DC fires 241 teachers

[kiryan]

Hard to say if this is good or bad, but given the current and past results for the students, its hard to imagine it could be worse.

some choice quotes

"In the years before Ms. Rhee took over the district, almost all the teachers had high performance ratings and almost none were fired, but students, on average, had low achievement levels. "

-- so if the teachers are highly effective teachers, whats the problem with student performance. If its some 3rd party (like parents), then why pay for highly effective teachers?

"George Parker, the president of the Washington Teachers’ Union, said the union would challenge the firings. The union has taken issue with the evaluation system Ms. Rhee used, saying that it was designed more for punishing teachers than helping them improve."

-- umm, we're paying you to teach. we shouldn't be paying you to learn how to teach.

"Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, also criticized the evaluation system and what she called the chancellor’s “destructive cycle of hire, fire, repeat.” "

-- I think that's a fair point... too much change can be bad. On the other hand its bad already and change is needed.

"As part of the Obama administration’s focus on teacher effectiveness, Education Secretary Arne Duncan has pushed states to develop evaluation and pay models that link teacher ratings to their students’ test scores. "

-- In principle I'm still on board, linking pay and performance is welcome change to government employees especially teachers. Of course there is danger, I mean linking hedge fund managers pay to performance resulted in risky profits to boost bonuses.

[teflor the ranger]

Michelle Rhee is my hero. She's managed to get the job done that Army generals wouldn't do. She once said that it was ok not to be liked. You couldn't ask, beg, barrow, or steal someone better to break the back of a disgusting, corrupt beast that through the years turned its back on serving the people only to serve itself.

“People generally have wanted to avoid getting yelled at, but that’s never made anything better for our children.”

To (abusive) teacher's unions everywhere: one day the people will realize that you only fight for yourselves, and they will fight for their children.