Staffs at six chronically failing D.C. public schools will be overhauled this summer in an effort to improve academic performance, according to an announcement Monday by Chancellor Michelle Rhee.
Each school — three senior highs, two middles and one elementary — has consistently failed to achieve adequate performance under the mandates of No Child Left Behind, the sweeping federal education legislation enacted in 2001.
At Ferebee-Hope Elementary, only about one-third of students achieved proficiency on standardized reading and math exams in 2008. At Anacostia Senior High, 21 percent of students achieved reading proficiency, while only 13 percent earned it for math.
“High-quality schools are not built overnight, and [the law] mandates that we take serious steps toward rehabbing schools that consistently fail to meet adequate yearly progress,” said Mayor Adrian Fenty, who appeared with Rhee at the school headquarters.
As a result of the overhauls, referred to under the law as “reconstitution,” about 240 teacher-level positions and about 90 other staff members will need to reapply for their jobs, Rhee said.
Those who choose not to reapply or are not rehired will be placed on an excess staff list and will be moved to a different location next school year.
Central office officials choose reconstitution for “moving schools in a completely different direction,” Rhee said. “Administrators need to make sure they have the right staff to support the new programs.”
As an example, the chancellor cited a new partnership between Dunbar Senior High and Bedford Academy, a high-performing public school in New York City. Bedford’s rigorous college-preparatory approach to all students might not jibe with some teachers’ styles, Rhee said, so they may opt to be elsewhere.
Washington Teachers’ Union President George Parker voiced relief that teachers would not automatically be out of a job, and said the union would work to ensure fair and transparent reapplications and interviews.
“Certainly I’d prefer we have as few reconstitutions as possible,” Parker said.
Three schools — Webb-Wheatley Elementary, Eliot-Hine Middle and part of Shaw Middle — went through the process this year, but the verdict is out as to their success.
Parker said the union was preparing a survey of those schools’ teachers. Rhee said test scores due out this summer would provide quantitative evidence, but anecdotal evidence showed major improvements.
