[ti:Scientists Seek a Better Understanding of How Babies Learn] [ar:Christopher Cruise] [al:Education Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English [00:02.96]Education Report. [00:04.85]Students in Washington, DC, [00:07.10]will return to classrooms [00:09.11]this month [00:09.88]to begin a new school year. [00:12.45]But at least five percent [00:14.89]of their teachers will not [00:16.53]return with them. [00:17.83]Last month, the District [00:20.60]of Columbia public schools [00:22.14]told two hundred six teachers [00:24.58]that they are not [00:26.24]good enough to stay. [00:27.69]The school system dismissed [00:30.38]seventy-five teachers last year. [00:32.72]It was the first year of [00:35.26]a new teacher rating system. [00:37.50]Experts say such large numbers [00:41.28]of dismissals are rare [00:43.22]in American schools. [00:45.36]But in Washington the rating system [00:48.51]is not governed by the labor contract [00:50.62]with the teachers union. [00:51.98]So school officials have more freedom. [00:55.22]The system is called IMPACT. [00:58.92]Teachers are observed [01:00.52]in the classroom five times a year [01:02.61]for at least thirty minutes each time. [01:06.10]They are also judged [01:08.58]by student test scores. [01:10.53]Administrators rated sixty-five [01:13.93]of the two hundred six teachers [01:16.33]as "ineffective." [01:18.67]The others lost their jobs [01:20.41]because they were rated [01:21.85]"minimally effective" [01:23.65]for a second year. [01:25.45]The National Council [01:27.83]on Teacher Quality is a research group [01:31.04]that works to increase the number [01:33.15]of effective teachers. [01:35.10]Emily Cohen, a policy director there, [01:38.54]says the council supports [01:40.38]the IMPACT system. [01:42.08]EMILY COHEN: "This is an evaluation [01:42.98]instrument that is finally able [01:44.83]to capture who is highly effective [01:47.02]and who is ineffective [01:48.12]and who could be doing better [01:49.81]and could use some assistance. [01:51.17]Most evaluation instruments [01:54.65]in the country do not [01:55.76]capture teacher performance [01:57.01]-- all teachers are rated satisfactory." [01:58.85]Some Washington teachers say [02:01.85]their ratings depend too heavily [02:03.70]on test scores. [02:05.24]For some teachers, [02:06.93]half of their rating is based on [02:09.78]how well their students do. [02:11.87]But Emily Cohen says [02:14.12]test scores are important. [02:16.59]EMILY COHEN: "Testing is probably [02:17.58]one of the -- it's the most [02:19.12]objective data that we have [02:20.42]on teacher performance. [02:21.72]The District also is looking [02:23.31]at other things, using master educators [02:25.87]to evaluate teachers. [02:27.31]So it's not just looking [02:28.61]at student test performance, [02:30.01]it is using other sources of data." [02:32.55]Teachers with the highest rating [02:34.65]-- "highly effective" [02:36.14]-- can receive a performance bonus [02:39.08]of up to twenty-five thousand dollars. [02:41.57]In addition, [02:43.07]they can receive a pay increase. [02:45.82]Almost sixty percent of the teachers [02:49.53]who were rated "minimally effective" [02:52.07]last year stayed [02:53.66]in the school system and improved. [02:55.66]School officials say these teachers [02:58.27]received help to become better. [03:00.57]Michelle Rhee created the IMPACT system. [03:04.96]She gained national attention [03:07.89]for her aggressive reform efforts [03:10.18]when she led the troubled school system [03:13.64]in the nation's capital. [03:15.90]She left last year and her deputy, [03:18.78]Kaya Henderson, took her place. [03:21.48]The Washington Teachers Union says [03:25.88]IMPACT unfairly hurts teachers [03:28.43]who work in schools [03:30.07]with high rates of poverty. [03:32.07]The Washington Post reported [03:35.27]that most of the teachers [03:36.67]with the highest rating [03:38.46]work in schools [03:40.10]with lower poverty rates. [03:42.65]And that's the VOA Special English [03:45.98]Education Report. [03:47.90]For more education news [03:49.90]and to learn American English [03:51.94]go to 51voa.com [03:55.79]I'm Christopher Cruise.