July 15, 2011

Letter to the Community from Chancellor Henderson 

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July 15, 2011

Dear Members of the DCPS Community,

Recruiting and retaining great teachers and staff remains the cornerstone of our efforts to create great schools. We know that having a great teacher in every classroom is the number one in-school factor in student success. Today, we took another step toward that goal by releasing the IMPACT educator assessment results from the 2010-2011 school year.

Based upon these results, we were able to identify and congratulate more than 663 employees who earned the rating of “highly effective.” These employees represent the best of what DCPS offers to families and students of the District. They also serve as examples of the high-quality teachers and school staff who work at DCPS.

We also issued separation notices to 413 employees who were not performing up to standard. It is never easy to separate staff members. However, these tough decisions are necessary if we are to ensure that all our schools are staffed by high-quality and effective staff members.

While you are likely to see and read stories in the coming days, I wanted you to hear this information directly from me. We are in this together. As last week’s announcement of the DC-CAS scores reminds us, we have made important progress since 2007. But, we have much, much more work to do. Strengthening our workforce will allow us to move closer to our ultimate goal of creating great schools across the District of Columbia.

Thank you for your partnership. Together, we can make our schools great and provide the quality education that every child deserves.

Sincerely,

Kaya Henderson
Chancellor