A study out last month from Stanford University and the University of Virginia says that a controversial teacher-evaluation system implemented by former DCPS chancellor Michelle Rhee has worked.
The study found that the Impact system, which was designed to increase teacher quality, has made high-rated teachers more likely to stay and low-performing teachers more likely to quit or be fired.
The Impact system, implemented in 2009, allows the school system to fire teachers rated "ineffective" after two years and give bonuses of $25,000 or more to high performers. The system has been responsible for the direct terminations of more than 500 teachers since 2010.
"Essentially what we found was they either left or got better," Stanford's Thomas Dee, one of the researchers, told USA TODAY.
Yet the controversy is not likely to be settled any time soon. American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten told USA TODAY that the system has resulted in high teacher turnover but no marked improvement in student test scorses. "If an evaluation system you create fails to improve student achievement, then you must question the value of the evaluation system." Read more
here.