In 17 out of 25 major school districts across the United States, teachers can keep tenure regardless of performance. D.C. Public Schools has taken a different route, replacing tenure with its IMPACT evaluation system.
DCPS earned a six out of 10 in a Fordham Institute report that graded 25 school districts on their ability to remove ineffective teachers. The district ranked above 18 districts, including nearby Fairfax County, Va,. and Montgomery County, Md. DCPS is one of three districts not providing teacher tenure.
BAD TEACHER: In a Fordham Institute analysis of 25 major school districts’ ability to fire ineffective teachers, D.C. Public Schools received 6 out of 10 points. Unlike 22 districts in the study, D.C. Public Schools dismisses teachers based on performance, not tenure.
“D.C. is an example of a district that has taken teacher quality seriously and has made a real effort to make the dismissal process functional,” report co-author David Griffith told Watchdog.org. “Compared to most districts around the county, it’s much more feasible to dismiss a teacher in D.C.”
The IMPACT evaluation system came to fruition under former D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee in 2007. Rhee and the teacher’s union agreed to 20 percent pay raises in return for replacing tenure with annual evaluations. She fired 241 teachers in the first year of the evaluations.
Under the agreement, DCPS began offering some of the nation’s most competitive salaries. DCPS boasts the highest average starting teacher salary ($51,539) and one of the highest average maximum salaries ($106,540).
Michelle Lerner, a spokeswoman for DCPS, told Watchdog.org that teachers can earn additional income by working on curriculum development.
“Not only do teachers get really rigorous support on the human capital side, whether that’s in compensation or support, they get a really big say in what gets taught in our classrooms,” she said. “People want to have a say in the work that they’re doing, and here at DCPS, teachers get a say in the work that they’re doing.”
Under IMPACT, DCPS teachers are immediately taken out of the classrooms. The system has boosted early hiring ahead of new school years, according to Lerner. On the other side of the spectrum, it takes at least five years to dismiss an ineffective teacher in the Los Angeles and San Francisco Unified School Districts.
“After they’re dismissed, they’re no longer on the payroll and they’re not in the classroom,” Griffith said of DCPS. “The grievance process continues and probably costs money, but you’re not still paying the teacher during that time. That’s not the case everywhere.”
The lengthy appeal process remains the only significant barrier. The process lasts six months, not including arbitration. Teachers can also take the dispute outside the district to the D.C. Office of Employee Appeals.
“Teachers should be treated fairly and they should be entitled to due process, but in practice it’s come to mean something else,” Griffith said. “It’s come to mean that it’s almost impossible to fire low-performing teachers even if it’s very clear that their performance isn’t really good enough for kids.”
On the other hand, IMPACT has not significantly driven away quality teachers. According to a 2016 report on staff policy reforms, DCPS has retained 92 percent of teachers rated effective or highly effective. Lerner said in surveys of teachers exiting DCPS, retirement and moving out of the area are more common responses than salaries and unhappiness with the teaching position.
Rhee’s successor, Kaya Henderson, continued D.C.’s reform efforts until her resignation Oct. 1. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s pick for chancellor, Oakland Unified School District Superintendent Antwan Wilson, is like-minded in education reform. Wilson, whose appointment is up for city council approval on Dec. 20, supports IMPACT but has indicated he would like to start conversations about potential changes.