Interim D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson conceded that the teacher-evaluation tool she created could be improved, following a report from Mayor Vincent Gray’s transition team calling for a “better” system. “We believe strongly in Impact, which has been instrumental to our reform efforts. We also believe in continuous improvement, which is why we have made updates to the system over the first year and a half of its implementation. We will continue to do so as we see fit, given our long-term objective of providing an outstanding education for every child in DCPS,” Henderson told The Washington Examiner in an e-mail. Until now, Henderson has fiercely defended Impact, which she crafted as Michelle Rhee’s deputy chancellor. The system relies on five classroom observations and students’ standardized test scores to rate teachers’ effectiveness each year — which can lead to six-figure salaries, or termination.
As Henderson mentioned, the school system tweaked Impact for its second year; she told The
Examiner in December that “Impact 2.0 [is] more rigorous than Impact 1.0, to be frank.”
Scott Thompson, who oversees Impact, said DCPS made the evaluation framework more flexible, but streamlined, and added a “commitment to school community” rubric. They also cut some elements “that teachers consistently expressed were frustrating.”
Gray’s education transition team said Henderson’s brainchild still leaves much to be desired.
“Our goal is to have a better teacher-evaluation system,” co-chairmen Katherine Bradley and Michael Lomax wrote in a preliminary report.
The team, comprising 30 educators, parents, students, activists and other stakeholders, recommended bringing in outside experts to revise Impact to emphasize improving teachers’ skills.
“The main issues about Impact concern basic public trust and unintended consequences,” they wrote. “In particular, Impact is seen by many teachers as a sorting and termination tool.”
Gray announced that Bradley and Lomax also would head his team to recommend the next chancellor of D.C. Public Schools. Henderson, who stepped into the interim role following Rhee’s October resignation, has always evaded the question of whether she’s in the job for the long haul. But Gray told The Examiner that she wants to stay: “Did she tell me that? Yeah,” he said. “She’s certainly given me every indication that she wants to be here. She’s worked extremely hard to be here, also.”
Henderson said in e-mail, “Over the past 100 days, I have enjoyed my tenure as interim chancellor, my relationship with Mayor Gray and the ongoing work to improve the education we offer to the children of the District. I have shared the same with the mayor. We both know we have much more work to do and remain squarely focused on getting the job done.”
