The District of Columbia Public Schools, led by Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson, will introduce a new system of training and evaluating teachers in the fall that is expected to set the agenda for similar changes in schools around the country. 

Instead of attending workshops, teachers will meet weekly with small groups of colleagues who teach the same subject, and work with coaches who can help improve lesson plans and address other questions they have about classroom instruction. Weekly observations by the coach are aimed at helping teachers to improve their practice and will not be part of any evaluation.

 The school system also is planning to overhaul its controversial teacher evaluation system. School principals — not independent evaluators — will now conduct classroom observations. And while D.C. was one of the first school systems in the country to judge teachers by their students’ test scores, it will now become one of a growing number to include student surveys in its teacher evaluation. It’s not clear how much the surveys will count or at what age students will be given the surveys. 

The Washington Post, Feb. 10