John Thompson: Michelle Rhee's DC IMPACT Value Added System Drives Teachers Out
Guest post by John Thompson.
A National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) working paper, National Bureau of Economic Research James Wyckoff's and Thomas Dee's "Incentives, Selection, and Teacher Performance," does precisely what the title suggests. It studies the effect of former Chancellor Michelle Rhee's Washington D.C. teacher evaluation system, IMPACT, on some indecipherable aspects of teacher performance, but it ignores the question of whether student performance was increased. It shows that IMPACT has had an impact. They offer no evidence, however, that it was positive.
Of course, Wyckoff's and Dee's methodology is the antithesis of the professed aims of reformers - who claim we should unflinchingly focus on students' outcomes, not adult interests. But, the "carrot and stick" D.C. agenda requires some adults to intimidate others. So, economists measured what happens when teachers are told to "jump!" Metrics were developed for showing that teachers lurched.
The only valid conclusions that can be drawn from the study's methodology were reported by the Washington Post's Emma Brown and Politico's Stephanie Simon. Brown explained, "Rewards and punishments embedded in the District's controversial teacher evaluation program have shaped the school system's workforce, affecting both retention and performance," But the report is "silent about whether the incentives have translated into improved student achievement."
Simon also recounted D.C.'s disappointing results in terms of student performance. She quotes Thomas Dee as saying the concept is that carrots and sticks can have an effect. "This is a proof of