Students to be newest judges of DCPS teachers

By: Leah Fabel
Examiner Staff Writer
June 18, 2010

After years of having their performance graded by teachers, D.C. public school students will have the chance to return the favor beginning next school year.

Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee said Thursday morning that a movement to gather student input into how well teachers succeeded in the classroom grew from the concerns of her "high school cabinet" -- a group of students she meets with on a regular basis. She shared the news at a breakfast for businesswomen at Georgetown's Sequoia restaurant.

Students worried that teachers would "put on a good dog and pony show" when official evaluators entered the classroom, Rhee said, despite less stellar day-to-day instruction.

Rhee's student Cabinet spent part of the 2009-10 school year devising questions -- ensuring they're concise enough and fair, she said. The surveys will be piloted next year, but will not -- for now -- be a part of the schools' new teacher evaluations. Those evaluations, called IMPACT, will likely guide decisions about the district's pay-for-performance system outlined in the new teacher contract.

Washington Teachers' Union President George Parker did not return a call requesting comment.

Rhee spokeswoman Jennifer Calloway said the surveys will be important "because we value student perspectives on the quality of instruction in their classroom, and there is an emerging body of research that suggests it may correlate with actual outcomes."

Survey details, however, have yet to be finalized, Calloway said.

Boston Public Schools voted to begin using student surveys next school year to be shared with teachers and principals. A Rhode Island group called Young Voices is advocating for a similar program there.

"I think it's a terrific idea, as long as we think about this particular metric as one of many," said Barnett Berry, president of the Center for Teaching Quality. "No one measure is able to judge a teacher's efficacy -- certainly not a single test score. Using multiple measures is absolutely paramount."

Emily Cohen, a policy director for the National Council on Teacher Quality, met with students in Boston as they fought for the use of student evaluations.

"They wanted to have a way to let their teachers know what was working," Cohen said. "They have the most to gain from a good teacher -- and the most to lose from a bad one."

lfabel@washingtonexaminer.com

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