DC Plans To Let Teachers Moving To Poor Schools Skip Impact Evaluations

The Washington (DC) Examiner (10/21, Gartner, 93K) reports on a plan under consideration in the DC Public Schools designed "to lure top teachers into the city's poorest schools by waiving their Impact evaluations for two to three years." The plan "would be the second significant change to the controversial evaluation tool in the past three months. Currently teachers rated 'highly effective' -- those who impress during classroom observations, and some who improve student test scores -- are clustered in affluent areas." The piece notes that teachers who volunteer to work in poor areas can receive bonuses, but that they risk poor evaluations which can lead to layoffs.