbersome appeals processes, combined with a reluctance on the part of officials to confront politically potent unions, have limited firings.


Read more at: More than 200 D.C. teachers fired - D.C. Schools Insider - The Washington Post

Thoughts?
Comments?
Response?

Sounds to me like DC is doing what every school district in the country should be doing. In other words, common sense has prevailed.

Grim17 said:

Sounds to me like DC is doing what every school district in the country should be doing. In other words, common sense has prevailed.

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So you have a detailed and intimate knowledge of both the DC educational system as well as every other school district in America?

When you take on The Teacher's Union and all the incompetence and corruption it protects......da childen and America win.....

.....or we can hold hands with the Teacher's Union and get more of the HusSame......we know what that delivers......

Report: Nearly Half Of Detroiters Can’t Read « CBS Detroit

Out of over 100,000 public school teachers in Michigan, only nine were fired last year | Mark Hemingway | Beltway Confidential | Washington Examiner
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haymarket said:

So you have a detailed and intimate knowledge of both the DC educational system as well as every other school district in America?

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Why would detailed or intimate knowledge be required to form an opinion? Do I have to be the weather man to tell you its raining?

The education system sucks no matter how much money we throw at it in large part due to the fact that it is difficult to fire bad teachers. And Tenure is a horrible notion.

Do you take issue with the firing of bad teachers? Do you take issue with any of the standards by which they were evaluated?

If a teacher has poor work performance then that's grounds to fire them. Poor work performance shouldn't be given slack in areas as important as education. Also, just because they are public employees doesn't mean they should receive flack and be allowed to be a problem in the education system. I'm sure there are competent, hard working, and education driven teachers who can be hired to take their spot.

my opinion is that policies like these are going to result in no teacher wanting to teach the kids who need the most help.

a school is not a business, as a student cannot be classified as a defective or underperforming product. a business can discontinue an unsuccessful product; a school cannot.

What's the alternative? Knowingly keep on ineffective teacherss? Or just hide your head in the sand - what you don't know can't hurt?

Helix said:

my opinion is that policies like these are going to result in no teacher wanting to teach the kids who need the most help.

a school is not a business, as a student cannot be classified as a defective or underperforming product. a business can discontinue an unsuccessful product; a school cannot.

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The Teacher's Unions runs Public Schools like the UAW runs Automotive Plants.............into the ground........

....."Kids are not Cars"........
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Badmutha said:

The Teacher's Unions runs Public Schools like the UAW runs Automotive Plants.............into the ground........

....."Kids are not Cars"........
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Politicians ruin education eg Scopes monkey trail.

And management should have adapted quicker to the rice burner invasion of the 70's.

Taylor said:

What's the alternative? Knowingly keep on ineffective teacherss? Or just hide your head in the sand - what you don't know can't hurt?

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perhaps hold parents more accountable. reward parents for pushing their kids to value education and perform. perhaps lower fees for parents / students who agree to follow a set program, or even tax credits for families who sign up.

the best teacher in the world would be challenged to motivate a student whose parents do not value education and demand results from their children.

haymarket said:

So you have a detailed and intimate knowledge of both the DC educational system as well as every other school district in America?

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Are you that blinded by politics that you will actually defend the jobs of sub-standard teachers?

Really?

TheDemSocialist said:

The District fired 206 teachers for poor performance Friday, the second year in a row it has dismissed significant numbers of educators for sub-par work in the classroom.


They were dismissed for poor scores on the evaluation system known as IMPACT, which grades teachers on five 30-minute classroom observations and their compliance with nine broad standards. These include ability to express course content clearly, teach students with differing skill levels and manage time effectively. For some teachers, half of their appraisal is contingent on whether students meet predicted growth targets on standardized tests.


Large-scale dismissals of teachers for job performance is still a rarity in big city schools, experts say. Collective bargaining agreements and often-cumbersome appeals processes, combined with a reluctance on the part of officials to confront politically potent unions, have limited firings.


Read more at: More than 200 D.C. teachers fired - D.C. Schools Insider - The Washington Post

Thoughts?
Comments?
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I say good. Teachers just like any other employee in the world should be fired on the spot for poor performance. There should be no such thing as tenure nor should there be an expensive and lengthy appeals process just to fire a teacher. The goal of education is to educated children and prepare them for adult so they can get jobs and or go to college, not have secured employment for lousy teachers. The education of children is more important than the job security of teachers. As far as I know we do not have to go through a costly and lengthy process just to fire lousy firefighters, garbage men, police officers, janitors employed by the state or city, secretaries, dog catcher accountants and who ever the state and city employ.

Grim17 said:

Are you that blinded by politics that you will actually defend the jobs of sub-standard teachers?

Really?

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I think he believes every employee should get to go through a lengthy and costly appeals process to be fired no matter how lousy that employee is.

If D.C. was LA...........

L.A. school district spent millions firing just seven teachers; paid $50,000 bribes to dozens more | Mark Hemingway | Beltway Confidential | Washington Examiner

....it would of cost 100 million dollars to fire those 200 subprime teachers.........with only 40 teachers ultimately being fired.

This is the system and the insanity liberals and Democrats defend.........sacrificing the education of millions of American children in the name of protecting incompetence, corruption, and DNC Union dues.
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Badmutha said:

If D.C. was LA...........

L.A. school district spent millions firing just seven teachers; paid $50,000 bribes to dozens more | Mark Hemingway | Beltway Confidential | Washington Examiner

....it would of cost 100 million dollars to fire those 200 subprime teachers.........with only 40 teachers ultimately being fired.

This is the system and the insanity liberals and Democrats defend.........sacrificing the education of millions of American children in the name of protecting incompetence, corruption, and DNC Union dues.
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Its because of crap like this why schools do the dance of the lemons.And that's why I do not buy the lets blame the parents nonsense that so many try to spew in defense of bad teachers.

jamesrage said:

Its because of crap like this why schools do the dance of the lemons.And that's why I do not buy the lets blame the parents nonsense that so many try to spew in defense of bad teachers.

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Tis true.....

For there will always be and have always been Bad Parents......Bad Fathers....Bad...Muthas.......

.....but we havent always had Bad Teachers........until the Teacher's Union and Democrat Party began protecting, tenuring, and promoting them.
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Badmutha said:

Tis true.....

For there will always be and have always been Bad Parents......Bad Fathers....Bad...Muthas.......

.....but we havent always had Bad Teachers........until the Teacher's Union and Democrat Party began protecting, tenuring, and promoting them.
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Yep go figure until the unions came along everything was just perfect... Its all the unions fault.... AGAIN.:roll:

TheDemSocialist said:

Yep go figure until the unions came along everything was just perfect... Its all the unions fault.... AGAIN.:roll:

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When you do someday admit to Reality......THAT UNIONS PROTECT BAD TEACHERS........you will realize where the lion's share of the blame should fall.

Perhaps when the day comes when your Married with Chidlren.......and baring witness to a Public School System that has excelled in dumbing down your children.........in exchange for a King's ransom.........you will realize there is a better way.

For it's the same "Everyone gets a Trophy" Crowd........that believes "Everyone can be a teacher, no matter how bad".......and pay DNC Union dues......that will someday show you its not at all about da childen......its about the money and propagting the lie and utter fraud that is Liberalism.
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jamesrage said:

I think he believes every employee should get to go through a lengthy and costly appeals process to be fired no matter how lousy that employee is.

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Or maybe he thinks the "due process" idea is also useful in other areas, like when it comes to an employee possibly being fired for spurious reasons so to prevent that maybe somebody should stick up for that employee just in case.

Take, for example, the ACORN video and the other video with that lady who got fired due to that other Breitbart video. Or the UAW guys on video drinking during lunch. Maybe it turns out that one of the guys in the video was just smoking a cigarette. The prejudgmental person would fire them all on the spot. The rational person would have an investigation occur to make sure that an innocent person didn't get canned.

Incidentally, haymarket was not "defending the jobs of substandard teachers" at all. He was suggesting that maybe you guys don't actually have enough data to declare that this is some major epidemic across the whole country.

Helix said:

perhaps hold parents more accountable. reward parents for pushing their kids to value education and perform. perhaps lower fees for parents / students who agree to follow a set program, or even tax credits for families who sign up.

the best teacher in the world would be challenged to motivate a student whose parents do not value education and demand results from their children.

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I agree with much of this, but these teachers were evaluated directly on five separate occaisions, and rated very low in their ability to follow an explain course content, manage time, etc. There are low performers in every profession, teaching included (just look at the mass conspiracy unfolding in Atlanta). We can't always blame it on the parents.

Pro-active parents are yes, the first best line of defense in fighting poor students. Only a fool argues this point. HOWEVER, next in line is the talent, and ability of the teachers. Active parents can help over come poor teachers, and good teachers can overcome worthless parents to a degree. You cannot save a kid from parents that are indifferent, but you can fire ****ty teachers.

Badmutha said:

L.A. school district spent millions firing just seven teachers; paid $50,000 bribes to dozens more | Mark Hemingway | Beltway Confidential | Washington Examiner

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that is a very important story

i'm a career california public school teacher, hi school math, east bay

the wash ex lays out exactly how my industry is defined

i wonder why the 200 in dc went so easily---they musta really been bad, their districts musta really got something on em

that, or for whatever reasons, the union decided not to stand up for em

the situation in los angeles illustrates the level of commitment a school adminstrator makes when he or she determines that a given teacher is underperforming

from the ex: "moreover, 66 unnamed teachers are being continually recycled through a costly mentoring and retraining program but failing to improve, and another 400 anonymous teachers have been ordered to attend the retraining"

look at those "failing to improve"

any principal can sign that problem off his or her things-to-do with a simple check of a box

the point---there are an awful lot of not corrupt but lazy and ineffective teachers out there that principals are not gonna write up cuz...

who needs the headache

there really are a lot of teachers who simply lack ability---she doesn't get the math or he can't control the kids...

there are many oldsters with a been-there-done-that cynicism that can dominate staff meetings and intimidate admin trying to get a staff excited about something

stuff like that

but they're almost all good, upstanding, decent professionals, my colleagues, i've hardly met one who isn't

we need reforms

if our states are broke because of our health care or pensions, we need to kick in more

if our staffs are being decimated while we continue block schedules giving each of us 100 minutes of prep per day, we should teach an extra class

if our districts are under because they are not allowed to shop around for health care cuzza deals made by our unions, those deals should be redone

etc

Taylor said:

these teachers were evaluated directly on five separate occaisions, and rated very low

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not only that, they were evaluated by hi school or middle or elementary school principals or vice principals with a very strong incentive not to open THAT can of worms

i'll tell you, i've seen quite a few teachers rated "satisfactory" by my vp's over the years who woulda been FIRED by my mom if she coulda seen em work

MrVicchio said:

Active parents can help over come poor teachers, and good teachers can overcome worthless parents to a degree.

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To a great deal apparently. I read of a program in a Colorado school - 50% minority, most likely hispanic. Kids were given intense reading instruction each morning, lots of 1 on 1 as coaches, music teachers pitched in during the designated time. Not only that, teachers called parents whenever homework wasn't turned in, and sometimes went to their homes. A little too in-your-face for my taste... but at the end of the year this group of low income minority students outscored every other school in the state, including the highly selective schools for gifted students. Reminded me of that movie 'Stand by Me' and just goes to show there is no substitute for hard work. That lesson is as valuable to the kids as the reading itself.