That's a good place to start. Teachers need permanent certification to keep their jobs. Permanent certification requires 2 years minimum in the same school with three pretty intense evaluations (around here). Many teachers coast in the system for years without getting their permanent certification. If she's new, and she's acting as she is, then I think it may be worth scheduling a meeting with the Principal and the teacher (don't exclude the teacher). I would leave your daughter out of it, and make it clear to the school that you do not want your daughter to be concerned with, or aware of, adult discussions. I say this because sometimes the school will attempt to involve the child to soften the meeting. Make it clear that this is about your concerns, not the child's concerns. Also, include the teacher in the meeting because it observes professional ethics between the teacher and principal ... professional ethics have all sorts of information rules. If you don't include the teacher, the principal will speak with her later ... she'll tell a different version of the same facts, and it will be swept away.
Have notes so you stay on point. Avoid emotion. Watch for the staff pushing your buttons, or trying to suggest that you are an over-reactive, over-protective mother. Teachers have subtle ways for manipulating the situation, and are not above making up a little story to try to make it seem like they have been in your shoes and empathize with your point. Be careful, make it clear that you are talking about
facts that are inappropriate, not
feelings that you're having about classroom discipline. Stay on point.
If you're going to go to battle with a school, keep detailed notes about everything ... they will. Have dates, times, names of those you spoke with, and notes about what was said. Keep copies of emails, and include that privacy clause on the bottom of your email so it cannot be printed or distributed without permission. Remember that teachers typically have each others back, so to divide and conquer is an uphill battle, but what you want to do is separate this teacher out of the pack as having used inappropriate and ineffective teaching methods. Emphasize that contemporary education focuses on individual learner styles, and that you expect that for your daughter. Be clear that repetition has not worked, does not work, and that an alternative learning and teaching method should be used. Stress that 60% should be praised given that your daughter has this obvious weakness ... and that it's a well known fact that positive reinforcement can improve learning. It's also a well known fact that if a child is told he or she is a failure, that children often live down to that expectation.
Imply, without stating, that the teacher appears to have difficulties with anger, and that you do not believe she is well suited for such young children. Don't back down, don't be defensive, and ... if you succeed ... this teacher, assuming she does not already have her permanent certification, will have her first mark against her. If another parent has similar concerns, encourage them to speak up too. Each time a parent expresses concerns about a teacher's classroom conduct, some doubt about their ability to manage a classroom is created. Teachers are not above doing things that are way off base when they think it's their word against that of children.
If the objective is to ensure that the teacher is a little more careful ... and maybe does not have the opportunity to do this to other people's children ... this is the route to take.
During the meeting, it would be worth asking the teacher how spelling is taught. Various methods have been used in the last couple of decades. One really stupid methods was spelling phonetically. It produced an entire generation of children that could not spell. Sounding it out seems popular these days ... also not very effective. Is spelling corrected in everything that is written? How is it taught, how is it corrected, what exactly does the teacher think is preventing your daughter from learning correct spelling ... put the teacher on the spot to first explain what she's doing, then explain what she thinks is going wrong, and then ask what methods are most appropriate for learning. If her only answer is repetition, it would be worth asking where she got her teaching degree so as to not recommend that University.
