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Monday, June 27, 2011

Teacher Evaluation System Examines Classroom Performance - NYTimes.com

Teacher Evaluation System Examines Classroom Performance - NYTimes.com

Teacher Grades: Pass or Be Fired

Philip Scott Andrews/The New York Times

Mary Gloster, left, evaluated Emily Strzelecki, a first-year science teacher at a low-performing high school in Washington.

WASHINGTON — Emily Strzelecki, a first-year science teacher here, was about as eager for a classroom visit by one of the city’s roving teacher evaluators as she would be to get a tooth drilled. “It really stressed me out because, oh my gosh, I could lose my job,” Ms. Strzelecki said.

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Her fears were not unfounded: 165 Washington teachers were fired last year based on a pioneering evaluation system that places significant emphasis on classroom observations; next month, 200 to 600 of the city’s 4,200 educators are expected to get similar bad news, in the nation’s highest rate of dismissal for poor