Dive Summary:

• Since 2009, Washington, D.C., has used comprehensive teacher evaluations based on student performance, setting the bar when it comes to major school systems working to reform their personnel practices.
• The latest round of firings from the rigorous evaluation system saw 98 Washington teachers losing their jobs last month, and a total of nearly 400 teachers have lost their jobs in the three years since the adoption of the evaluations.
• Reform advocates say the evaluations have improved the quality of teaching in the city, though critics claim the turnover creates instability that drives away good teachers and has led to only modest improvement by students.

From the article:

Tough new teacher evaluations led to a strike this month in Chicago, but in the District of Columbia, such evaluations are "business as usual." Comprehensive teacher evaluations that take into account student performance are a central part of President Barack Obama's education policy and of the national school reform movement. They also were a major point of contention in the seven-day long Chicago teachers' strike, which ended Tuesday, September 18th. ...