This is the VOA Special English Education Report.
这里是美国之音慢速英语教育报告。
Students in Washington, DC, will return to classrooms this month to begin a new school year. But at least five percent of their teachers will not return with them. Last month, the District of Columbia public schools told two hundred six teachers that they are not good enough to stay.
这个月，华盛顿特区的学生们将重返教室开始新的学年。但至少有5%的教师将无法与他们一起返。上个月，华盛顿公立学校学区对206名教师表示，他们能力不足不能留任。
51voa注：Washington, DC中文全称是华盛顿哥伦比亚特区。为了照顾我们的习惯，文中提到的哥伦比亚特区，翻译中将全部以华盛顿特区代替。
The school system dismissed seventy-five teachers last year. It was the first year of a new teacher rating system.
华盛顿学区去年解雇了75名教师，当时是新的教师考评体系实施的第一年。
Experts say such large numbers of dismissals are rare in American schools. But in Washington the rating system is not governed by the labor contract with the teachers union. So school officials have more freedom.
专家们表示，如此大规模的解雇在美国学校中颇为罕见。但在华盛顿，该考评体系不受（学区）与教师工会签订的劳动合同的限制。因此学校官员有更大的自由度。
The system is called IMPACT. Teachers are observed in the classroom five times a year for at least thirty minutes each time. They are also judged by student test scores.
这一考评体系被称之为IMPACT。它每年会对教师课堂表现进行5次考察，每次不低于30分钟。还将通过学生考试成绩对教师进行考评。
Administrators rated sixty-five of the two hundred six teachers as "ineffective." The others lost their jobs because they were rated "minimally effective" for a second year.
IMPACT体系管理层将这206名被解雇的教师中的56人评定为“无效”。其他人则因为他们连续第二年被评为“低效”而丢了饭碗。
The National Council on Teacher Quality is a research group that works to increase the number of effective teachers. Emily Cohen, a policy director there, says the council supports the IMPACT system.
教师素质全国委员会是一个致力于提升合格教师数量的研究机构，该机构政策主管埃米莉·科恩（Emily Cohen）表示，委员会支持IMPACT体系。
EMILY COHEN: "This is an evaluation instrument that is finally able to capture who is highly effective and who is ineffective and who could be doing better and could use some assistance. Most evaluation instruments in the country do not capture teacher performance -- all teachers are rated satisfactory."
科恩：“这是一个评估工具，它最终能够鉴定谁是“高效”，谁是“无效”，谁有提升空间应该给予帮助。全国大部分评估工具都不会鉴定教师绩效--所有教师都被评为满意。”
Some Washington teachers say their ratings depend too heavily on test scores. For some teachers, half of their rating is based on how well their students do. But Emily Cohen says test scores are important.
华盛顿一些教师表示，他们的评级过于倚重考试成绩。对一些教师来说，一半的评级是基于他们的学生表现。但科恩认为考试成绩是非常重要的。
EMILY COHEN: "Testing is probably one of the -- it's the most objective data that we have on teacher performance. The District also is looking at other things, using master educators to evaluate teachers. So it's not just looking at student test performance, it is using other sources of data."
科恩：“考试是教师绩效中最客观的数据。学区也在考核其它事情，由优秀的教育工作者对教师进行评估。所以，这一体系不只是考察学生考试成绩，还使用了其它来源的数据。”
Teachers with the highest rating -- "highly effective" -- can receive a performance bonus of up to twenty-five thousand dollars. In addition, they can receive a pay increase.
被评为最高等级“高效”的教师将获得多达2.5万美元的绩效奖金。此外，他们还将得到加薪。
Almost sixty percent of the teachers who were rated "minimally effective" last year stayed in the school system and improved. School officials say these teachers received help to become better.
去年被评为“低效”的占总数近60%的教师继续留任并已有所提高。学校官员表示，这些教师得到了帮助并有所提高。
Michelle Rhee created the IMPACT system. She gained national attention for her aggressive reform efforts when she led the troubled school system in the nation's capital. She left last year and her deputy, Kaya Henderson, took her place.
米歇尔·李开发了IMPACT体系。在她领导华盛顿这个陷入困境的学区时，她激进的改革措施引起了全国性的关注。去年她辞职离开，她的副手卡亚·汉德森（Kaya Henderson）接替了她的职位。
The Washington Teachers Union says IMPACT unfairly hurts teachers who work in schools with high rates of poverty. The Washington Post reported that most of the teachers with the highest rating work in schools with lower poverty rates.
华盛顿教师工会表示IMPACT对那些在贫苦率高的学校工作的教师不公平。《华盛顿邮报》报道说，大部分获得最高评级的教师都在贫困率较低的学校工作。
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