Yesterday evening, we received a tip from a DCPS high school teacher that nearly 20 teachers at their school received termination letters from their principal that afternoon, including the union building representative. This morning, Candi Peterson, a Washington Teachers’ Union board member, has letters from two teachers on her blog, and while the exact number of teachers fired has not yet been announced, D.C. Wire reports that four types of school employees were terminated around the district:

Paraprofessionals who work with students, but did not attain the “highly qualified” standard required by federal law under the No Child Left Behind Act.

Teachers without a valid license.

Teachers who failed to meet the requirements of probation.

Teachers who were placed on 90-day improvement plans and who didn’t show sufficient progress.

That some teachers are being let go shouldn’t be a surprise. Earlier this year, about 150 teachers were placed on 90-day improvement plans, and last year 250 teachers and 500 teacher’s aides who had failed to meet certification deadlines were terminated at the start of the summer.

What is interesting is who is being fired — in the past, there has been vocal concern among older teachers that they would be targeted for layoffs, which doesn’t appear to have been the case here. What we’re hearing is that primarily younger teachers without tenure (i.e., less than three years teaching in DCPS) are being let go, including a number of first year teachers and some D.C. Teaching Fellows. (These teachers may have provisional licenses, and do not require the same interventions or extensive documentation necessary to dismiss tenured teachers.) However, it is at least a little surprising that so many young teachers were let go outright, given their limited experience, instead of being offered professional development or opportunities for improvement.