Teachers, How's LEAP Working So Far???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And THAT is the argument. They don't. It should be a mandate for targeted schools like that 40/40 schools that continue to produce single digit test scores in reading and math after years of turnaround efforts. If a school has already turned around or not in danger it really doesn't make sense to take way the precious resource of time to teach them what they already know.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am so confused about LEAP and so is our school it seems. I do not understand how teachers can be effective when there are so many meetings, so much information and no time to actually plan, do attendance, grade papers, make phone calls, look at data all the stuff which makes an effective teacher.

Agreed. And if DC teachers are in need of so much training, send them to school in the summer. We really should be teaching and planning to teach instead of this teacher prep program.

The bottom line is principals will declare those they want highly effective, those they want to keep around Developing and those they want to get rid of ineffective no matter how much LEAP training and meetings Takes place.

PS: and let's not kid ourselves about those turnaround efforts. They look something like this: don't suspend kids. Then our suspension rate goes down. (In the meantime the student body becomes more disrespectful and dangerous). B) Pass the kids along and/or change grades. Then our on-time graduation rates look good. (In the meantime kids don't know how to read or write & still produce single digit scores on tests they don't take seriously). C) Manipulate how we take attendance. Then those rates look good too. I could go on.

Kermis should be fired, or at the very least investigated!

[Anonymous]

Who? Kermit or Kamras? Actually Kermit probably would do a better job than Kamras.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And THAT is the argument. They don't. It should be a mandate for targeted schools like that 40/40 schools that continue to produce single digit test scores in reading and math after years of turnaround efforts. If a school has already turned around or not in danger it really doesn't make sense to take way the precious resource of time to teach them what they already know.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am so confused about LEAP and so is our school it seems. I do not understand how teachers can be effective when there are so many meetings, so much information and no time to actually plan, do attendance, grade papers, make phone calls, look at data all the stuff which makes an effective teacher.

Agreed. And if DC teachers are in need of so much training, send them to school in the summer. We really should be teaching and planning to teach instead of this teacher prep program.

The bottom line is principals will declare those they want highly effective, those they want to keep around Developing and those they want to get rid of ineffective no matter how much LEAP training and meetings Takes place.

PS: and let's not kid ourselves about those turnaround efforts. They look something like this: don't suspend kids. Then our suspension rate goes down. (In the meantime the student body becomes more disrespectful and dangerous). B) Pass the kids along and/or change grades. Then our on-time graduation rates look good. (In the meantime kids don't know how to read or write & still produce single digit scores on tests they don't take seriously). C) Manipulate how we take attendance. Then those rates look good too. I could go on.

Kermis should be fired, or at the very least investigated!

[Anonymous]

Kamras has been given a lot of power without a lot of check. This is an enormous endeavor, think of the hours of pay that are going into this - taxpayer and federal $$ that covers teachers time for meetings that seem to be more stressful than useful at this point. As far as the coaching, I've heard it mentioned in a few settings they're only building the content module by module. There isn't a year-long sequence yet!

[Anonymous]

LEAP is worthless. Our ELA LEAP leader has been teaching 3 years- and she is our 'expert'. eh.

Last week we read some 'complex texts' that the district photocopied. Then for the last 45 minutes we sat around and talked about how the first two weeks of school are going.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LEAP is worthless. Our ELA LEAP leader has been teaching 3 years- and she is our 'expert'. eh.

Last week we read some 'complex texts' that the district photocopied. Then for the last 45 minutes we sat around and talked about how the first two weeks of school are going.

I've got you beat. At my school, neither of the two ELA LEAP Leaders has ever been a classroom teacher! We have a 90-minute block with an agenda so that every minute is used. One of them modeled how to do a reading group. I've been doing reading groups for over ten years. Definitely not a great use of my time, sigh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LEAP is worthless. Our ELA LEAP leader has been teaching 3 years- and she is our 'expert'. eh.

Last week we read some 'complex texts' that the district photocopied. Then for the last 45 minutes we sat around and talked about how the first two weeks of school are going.

I've got you beat. At my school, neither of the two ELA LEAP Leaders has ever been a classroom teacher! We have a 90-minute block with an agenda so that every minute is used. One of them modeled how to do a reading group. I've been doing reading groups for over ten years. Definitely not a great use of my time, sigh.

How is this even possible??

[Anonymous]

like others have said, it's more meetings and less planning time. also, these LEAP meetings focus only on literacy or math -- there's no coaching on developing scientific inquiry or social/emotional skills, for example. i gotta tell you, it's making me like DCPS even less for my own child and making me think i gotta get out before LO is old enough for school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And THAT is the argument. They don't. It should be a mandate for targeted schools like that 40/40 schools that continue to produce single digit test scores in reading and math after years of turnaround efforts. If a school has already turned around or not in danger it really doesn't make sense to take way the precious resource of time to teach them what they already know.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am so confused about LEAP and so is our school it seems. I do not understand how teachers can be effective when there are so many meetings, so much information and no time to actually plan, do attendance, grade papers, make phone calls, look at data all the stuff which makes an effective teacher.

Agreed. And if DC teachers are in need of so much training, send them to school in the summer. We really should be teaching and planning to teach instead of this teacher prep program.

The bottom line is principals will declare those they want highly effective, those they want to keep around Developing and those they want to get rid of ineffective no matter how much LEAP training and meetings Takes place.

PS and let's not kid ourselves about those turnaround efforts. They look something like this: don't suspend kids. Then our suspension rate goes down. (In the meantime the student body becomes more disrespectful and dangerous). B) Pass the kids along and/or change grades. Then our on-time graduation rates look good. (In the meantime kids don't know how to read or write & still produce single digit scores on tests they don't take seriously). C) Manipulate how we take attendance. Then those rates look good too. I could go on.

Kermis should be fired, or at the very least investigated!

Thing is, I believe Kamras means well. He simply doesn't think things through. I also often think there's a serious disconnect between Central Office mandates & reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And THAT is the argument. They don't. It should be a mandate for targeted schools like that 40/40 schools that continue to produce single digit test scores in reading and math after years of turnaround efforts. If a school has already turned around or not in danger it really doesn't make sense to take way the precious resource of time to teach them what they already know.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am so confused about LEAP and so is our school it seems. I do not understand how teachers can be effective when there are so many meetings, so much information and no time to actually plan, do attendance, grade papers, make phone calls, look at data all the stuff which makes an effective teacher.

Agreed. And if DC teachers are in need of so much training, send them to school in the summer. We really should be teaching and planning to teach instead of this teacher prep program.

The bottom line is principals will declare those they want highly effective, those they want to keep around Developing and those they want to get rid of ineffective no matter how much LEAP training and meetings Takes place.

PS and let's not kid ourselves about those turnaround efforts. They look something like this: don't suspend kids. Then our suspension rate goes down. (In the meantime the student body becomes more disrespectful and dangerous). B) Pass the kids along and/or change grades. Then our on-time graduation rates look good. (In the meantime kids don't know how to read or write & still produce single digit scores on tests they don't take seriously). C) Manipulate how we take attendance. Then those rates look good too. I could go on.

Kermis should be fired, or at the very least investigated!

Thing is, I believe Kamras means well. He simply doesn't think things through. I also often think there's a serious disconnect between Central Office mandates & reality.

He may mean well, then he should be working in some volunteer capacity or build his own experimental school but as head of "Human Capacity" or whatever the hell it is called, I'm sorry he is a joke. He is not the least bit "worldly" (global vision or experience) nor does he have the capacity to inspire or motivate people. Nice guy just doesn't cut it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And THAT is the argument. They don't. It should be a mandate for targeted schools like that 40/40 schools that continue to produce single digit test scores in reading and math after years of turnaround efforts. If a school has already turned around or not in danger it really doesn't make sense to take way the precious resource of time to teach them what they already know.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am so confused about LEAP and so is our school it seems. I do not understand how teachers can be effective when there are so many meetings, so much information and no time to actually plan, do attendance, grade papers, make phone calls, look at data all the stuff which makes an effective teacher.

Agreed. And if DC teachers are in need of so much training, send them to school in the summer. We really should be teaching and planning to teach instead of this teacher prep program.

The bottom line is principals will declare those they want highly effective, those they want to keep around Developing and those they want to get rid of ineffective no matter how much LEAP training and meetings Takes place.

PS and let's not kid ourselves about those turnaround efforts. They look something like this: don't suspend kids. Then our suspension rate goes down. (In the meantime the student body becomes more disrespectful and dangerous). B) Pass the kids along and/or change grades. Then our on-time graduation rates look good. (In the meantime kids don't know how to read or write & still produce single digit scores on tests they don't take seriously). C) Manipulate how we take attendance. Then those rates look good too. I could go on.

Kermis should be fired, or at the very least investigated!

Thing is, I believe Kamras means well. He simply doesn't think things through. I also often think there's a serious disconnect between Central Office mandates & reality.

He may mean well, then he should be working in some volunteer capacity or build his own experimental school but as head of "Human Capacity" or whatever the hell it is called, I'm sorry he is a joke. He is not the least bit "worldly" (global vision or experience) nor does he have the capacity to inspire or motivate people. Nice guy just doesn't cut it.

Agreed.

And LEAP feels like a teacher practicum you do in college.

They need to either EMPLOY teachers or TRAIN them. This LEAP shit is not visionary or cutting edge. It's time draining BS

[Anonymous]

Guys you really don't get "LEAP". It's a jobs program for the Chancellor's hand-picked Master Educators.

Since Central Office got called out for having - what, like 30? - of these $125k/year employees, they finally transferred the budgets and headcount to the schools themselves.

You should be grateful for all the additional help you're getting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Guys you really don't get "LEAP". It's a jobs program for the Chancellor's hand-picked Master Educators.

Since Central Office got called out for having - what, like 30? - of these $125k/year employees, they finally transferred the budgets and headcount to the schools themselves.

You should be grateful for all the additional help you're getting.

In some ways, yes. But our Leapets were not MEs. Just teachers that wanted to teach half a day.

And I am going to add to your understanding of LEAP. LEAP is really just a way to take the teacher evaluation process out of central office. They want to push it back on the schools and be done with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:like others have said, it's more meetings and less planning time. also, these LEAP meetings focus only on literacy or math -- there's no coaching on developing scientific inquiry or social/emotional skills, for example. i gotta tell you, it's making me like DCPS even less for my own child and making me think i gotta get out before LO is old enough for school

Agree. It's less and less about seeing kids as whole beings with social-emotional and interpersonal needs and skills to be developed..... and more and more compartmentalizing them. Some schools even departmentalize at 1st grade. So these 6 year olds. Six!!!!! see multiple teachers throughout the day for subject areas. Most DCPS start it in 3rd. So they are 8. But for an 8 year old to have one teacher for math, and two for reading (one who teaches close reading and the other guided reading)......... Talk about shuttling kids from place to place, breaking their day into distinct parts based on subject area, and not one teacher spending a whole day with a child. Save it for middle school, DC, and bring back elementary school!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Guys you really don't get "LEAP". It's a jobs program for the Chancellor's hand-picked Master Educators.

Since Central Office got called out for having - what, like 30? - of these $125k/year employees, they finally transferred the budgets and headcount to the schools themselves.

You should be grateful for all the additional help you're getting.

In some ways, yes. But our Leapets were not MEs. Just teachers that wanted to teach half a day.

And I am going to add to your understanding of LEAP. LEAP is really just a way to take the teacher evaluation process out of central office. They want to push it back on the schools and be done with it.

Pushing evals back on the schools (as every other school system on the planet is able to do) wouldn't be so bad if DC wasn't full of sadistic, hot air-filled, miserable school leaders who use Impact to harass and fire teachers they dislike & put extra $ in the pockets of those they're screwing. That's the rEason they employed MEs in the 1st place.

And if they're replacing MEs with student evals...God help us all!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Guys you really don't get "LEAP". It's a jobs program for the Chancellor's hand-picked Master Educators.

Since Central Office got called out for having - what, like 30? - of these $125k/year employees, they finally transferred the budgets and headcount to the schools themselves.

You should be grateful for all the additional help you're getting.

In some ways, yes. But our Leapets were not MEs. Just teachers that wanted to teach half a day.

And I am going to add to your understanding of LEAP. LEAP is really just a way to take the teacher evaluation process out of central office. They want to push it back on the schools and be done with it.

Pushing evals back on the schools (as every other school system on the planet is able to do) wouldn't be so bad if DC wasn't full of sadistic, hot air-filled, miserable school leaders who use Impact to harass and fire teachers they dislike & put extra $ in the pockets of those they're screwing. That's the rEason they employed MEs in the 1st place.

And if they're replacing MEs with student evals...God help us all!

PS: Nothing wrong with teachers developing their leadership capacity. But those LEAP leaders with 0-3 years of experience??? Being chosen over DC educators with 10+ years???? This demonstrates much of what is wrong with DCPS.