Professional Development: District of
Columbia

Analysis of District of Columbia's policies

Although the District of Columbia Public Schools' IMPACT evaluation system requires that professional development activities be informed by results from teacher evaluations, the District of Columbia does not have similar state-level policy.

Citation

DCPS Impact http://www.dc.gov/DCPS/In+the+Classroom/Ensuring+Teacher+Success/IMPACT+(Performance+Assessment)

Recommendations for District of Columbia

Require that evaluation systems provide teachers with feedback about their performance.
In order to increase their effectiveness in the classroom, teachers need to receive feedback on strengths and areas that need improvement identified in their evaluations. As such, the District of Columbia should adopt state-level policy requiring that evaluation systems provide teachers with feedback about their classroom performance.

Ensure that professional development is aligned with findings from teachers' evaluations.
Professional development that is not informed by evaluation results may be of little value to teachers' professional growth and aim of increasing their effectiveness in the classroom. The District of Columbia should adopt state-level policy to ensure that teacher evaluation results are used in determining professional development needs and activities.

State response to our analysis

The District of Columbia recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis. The District added that "Race to the Top LEAs are required to ensure that evaluation results inform professional development."

Last word

To make sure that the connection between evaluation results and professional development extends beyond the life of its Race to the Top grant, the District of Columbia should adopt formal policy requiring such.