The Echo

Rhee to Dismiss Hundreds of Teachers for Poor Performance

By Stephen Sawchuk on July 23, 2010 11:53 AM

District of Columbia schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee plans to dismiss 302 employees, mostly for poor performance, the chancellor said this morning in an interview. They will be separated from the system as of August 13.

The results include the first full year of the district's new, rigorous teacher-evaluation system, known as IMPACT.

According to Rhee, 241 of the dismissals were of teachers who failed to meet performance standards. Most of those teachers garnered an "ineffective" rating on IMPACT. A handful of others are "excessed" teachers with a "minimally effective" rating who couldn't find new teaching positions in the district. And finally, some are being let go for licensure issues, such as not attaining "highly qualified" status under the No Child Left Behind Act, Ms. Rhee said.

The results also showed that 16 percent of the D.C. teaching corps attained the top rating on IMPACT. Those teachers will be eligible to earn performance bonuses, Ms. Rhee said.

D.C. has about 4,000 teachers in all.

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