D.C. educators rated ‘effective’ can still lose jobs

11-04-2011

By Bill Turque/Washington Post

In 11 years as a counselor at Malcolm X Elementary in Southeast Washington, Jacqueline Sutton mediated disputes, visited students’ homes, alerted authorities to possible child abuse and kept food in her office for kids who came to school weeping sometimes because they were so hungry. Two years in a row, she received “effective” ratings on evaluations designed to identify high-performing educators and remove weak ones. But Sutton is now unemployed — despite twice meeting or exceeding standards the District says are more rigorous than ever. “My principal sat me down and said it was out of his hands,” said Sutton, a single mother in her mid-50s who lost her home and health insurance along with her $77,000-a-year job. Headlines about D.C. school reform efforts have often involved the firing of teachers who scored poorly on the IMPACT evaluation system adopted in 2009 — about 300 in the past two years. But the District has also shed 145 teachers, including counselors, deemed effective or even highly effective. These employees lost their jobs through a process known as “excessing.” (more...)

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