DCPS teachers are quitting at an alarming rate, how can parents help?

[Anonymous]

DCPS need to stop filling long term teacher absences with substitutes. No student should have more than 10% of instructional time with substitutes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The teacher evaluation system can be arbitrary and is oppressive in the amount of extra paperwork that teachers need to do.
Principals now do the evaluations and teachers feel that depending on your relationship with the principal, scores are not objective, consistent or take into account a teacher's overall performance in the building.

As an anecdote-and there are many similar stories all over dcps...At my school, the principal seemed to dislike a teacher (who had been at the school for over 10 years, loved by colleagues, parents and students), within two years, that teacher was "Impacted Out". Everyone was shocked. It was all based on the Impact score which came down to decimals, which was given by the principal. When your livelihood seems to be at the whim of a principal (who has varied approval ratings from staff and parents), it's understandable that teachers may want a more objective, fair work environment.

And, it all takes away from teachers focusing on teaching-which is what teachers want to do.
Yes, dcps pays well compared to other districts but teachers are finding out that all the hoops to jump through may not be worth it.

But that's the role of a principal! They should be hiring, managing, motivating, and firing. However, they should be good at it. If the principal is arbitrary, the principal's manager should deal with the principal.

The idea that their should be minimal human element to teacher assessment is how we've ended up with PARCC, Core Curriculum, Impact, Leap, etc. Instead of pretending that there are no 'soft' skills to teaching, we should be insisting on having capable administrators.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the experiment with hiring these Ivy Teach for America types should be declared over. They will just leave anyway, and go off to work for a nonprofit or quit when they marry a banker. What's so great about "gentrifying" DCPS teachers anyway? It used to be that DCPS staff were of D.C. They were from the D.C community and they understood D.C. And they were happy to have a career and lifetime career with DCPS.

You mean back when pretty much every school and student was failing? And graduation rates were abysmal?

No! thats so unfair. D.C. was different than it is not. The generation that were kids are now adults with kids. We all know that you need "Experienced teachers" in the lower performing schools. Think of it like this "Rookie doctors are not doing major life and death surgeries from day 1" This teach for america is though do this all the time Yet, we wonder why some school struggle DCPS and charters included. Teach for america is not bad. However, put the rookie teachers in good schools so when they have to go to low petforming schools they have a chance

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the experiment with hiring these Ivy Teach for America types should be declared over. They will just leave anyway, and go off to work for a nonprofit or quit when they marry a banker. What's so great about "gentrifying" DCPS teachers anyway? It used to be that DCPS staff were of D.C. They were from the D.C community and they understood D.C. And they were happy to have a career and lifetime career with DCPS.

You mean back when pretty much every school and student was failing? And graduation rates were abysmal?

No! thats so unfair. D.C. was different than it is not. The generation that were kids are now adults with kids. We all know that you need "Experienced teachers" in the lower performing schools. Think of it like this "Rookie doctors are not doing major life and death surgeries from day 1" This teach for america is though do this all the time Yet, we wonder why some school struggle DCPS and charters included. Teach for america is not bad. However, put the rookie teachers in good schools so when they have to go to low petforming schools they have a chance

"Different now"

[Anonymous]

Just a reminder that the many teachers who ARE finishing the year, who would like to have a dependable long-term career in DCPS, are still waiting for a new contract and retroactive pay. This becomes an issue of professionalism and respect. Many valued colleagues are not returning to our school in the fall.

[Anonymous]

I'm just saying, it's really really really hard to be a teacher in a dcps school and deal with really hard behaviors and have no support from the administration.

I personally would never quit mid year but I can understand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, DCPS is so desperate that they are now advertising on Facebook for a new alternative certification program where people with teaching experience but no certifications can teach in their schools. Basically scraping the bottom of the barrel for subs and people who probably couldn't pass the Praxis on their own. This should be interesting. This is different from TFA and fellows programs.

YES, this is how low they are going while those at head office making the decisions are fresh out of TFA and haven't got a clue and couldn't cut in the classroom. It's a big mess and getting worse everywhere not just in title 1 schools, except in the other schools they leave at the end of the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just a reminder that the many teachers who ARE finishing the year, who would like to have a dependable long-term career in DCPS, are still waiting for a new contract and retroactive pay. This becomes an issue of professionalism and respect. Many valued colleagues are not returning to our school in the fall.

LEAP and IMPACT are another big reason folks are leaving this year. It's a lose lose situation in most, but not all, schools! The money from Rhee's fund has dried up so now they can only afford "a few" people to be effective. Back in the day, you know when they had the cheating scandals and Rhee was in charge, they were splashing the cash!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the experiment with hiring these Ivy Teach for America types should be declared over. They will just leave anyway, and go off to work for a nonprofit or quit when they marry a banker. What's so great about "gentrifying" DCPS teachers anyway? It used to be that DCPS staff were of D.C. They were from the D.C community and they understood D.C. And they were happy to have a career and lifetime career with DCPS.

You mean back when pretty much every school and student was failing? And graduation rates were abysmal?

No! thats so unfair. D.C. was different than it is not. The generation that were kids are now adults with kids. We all know that you need "Experienced teachers" in the lower performing schools. Think of it like this "Rookie doctors are not doing major life and death surgeries from day 1" This teach for america is though do this all the time Yet, we wonder why some school struggle DCPS and charters included. Teach for america is not bad. However, put the rookie teachers in good schools so when they have to go to low petforming schools they have a chance

Or send them to Oklahoma were they need teachers, there is not a teacher shortage in DC we are the highest paying district so we should not be hiring TFA. Rookie trained qualified teachers yet, because everyone has to start somewhere but need to support them and most importantly keep the good teachers we have and not try and drive them away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just a reminder that the many teachers who ARE finishing the year, who would like to have a dependable long-term career in DCPS, are still waiting for a new contract and retroactive pay. This becomes an issue of professionalism and respect. Many valued colleagues are not returning to our school in the fall.

In an educator as well in the system so I know first hand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the experiment with hiring these Ivy Teach for America types should be declared over. They will just leave anyway, and go off to work for a nonprofit or quit when they marry a banker. What's so great about "gentrifying" DCPS teachers anyway? It used to be that DCPS staff were of D.C. They were from the D.C community and they understood D.C. And they were happy to have a career and lifetime career with DCPS.

You mean back when pretty much every school and student was failing? And graduation rates were abysmal?

No! thats so unfair. D.C. was different than it is not. The generation that were kids are now adults with kids. We all know that you need "Experienced teachers" in the lower performing schools. Think of it like this "Rookie doctors are not doing major life and death surgeries from day 1" This teach for america is though do this all the time Yet, we wonder why some school struggle DCPS and charters included. Teach for america is not bad. However, put the rookie teachers in good schools so when they have to go to low petforming schools they have a chance

Or send them to Oklahoma were they need teachers, there is not a teacher shortage in DC we are the highest paying district so we should not be hiring TFA. Rookie trained qualified teachers yet, because everyone has to start somewhere but need to support them and most importantly keep the good teachers we have and not try and drive them away.

100% agree!

[Anonymous]

It's all about the administrators in the schools. Every school has behavior problems, but if you're in a school with administrators who are both supportive and competent, those issues can be managed. Until DCPS manages to hire decent principals, they will have this problem. Their problem is not the quality of teaching. It's keeping the teachers who are good. I've been Highly Effective for the last five years, and I'm leaving at the end of this year. I just can't take the dysfunction anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe the experiment with hiring these Ivy Teach for America types should be declared over. They will just leave anyway, and go off to work for a nonprofit or quit when they marry a banker. What's so great about "gentrifying" DCPS teachers anyway? It used to be that DCPS staff were of D.C. They were from the D.C community and they understood D.C. And they were happy to have a career and lifetime career with DCPS.

You mean back when pretty much every school and student was failing? And graduation rates were abysmal?

Nothing's changed.

[Anonymous]

Yeah one school that used to brag about the number of highly effective teachers got a new principal who low balled all of the evaluations. A new rubric is being used and as annoying as M E s were they did offer some balance in scores. These principals don't even know how to use the new rubric. Brand new principals shouldn't even be allowed to evaluate teachers without having someone experienced to mentor them and norm the scores with them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just a reminder that the many teachers who ARE finishing the year, who would like to have a dependable long-term career in DCPS, are still waiting for a new contract and retroactive pay. This becomes an issue of professionalism and respect. Many valued colleagues are not returning to our school in the fall.

LEAP and IMPACT are another big reason folks are leaving this year. It's a lose lose situation in most, but not all, schools! The money from Rhee's fund has dried up so now they can only afford "a few" people to be effective. Back in the day, you know when they had the cheating scandals and Rhee was in charge, they were splashing the cash!

[Anonymous]

Be kind to your new replacement teacher...

Vote out current leadership.