D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray’s education transition team is recommending significant changes to the controversial Impact teacher evaluation tool created by interim Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson. The team’s co-chairmen also will lead the committee to select the permanent chief of D.C. Public Schools, Gray announced — minutes before confirming that Henderson was interested in the long-term post. “The main issues about Impact concern basic public trust and unintended consequences. Impact is seen by many teachers as a sorting and terminating tool,” co-chairmen Katherine Bradley and Michael Lomax wrote in a draft of the transition report. Heading a team of 30 educators, parents, students and activists, Bradley and Lomax recommended bringing in outside experts to revise Impact to emphasize teacher development. They also want to build a “360-degree review process” to gather input from teachers and principals who use Impact.
Bradley is the president of CityBridge Foundation, a nonprofit assisting District students since 2007, while Lomax helms the United Negro College Fund.
