Project Description

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The District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) is still haunted by policies from the failed Michelle Rhee era, this time with the revelation of flawed IMPACT scores, a teacher evaluation system that relies heavily on standardized tests. DCPS is telling us there are two different errors in the way the District has calculated IMPACT scores: some teachers who got high scores weren’t that good, and some teachers who received low scores weren’t that bad. In other words, we now know that IMPACT’s flaws are even worse than we feared.

As AFT President Randi Weingarten said following the revelation of these miscalculations, it should be clear to all now that you can’t simply take data, apply an algorithm, and use whatever pops out of a black box to judge teachers, students and our schools.

We cannot let this pattern continue. Write Chancellor Kaya Henderson and Mayor Vincent Gray and urge them to change the high-handed way DCPS operates and to involve teachers and parents in the decision-making process.

These miscalculations have created a significant problem for everyone in the community—teachers, students and parents—because IMPACT scores determine which teachers are retained, rewarded and even fired. Nearly 600 DCPS teachers have been fired in recent years, most because of IMPACT scores. And, this latest arithmetic mistake appears to have affected 1 out of 10 teachers whose evaluations include student test results.

DCPS needs to work with teachers and parents—not with technocrats and bean counters—to figure out how we can help provide better schools for all children in D.C. Write Mayor Gray and Chancellor Henderson today.

We believe in D.C. public schools, and have worked with this mayor in many constructive ways, including on the district’s very successful pre-K program. But there’s something very troubling when the district continues to reduce everything about students, educators and schools to a nameless, faceless algorithm and test score. This was clear in the Rhee era and led to widespread allegations of cheating. And now we see it with the troubling news that teachers’ evaluation scores were miscalculated—with a tremendous impact on the employment and wages of teachers and on our schools and students.

If we are going to reclaim the promise of public education for all children, Chancellor Henderson and Mayor Gray must change the high-handed way DCPS operates and involve teachers and parents in the decision-making process. Write them today.

In unity,
Elizabeth Davis
Washington Teachers’ Union President

P.S. Read our full statement on the flawed IMPACT scores here. or Impact Flaws Affect teachers, Students, and Parents

SAVE THE DATE: The Washington Teachers’ Union invites parents and community members to join us
in February at our “Getting Teacher Evaluation Right” conference to discuss IMPACT and other issues that affect teacher quality. Details to follow.

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