DCPS Central Office Cuts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's more than a hint of racism in many of these comments. I have no doubt that those calling for mass firings at DCPS are white.

Yup, I definitely see that and it is obvious. I would say that at least 65% of Central Office is black employees. The people complaining about Central Office cannot fathom the fact that black people are in charge. We all know that certain people believe that just because someone is black, they are lazy and unqualified for their position. Case closed. Prove me wrong that this isn’t the reason for the disdain for Central Office. I’ll wait….

Bingo. This right here. There are people who loathe at the fact that this district has mostly Black people making decisions and they can't stand it. There is nothing said about how fast the district is improving (faster than most urban districts in the nation), but chose to focus on negative opinions. Remember, public school is a choice. If you hate it so much, pay the private school big bucks. You can't have it both ways. Same for DCPS staff who are complaining. If you dislike it so much, resign. It's really that simple.

The things they complain about are also things that teachers should be doing and that are expectations everywhere! I started teaching in a different state and our union didn’t have a contract the way DC does, so there were no limits on meetings, duties, we didn’t get admin premium, etc. Having an objective posted and following a pacing guide is standard. Complaining about central office for student test scores when they aren’t the ones directly instructing is…interesting. And like you mentioned, DCPS is actually improving and doing better than other similar districts.

Exactly. I have worked in a district where professional development was non-existent and it took forever and a day to get anything from the central office because they were severely understaffed. The schools all did their own thing resulting in major inequities ( especially schools that had strong PTA's versus schools that didn't). We won't begin to speak on the range of instruction in the district. The schools that were hard to staff were also the underperforming schools because there were no incentives for teachers to chance possible dangerous working conditions while risking minimal student achievement growth. Also keep in mind that this district is CONTROLLED BY THE MAYOR which makes all the difference. Most school districts are controlled by their school board which has more say on who is hired to do what, timelines, and outcomes. The DCPS machine takes some getting used to, but when compared to some other large urban districts, I will say that it is much better than most. Try working for Baltimore, Philadelphia, NYC, Los Angeles, Chicago school districts. DCPS is a day at the beach.

Why are you lying, I have worked in 2 of the other districts, they were easier to work in.
And by ‘incentives’ you must mean the bonus that 30% of teachers get including non-title 1 teachers and Rsp’s -making it much less.

The schools that are underperforming in DCPS are also hard to staff, don’t fool yourself. Many of these schools are a revolving door. I see many new teacher get allured by the bonus and salary, only to be disappointed and upset by the treatment. They leave the teaching profession or teach in VA or MD.

The things ‘they’ complain about? List them. List our real complaints that are such pinnacles of standards in all other districts.

You my friend have never been outside of the DMV. It is a reason that teachers from Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Alabama come to DC. It is so much worse elsewhere. There are no unions in others states like it is in DC, teachers in DC are some of the highest paid in the country and yet they don't know that some of these same problems exist all over the nation but there are no union protections and you are working for peanuts.

First of all learn how to reply, second again do not respond if you have no clue what you’re saying.

DC pays well after 20 years of service and even then if you live in DC it’s not enough to buy a house. The average DCPS teacher makes 84k.

Also I am not from DC, so again I have taught in other states. My sister in law teaches Florida. She’s not clamoring to push to move to DC.

Union protections? You mean the one DCPS bulldozes over and teachers have to wait 5-10 years for a hearing result- thus end up somewhere else.

It’s interesting when parents complain about wanting better for their children from the school system it’s applauded, in fact ‘other districts’ are worse is not acceptable.
But when teachers tell you at title 1 schools we are not doing well it’s: ‘oh but you’re paid well or other districts have it worse.’ It’s incredibly sad that you think this has no impact on how your child is taught.

It’s NOT about the money! I just want to be treated decently, I don’t need the bonus. I want to be evaluated on real metrics- how much growth are my students making, what were their general scores like, etc. If a student misses 50+ days they shouldn’t be counted but they are. I also don’t want to be forced to promote students when they never come to school.
My ‘commitment to the school’ is not a real metric! It’s subjective. The rubric for my observation is subjective.

NP and I have seen commitment to the school scoring used to get rid of teachers they don’t like. And it was clearly manipulated because some of those teachers volunteered to do every extra activity, plan events, sponsor clubs, chaperone after school activities, etc.

All industries have an evaluation system. You have not experienced corporate America, I see. Only volunteers are evaluation-free. If you don't want to be evaluated, volunteer to teach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's more than a hint of racism in many of these comments. I have no doubt that those calling for mass firings at DCPS are white.

Yup, I definitely see that and it is obvious. I would say that at least 65% of Central Office is black employees. The people complaining about Central Office cannot fathom the fact that black people are in charge. We all know that certain people believe that just because someone is black, they are lazy and unqualified for their position. Case closed. Prove me wrong that this isn’t the reason for the disdain for Central Office. I’ll wait….

Bingo. This right here. There are people who loathe at the fact that this district has mostly Black people making decisions and they can't stand it. There is nothing said about how fast the district is improving (faster than most urban districts in the nation), but chose to focus on negative opinions. Remember, public school is a choice. If you hate it so much, pay the private school big bucks. You can't have it both ways. Same for DCPS staff who are complaining. If you dislike it so much, resign. It's really that simple.

The things they complain about are also things that teachers should be doing and that are expectations everywhere! I started teaching in a different state and our union didn’t have a contract the way DC does, so there were no limits on meetings, duties, we didn’t get admin premium, etc. Having an objective posted and following a pacing guide is standard. Complaining about central office for student test scores when they aren’t the ones directly instructing is…interesting. And like you mentioned, DCPS is actually improving and doing better than other similar districts.

Exactly. I have worked in a district where professional development was non-existent and it took forever and a day to get anything from the central office because they were severely understaffed. The schools all did their own thing resulting in major inequities ( especially schools that had strong PTA's versus schools that didn't). We won't begin to speak on the range of instruction in the district. The schools that were hard to staff were also the underperforming schools because there were no incentives for teachers to chance possible dangerous working conditions while risking minimal student achievement growth. Also keep in mind that this district is CONTROLLED BY THE MAYOR which makes all the difference. Most school districts are controlled by their school board which has more say on who is hired to do what, timelines, and outcomes. The DCPS machine takes some getting used to, but when compared to some other large urban districts, I will say that it is much better than most. Try working for Baltimore, Philadelphia, NYC, Los Angeles, Chicago school districts. DCPS is a day at the beach.

Why are you lying, I have worked in 2 of the other districts, they were easier to work in.
And by ‘incentives’ you must mean the bonus that 30% of teachers get including non-title 1 teachers and Rsp’s -making it much less.

The schools that are underperforming in DCPS are also hard to staff, don’t fool yourself. Many of these schools are a revolving door. I see many new teacher get allured by the bonus and salary, only to be disappointed and upset by the treatment. They leave the teaching profession or teach in VA or MD.

The things ‘they’ complain about? List them. List our real complaints that are such pinnacles of standards in all other districts.

You my friend have never been outside of the DMV. It is a reason that teachers from Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Alabama come to DC. It is so much worse elsewhere. There are no unions in others states like it is in DC, teachers in DC are some of the highest paid in the country and yet they don't know that some of these same problems exist all over the nation but there are no union protections and you are working for peanuts.

First of all learn how to reply, second again do not respond if you have no clue what you’re saying.

DC pays well after 20 years of service and even then if you live in DC it’s not enough to buy a house. The average DCPS teacher makes 84k.

Also I am not from DC, so again I have taught in other states. My sister in law teaches Florida. She’s not clamoring to push to move to DC.

Union protections? You mean the one DCPS bulldozes over and teachers have to wait 5-10 years for a hearing result- thus end up somewhere else.

It’s interesting when parents complain about wanting better for their children from the school system it’s applauded, in fact ‘other districts’ are worse is not acceptable.
But when teachers tell you at title 1 schools we are not doing well it’s: ‘oh but you’re paid well or other districts have it worse.’ It’s incredibly sad that you think this has no impact on how your child is taught.

It’s NOT about the money! I just want to be treated decently, I don’t need the bonus. I want to be evaluated on real metrics- how much growth are my students making, what were their general scores like, etc. If a student misses 50+ days they shouldn’t be counted but they are. I also don’t want to be forced to promote students when they never come to school.
My ‘commitment to the school’ is not a real metric! It’s subjective. The rubric for my observation is subjective.

NP and I have seen commitment to the school scoring used to get rid of teachers they don’t like. And it was clearly manipulated because some of those teachers volunteered to do every extra activity, plan events, sponsor clubs, chaperone after school activities, etc.

All industries have an evaluation system. You have not experienced corporate America, I see. Only volunteers are evaluation-free. If you don't want to be evaluated, volunteer to teach.

So it’s ok that CO conducts evaluations in bad faith, aimed at getting rid of good teachers? Because corporate America does performance reviews?

Again, not persuasive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's more than a hint of racism in many of these comments. I have no doubt that those calling for mass firings at DCPS are white.

Yup, I definitely see that and it is obvious. I would say that at least 65% of Central Office is black employees. The people complaining about Central Office cannot fathom the fact that black people are in charge. We all know that certain people believe that just because someone is black, they are lazy and unqualified for their position. Case closed. Prove me wrong that this isn’t the reason for the disdain for Central Office. I’ll wait….

Bingo. This right here. There are people who loathe at the fact that this district has mostly Black people making decisions and they can't stand it. There is nothing said about how fast the district is improving (faster than most urban districts in the nation), but chose to focus on negative opinions. Remember, public school is a choice. If you hate it so much, pay the private school big bucks. You can't have it both ways. Same for DCPS staff who are complaining. If you dislike it so much, resign. It's really that simple.

The things they complain about are also things that teachers should be doing and that are expectations everywhere! I started teaching in a different state and our union didn’t have a contract the way DC does, so there were no limits on meetings, duties, we didn’t get admin premium, etc. Having an objective posted and following a pacing guide is standard. Complaining about central office for student test scores when they aren’t the ones directly instructing is…interesting. And like you mentioned, DCPS is actually improving and doing better than other similar districts.

Exactly. I have worked in a district where professional development was non-existent and it took forever and a day to get anything from the central office because they were severely understaffed. The schools all did their own thing resulting in major inequities ( especially schools that had strong PTA's versus schools that didn't). We won't begin to speak on the range of instruction in the district. The schools that were hard to staff were also the underperforming schools because there were no incentives for teachers to chance possible dangerous working conditions while risking minimal student achievement growth. Also keep in mind that this district is CONTROLLED BY THE MAYOR which makes all the difference. Most school districts are controlled by their school board which has more say on who is hired to do what, timelines, and outcomes. The DCPS machine takes some getting used to, but when compared to some other large urban districts, I will say that it is much better than most. Try working for Baltimore, Philadelphia, NYC, Los Angeles, Chicago school districts. DCPS is a day at the beach.

Why are you lying, I have worked in 2 of the other districts, they were easier to work in.
And by ‘incentives’ you must mean the bonus that 30% of teachers get including non-title 1 teachers and Rsp’s -making it much less.

The schools that are underperforming in DCPS are also hard to staff, don’t fool yourself. Many of these schools are a revolving door. I see many new teacher get allured by the bonus and salary, only to be disappointed and upset by the treatment. They leave the teaching profession or teach in VA or MD.

The things ‘they’ complain about? List them. List our real complaints that are such pinnacles of standards in all other districts.

You my friend have never been outside of the DMV. It is a reason that teachers from Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Alabama come to DC. It is so much worse elsewhere. There are no unions in others states like it is in DC, teachers in DC are some of the highest paid in the country and yet they don't know that some of these same problems exist all over the nation but there are no union protections and you are working for peanuts.

First of all learn how to reply, second again do not respond if you have no clue what you’re saying.

DC pays well after 20 years of service and even then if you live in DC it’s not enough to buy a house. The average DCPS teacher makes 84k.

Also I am not from DC, so again I have taught in other states. My sister in law teaches Florida. She’s not clamoring to push to move to DC.

Union protections? You mean the one DCPS bulldozes over and teachers have to wait 5-10 years for a hearing result- thus end up somewhere else.

It’s interesting when parents complain about wanting better for their children from the school system it’s applauded, in fact ‘other districts’ are worse is not acceptable.
But when teachers tell you at title 1 schools we are not doing well it’s: ‘oh but you’re paid well or other districts have it worse.’ It’s incredibly sad that you think this has no impact on how your child is taught.

It’s NOT about the money! I just want to be treated decently, I don’t need the bonus. I want to be evaluated on real metrics- how much growth are my students making, what were their general scores like, etc. If a student misses 50+ days they shouldn’t be counted but they are. I also don’t want to be forced to promote students when they never come to school.
My ‘commitment to the school’ is not a real metric! It’s subjective. The rubric for my observation is subjective.

NP and I have seen commitment to the school scoring used to get rid of teachers they don’t like. And it was clearly manipulated because some of those teachers volunteered to do every extra activity, plan events, sponsor clubs, chaperone after school activities, etc.

All industries have an evaluation system. You have not experienced corporate America, I see. Only volunteers are evaluation-free. If you don't want to be evaluated, volunteer to teach.

I know teachers are not popular among certain crowds but they were not saying teachers should not be evaluated.
In corporate America I have never seen a percentage of the evaluation be ‘commitment to XYZ company’ and have it be mostly things outside of your paid time. The company expects you to do it for free and it’s part of your evaluation, however it is not stated that it will be on your free time only when you are hired.

I imagine you also have clear metrics in which you are evaluated on. It is not subjective but a clear metric to those who work in the company.

Also even if that’s not the case, why does that equate to teachers who want to be evaluated by their work and skill as people who should ‘volunteer’ instead?

Again, the American University found IMPACT (the evaluation tool used) to be RACIST and biased. That’s ok with you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's more than a hint of racism in many of these comments. I have no doubt that those calling for mass firings at DCPS are white.

Yup, I definitely see that and it is obvious. I would say that at least 65% of Central Office is black employees. The people complaining about Central Office cannot fathom the fact that black people are in charge. We all know that certain people believe that just because someone is black, they are lazy and unqualified for their position. Case closed. Prove me wrong that this isn’t the reason for the disdain for Central Office. I’ll wait….

Bingo. This right here. There are people who loathe at the fact that this district has mostly Black people making decisions and they can't stand it. There is nothing said about how fast the district is improving (faster than most urban districts in the nation), but chose to focus on negative opinions. Remember, public school is a choice. If you hate it so much, pay the private school big bucks. You can't have it both ways. Same for DCPS staff who are complaining. If you dislike it so much, resign. It's really that simple.

The things they complain about are also things that teachers should be doing and that are expectations everywhere! I started teaching in a different state and our union didn’t have a contract the way DC does, so there were no limits on meetings, duties, we didn’t get admin premium, etc. Having an objective posted and following a pacing guide is standard. Complaining about central office for student test scores when they aren’t the ones directly instructing is…interesting. And like you mentioned, DCPS is actually improving and doing better than other similar districts.

Exactly. I have worked in a district where professional development was non-existent and it took forever and a day to get anything from the central office because they were severely understaffed. The schools all did their own thing resulting in major inequities ( especially schools that had strong PTA's versus schools that didn't). We won't begin to speak on the range of instruction in the district. The schools that were hard to staff were also the underperforming schools because there were no incentives for teachers to chance possible dangerous working conditions while risking minimal student achievement growth. Also keep in mind that this district is CONTROLLED BY THE MAYOR which makes all the difference. Most school districts are controlled by their school board which has more say on who is hired to do what, timelines, and outcomes. The DCPS machine takes some getting used to, but when compared to some other large urban districts, I will say that it is much better than most. Try working for Baltimore, Philadelphia, NYC, Los Angeles, Chicago school districts. DCPS is a day at the beach.

Why are you lying, I have worked in 2 of the other districts, they were easier to work in.
And by ‘incentives’ you must mean the bonus that 30% of teachers get including non-title 1 teachers and Rsp’s -making it much less.

The schools that are underperforming in DCPS are also hard to staff, don’t fool yourself. Many of these schools are a revolving door. I see many new teacher get allured by the bonus and salary, only to be disappointed and upset by the treatment. They leave the teaching profession or teach in VA or MD.

The things ‘they’ complain about? List them. List our real complaints that are such pinnacles of standards in all other districts.

You my friend have never been outside of the DMV. It is a reason that teachers from Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Alabama come to DC. It is so much worse elsewhere. There are no unions in others states like it is in DC, teachers in DC are some of the highest paid in the country and yet they don't know that some of these same problems exist all over the nation but there are no union protections and you are working for peanuts.

First of all learn how to reply, second again do not respond if you have no clue what you’re saying.

DC pays well after 20 years of service and even then if you live in DC it’s not enough to buy a house. The average DCPS teacher makes 84k.

Also I am not from DC, so again I have taught in other states. My sister in law teaches Florida. She’s not clamoring to push to move to DC.

Union protections? You mean the one DCPS bulldozes over and teachers have to wait 5-10 years for a hearing result- thus end up somewhere else.

It’s interesting when parents complain about wanting better for their children from the school system it’s applauded, in fact ‘other districts’ are worse is not acceptable.
But when teachers tell you at title 1 schools we are not doing well it’s: ‘oh but you’re paid well or other districts have it worse.’ It’s incredibly sad that you think this has no impact on how your child is taught.

It’s NOT about the money! I just want to be treated decently, I don’t need the bonus. I want to be evaluated on real metrics- how much growth are my students making, what were their general scores like, etc. If a student misses 50+ days they shouldn’t be counted but they are. I also don’t want to be forced to promote students when they never come to school.
My ‘commitment to the school’ is not a real metric! It’s subjective. The rubric for my observation is subjective.

NP and I have seen commitment to the school scoring used to get rid of teachers they don’t like. And it was clearly manipulated because some of those teachers volunteered to do every extra activity, plan events, sponsor clubs, chaperone after school activities, etc.

All industries have an evaluation system. You have not experienced corporate America, I see. Only volunteers are evaluation-free. If you don't want to be evaluated, volunteer to teach.

PP but where did I say teachers shouldn’t be evaluated? At your job are you evaluated for your commitment to the company? You lost points if you don’t attend the company picture or holiday party? Does that sound ridiculous to you?

And what I was saying is I’ve had coworkers do hours and hours of work outside their job to support the school. Plan events outside school hours, help organize standardized tests, join committees, etc. And they get low scores for commitment because the principal wanted to get rid of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's more than a hint of racism in many of these comments. I have no doubt that those calling for mass firings at DCPS are white.

Yup, I definitely see that and it is obvious. I would say that at least 65% of Central Office is black employees. The people complaining about Central Office cannot fathom the fact that black people are in charge. We all know that certain people believe that just because someone is black, they are lazy and unqualified for their position. Case closed. Prove me wrong that this isn’t the reason for the disdain for Central Office. I’ll wait….

Bingo. This right here. There are people who loathe at the fact that this district has mostly Black people making decisions and they can't stand it. There is nothing said about how fast the district is improving (faster than most urban districts in the nation), but chose to focus on negative opinions. Remember, public school is a choice. If you hate it so much, pay the private school big bucks. You can't have it both ways. Same for DCPS staff who are complaining. If you dislike it so much, resign. It's really that simple.

The things they complain about are also things that teachers should be doing and that are expectations everywhere! I started teaching in a different state and our union didn’t have a contract the way DC does, so there were no limits on meetings, duties, we didn’t get admin premium, etc. Having an objective posted and following a pacing guide is standard. Complaining about central office for student test scores when they aren’t the ones directly instructing is…interesting. And like you mentioned, DCPS is actually improving and doing better than other similar districts.

Exactly. I have worked in a district where professional development was non-existent and it took forever and a day to get anything from the central office because they were severely understaffed. The schools all did their own thing resulting in major inequities ( especially schools that had strong PTA's versus schools that didn't). We won't begin to speak on the range of instruction in the district. The schools that were hard to staff were also the underperforming schools because there were no incentives for teachers to chance possible dangerous working conditions while risking minimal student achievement growth. Also keep in mind that this district is CONTROLLED BY THE MAYOR which makes all the difference. Most school districts are controlled by their school board which has more say on who is hired to do what, timelines, and outcomes. The DCPS machine takes some getting used to, but when compared to some other large urban districts, I will say that it is much better than most. Try working for Baltimore, Philadelphia, NYC, Los Angeles, Chicago school districts. DCPS is a day at the beach.

Why are you lying, I have worked in 2 of the other districts, they were easier to work in.
And by ‘incentives’ you must mean the bonus that 30% of teachers get including non-title 1 teachers and Rsp’s -making it much less.

The schools that are underperforming in DCPS are also hard to staff, don’t fool yourself. Many of these schools are a revolving door. I see many new teacher get allured by the bonus and salary, only to be disappointed and upset by the treatment. They leave the teaching profession or teach in VA or MD.

The things ‘they’ complain about? List them. List our real complaints that are such pinnacles of standards in all other districts.

You my friend have never been outside of the DMV. It is a reason that teachers from Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Alabama come to DC. It is so much worse elsewhere. There are no unions in others states like it is in DC, teachers in DC are some of the highest paid in the country and yet they don't know that some of these same problems exist all over the nation but there are no union protections and you are working for peanuts.

First of all learn how to reply, second again do not respond if you have no clue what you’re saying.

DC pays well after 20 years of service and even then if you live in DC it’s not enough to buy a house. The average DCPS teacher makes 84k.

Also I am not from DC, so again I have taught in other states. My sister in law teaches Florida. She’s not clamoring to push to move to DC.

Union protections? You mean the one DCPS bulldozes over and teachers have to wait 5-10 years for a hearing result- thus end up somewhere else.

It’s interesting when parents complain about wanting better for their children from the school system it’s applauded, in fact ‘other districts’ are worse is not acceptable.
But when teachers tell you at title 1 schools we are not doing well it’s: ‘oh but you’re paid well or other districts have it worse.’ It’s incredibly sad that you think this has no impact on how your child is taught.

It’s NOT about the money! I just want to be treated decently, I don’t need the bonus. I want to be evaluated on real metrics- how much growth are my students making, what were their general scores like, etc. If a student misses 50+ days they shouldn’t be counted but they are. I also don’t want to be forced to promote students when they never come to school.
My ‘commitment to the school’ is not a real metric! It’s subjective. The rubric for my observation is subjective.

NP and I have seen commitment to the school scoring used to get rid of teachers they don’t like. And it was clearly manipulated because some of those teachers volunteered to do every extra activity, plan events, sponsor clubs, chaperone after school activities, etc.

All industries have an evaluation system. You have not experienced corporate America, I see. Only volunteers are evaluation-free. If you don't want to be evaluated, volunteer to teach.

PP but where did I say teachers shouldn’t be evaluated? At your job are you evaluated for your commitment to the company? You lost points if you don’t attend the company picture or holiday party? Does that sound ridiculous to you?

And what I was saying is I’ve had coworkers do hours and hours of work outside their job to support the school. Plan events outside school hours, help organize standardized tests, join committees, etc. And they get low scores for commitment because the principal wanted to get rid of them.

Yes I worked at a company where not only did I need to go to the company holiday party, so did my spouse.

All that said, CO should go. This is what they’re spending their time on? Good grief.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's more than a hint of racism in many of these comments. I have no doubt that those calling for mass firings at DCPS are white.

Yup, I definitely see that and it is obvious. I would say that at least 65% of Central Office is black employees. The people complaining about Central Office cannot fathom the fact that black people are in charge. We all know that certain people believe that just because someone is black, they are lazy and unqualified for their position. Case closed. Prove me wrong that this isn’t the reason for the disdain for Central Office. I’ll wait….

Bingo. This right here. There are people who loathe at the fact that this district has mostly Black people making decisions and they can't stand it. There is nothing said about how fast the district is improving (faster than most urban districts in the nation), but chose to focus on negative opinions. Remember, public school is a choice. If you hate it so much, pay the private school big bucks. You can't have it both ways. Same for DCPS staff who are complaining. If you dislike it so much, resign. It's really that simple.

The things they complain about are also things that teachers should be doing and that are expectations everywhere! I started teaching in a different state and our union didn’t have a contract the way DC does, so there were no limits on meetings, duties, we didn’t get admin premium, etc. Having an objective posted and following a pacing guide is standard. Complaining about central office for student test scores when they aren’t the ones directly instructing is…interesting. And like you mentioned, DCPS is actually improving and doing better than other similar districts.

Exactly. I have worked in a district where professional development was non-existent and it took forever and a day to get anything from the central office because they were severely understaffed. The schools all did their own thing resulting in major inequities ( especially schools that had strong PTA's versus schools that didn't). We won't begin to speak on the range of instruction in the district. The schools that were hard to staff were also the underperforming schools because there were no incentives for teachers to chance possible dangerous working conditions while risking minimal student achievement growth. Also keep in mind that this district is CONTROLLED BY THE MAYOR which makes all the difference. Most school districts are controlled by their school board which has more say on who is hired to do what, timelines, and outcomes. The DCPS machine takes some getting used to, but when compared to some other large urban districts, I will say that it is much better than most. Try working for Baltimore, Philadelphia, NYC, Los Angeles, Chicago school districts. DCPS is a day at the beach.

Why are you lying, I have worked in 2 of the other districts, they were easier to work in.
And by ‘incentives’ you must mean the bonus that 30% of teachers get including non-title 1 teachers and Rsp’s -making it much less.

The schools that are underperforming in DCPS are also hard to staff, don’t fool yourself. Many of these schools are a revolving door. I see many new teacher get allured by the bonus and salary, only to be disappointed and upset by the treatment. They leave the teaching profession or teach in VA or MD.

The things ‘they’ complain about? List them. List our real complaints that are such pinnacles of standards in all other districts.

You my friend have never been outside of the DMV. It is a reason that teachers from Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Alabama come to DC. It is so much worse elsewhere. There are no unions in others states like it is in DC, teachers in DC are some of the highest paid in the country and yet they don't know that some of these same problems exist all over the nation but there are no union protections and you are working for peanuts.

First of all learn how to reply, second again do not respond if you have no clue what you’re saying.

DC pays well after 20 years of service and even then if you live in DC it’s not enough to buy a house. The average DCPS teacher makes 84k.

Also I am not from DC, so again I have taught in other states. My sister in law teaches Florida. She’s not clamoring to push to move to DC.

Union protections? You mean the one DCPS bulldozes over and teachers have to wait 5-10 years for a hearing result- thus end up somewhere else.

It’s interesting when parents complain about wanting better for their children from the school system it’s applauded, in fact ‘other districts’ are worse is not acceptable.
But when teachers tell you at title 1 schools we are not doing well it’s: ‘oh but you’re paid well or other districts have it worse.’ It’s incredibly sad that you think this has no impact on how your child is taught.

It’s NOT about the money! I just want to be treated decently, I don’t need the bonus. I want to be evaluated on real metrics- how much growth are my students making, what were their general scores like, etc. If a student misses 50+ days they shouldn’t be counted but they are. I also don’t want to be forced to promote students when they never come to school.
My ‘commitment to the school’ is not a real metric! It’s subjective. The rubric for my observation is subjective.

NP and I have seen commitment to the school scoring used to get rid of teachers they don’t like. And it was clearly manipulated because some of those teachers volunteered to do every extra activity, plan events, sponsor clubs, chaperone after school activities, etc.

All industries have an evaluation system. You have not experienced corporate America, I see. Only volunteers are evaluation-free. If you don't want to be evaluated, volunteer to teach.

PP but where did I say teachers shouldn’t be evaluated? At your job are you evaluated for your commitment to the company? You lost points if you don’t attend the company picture or holiday party? Does that sound ridiculous to you?

And what I was saying is I’ve had coworkers do hours and hours of work outside their job to support the school. Plan events outside school hours, help organize standardized tests, join committees, etc. And they get low scores for commitment because the principal wanted to get rid of them.

Yes I worked at a company where not only did I need to go to the company holiday party, so did my spouse.

All that said, CO should go. This is what they’re spending their time on? Good grief.

The difference is that it’s company politics. When your evaluation comes does it say, ‘went to company holiday party with spouse?’ And each time you do it you must clearly document it and submit that you went to a minimum of 10 parties a year to meet the basic requirements of your job?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's more than a hint of racism in many of these comments. I have no doubt that those calling for mass firings at DCPS are white.

Yup, I definitely see that and it is obvious. I would say that at least 65% of Central Office is black employees. The people complaining about Central Office cannot fathom the fact that black people are in charge. We all know that certain people believe that just because someone is black, they are lazy and unqualified for their position. Case closed. Prove me wrong that this isn’t the reason for the disdain for Central Office. I’ll wait….

Bingo. This right here. There are people who loathe at the fact that this district has mostly Black people making decisions and they can't stand it. There is nothing said about how fast the district is improving (faster than most urban districts in the nation), but chose to focus on negative opinions. Remember, public school is a choice. If you hate it so much, pay the private school big bucks. You can't have it both ways. Same for DCPS staff who are complaining. If you dislike it so much, resign. It's really that simple.

The things they complain about are also things that teachers should be doing and that are expectations everywhere! I started teaching in a different state and our union didn’t have a contract the way DC does, so there were no limits on meetings, duties, we didn’t get admin premium, etc. Having an objective posted and following a pacing guide is standard. Complaining about central office for student test scores when they aren’t the ones directly instructing is…interesting. And like you mentioned, DCPS is actually improving and doing better than other similar districts.

Exactly. I have worked in a district where professional development was non-existent and it took forever and a day to get anything from the central office because they were severely understaffed. The schools all did their own thing resulting in major inequities ( especially schools that had strong PTA's versus schools that didn't). We won't begin to speak on the range of instruction in the district. The schools that were hard to staff were also the underperforming schools because there were no incentives for teachers to chance possible dangerous working conditions while risking minimal student achievement growth. Also keep in mind that this district is CONTROLLED BY THE MAYOR which makes all the difference. Most school districts are controlled by their school board which has more say on who is hired to do what, timelines, and outcomes. The DCPS machine takes some getting used to, but when compared to some other large urban districts, I will say that it is much better than most. Try working for Baltimore, Philadelphia, NYC, Los Angeles, Chicago school districts. DCPS is a day at the beach.

Why are you lying, I have worked in 2 of the other districts, they were easier to work in.
And by ‘incentives’ you must mean the bonus that 30% of teachers get including non-title 1 teachers and Rsp’s -making it much less.

The schools that are underperforming in DCPS are also hard to staff, don’t fool yourself. Many of these schools are a revolving door. I see many new teacher get allured by the bonus and salary, only to be disappointed and upset by the treatment. They leave the teaching profession or teach in VA or MD.

The things ‘they’ complain about? List them. List our real complaints that are such pinnacles of standards in all other districts.

You my friend have never been outside of the DMV. It is a reason that teachers from Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Alabama come to DC. It is so much worse elsewhere. There are no unions in others states like it is in DC, teachers in DC are some of the highest paid in the country and yet they don't know that some of these same problems exist all over the nation but there are no union protections and you are working for peanuts.

First of all learn how to reply, second again do not respond if you have no clue what you’re saying.

DC pays well after 20 years of service and even then if you live in DC it’s not enough to buy a house. The average DCPS teacher makes 84k.

Also I am not from DC, so again I have taught in other states. My sister in law teaches Florida. She’s not clamoring to push to move to DC.

Union protections? You mean the one DCPS bulldozes over and teachers have to wait 5-10 years for a hearing result- thus end up somewhere else.

It’s interesting when parents complain about wanting better for their children from the school system it’s applauded, in fact ‘other districts’ are worse is not acceptable.
But when teachers tell you at title 1 schools we are not doing well it’s: ‘oh but you’re paid well or other districts have it worse.’ It’s incredibly sad that you think this has no impact on how your child is taught.

It’s NOT about the money! I just want to be treated decently, I don’t need the bonus. I want to be evaluated on real metrics- how much growth are my students making, what were their general scores like, etc. If a student misses 50+ days they shouldn’t be counted but they are. I also don’t want to be forced to promote students when they never come to school.
My ‘commitment to the school’ is not a real metric! It’s subjective. The rubric for my observation is subjective.

NP and I have seen commitment to the school scoring used to get rid of teachers they don’t like. And it was clearly manipulated because some of those teachers volunteered to do every extra activity, plan events, sponsor clubs, chaperone after school activities, etc.

All industries have an evaluation system. You have not experienced corporate America, I see. Only volunteers are evaluation-free. If you don't want to be evaluated, volunteer to teach.

PP but where did I say teachers shouldn’t be evaluated? At your job are you evaluated for your commitment to the company? You lost points if you don’t attend the company picture or holiday party? Does that sound ridiculous to you?

And what I was saying is I’ve had coworkers do hours and hours of work outside their job to support the school. Plan events outside school hours, help organize standardized tests, join committees, etc. And they get low scores for commitment because the principal wanted to get rid of them.

Yes I worked at a company where not only did I need to go to the company holiday party, so did my spouse.

All that said, CO should go. This is what they’re spending their time on? Good grief.

The difference is that it’s company politics. When your evaluation comes does it say, ‘went to company holiday party with spouse?’ And each time you do it you must clearly document it and submit that you went to a minimum of 10 parties a year to meet the basic requirements of your job?

In my job, I can be dismissed regardless of perfect evaluations. So it doesn’t matter what’s on the evaluations. Would you prefer that? I could dismiss you for not liking you, or for too many off-topic conversations.

Like this one. The conversation is about the CO, not whether or not teacher evaluation rubrics should be tweaked. Nothing in this thread convinces me that CO is a good use of funds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's more than a hint of racism in many of these comments. I have no doubt that those calling for mass firings at DCPS are white.

Yup, I definitely see that and it is obvious. I would say that at least 65% of Central Office is black employees. The people complaining about Central Office cannot fathom the fact that black people are in charge. We all know that certain people believe that just because someone is black, they are lazy and unqualified for their position. Case closed. Prove me wrong that this isn’t the reason for the disdain for Central Office. I’ll wait….

Bingo. This right here. There are people who loathe at the fact that this district has mostly Black people making decisions and they can't stand it. There is nothing said about how fast the district is improving (faster than most urban districts in the nation), but chose to focus on negative opinions. Remember, public school is a choice. If you hate it so much, pay the private school big bucks. You can't have it both ways. Same for DCPS staff who are complaining. If you dislike it so much, resign. It's really that simple.

The things they complain about are also things that teachers should be doing and that are expectations everywhere! I started teaching in a different state and our union didn’t have a contract the way DC does, so there were no limits on meetings, duties, we didn’t get admin premium, etc. Having an objective posted and following a pacing guide is standard. Complaining about central office for student test scores when they aren’t the ones directly instructing is…interesting. And like you mentioned, DCPS is actually improving and doing better than other similar districts.

Exactly. I have worked in a district where professional development was non-existent and it took forever and a day to get anything from the central office because they were severely understaffed. The schools all did their own thing resulting in major inequities ( especially schools that had strong PTA's versus schools that didn't). We won't begin to speak on the range of instruction in the district. The schools that were hard to staff were also the underperforming schools because there were no incentives for teachers to chance possible dangerous working conditions while risking minimal student achievement growth. Also keep in mind that this district is CONTROLLED BY THE MAYOR which makes all the difference. Most school districts are controlled by their school board which has more say on who is hired to do what, timelines, and outcomes. The DCPS machine takes some getting used to, but when compared to some other large urban districts, I will say that it is much better than most. Try working for Baltimore, Philadelphia, NYC, Los Angeles, Chicago school districts. DCPS is a day at the beach.

Why are you lying, I have worked in 2 of the other districts, they were easier to work in.
And by ‘incentives’ you must mean the bonus that 30% of teachers get including non-title 1 teachers and Rsp’s -making it much less.

The schools that are underperforming in DCPS are also hard to staff, don’t fool yourself. Many of these schools are a revolving door. I see many new teacher get allured by the bonus and salary, only to be disappointed and upset by the treatment. They leave the teaching profession or teach in VA or MD.

The things ‘they’ complain about? List them. List our real complaints that are such pinnacles of standards in all other districts.

You my friend have never been outside of the DMV. It is a reason that teachers from Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Alabama come to DC. It is so much worse elsewhere. There are no unions in others states like it is in DC, teachers in DC are some of the highest paid in the country and yet they don't know that some of these same problems exist all over the nation but there are no union protections and you are working for peanuts.

First of all learn how to reply, second again do not respond if you have no clue what you’re saying.

DC pays well after 20 years of service and even then if you live in DC it’s not enough to buy a house. The average DCPS teacher makes 84k.

Also I am not from DC, so again I have taught in other states. My sister in law teaches Florida. She’s not clamoring to push to move to DC.

Union protections? You mean the one DCPS bulldozes over and teachers have to wait 5-10 years for a hearing result- thus end up somewhere else.

It’s interesting when parents complain about wanting better for their children from the school system it’s applauded, in fact ‘other districts’ are worse is not acceptable.
But when teachers tell you at title 1 schools we are not doing well it’s: ‘oh but you’re paid well or other districts have it worse.’ It’s incredibly sad that you think this has no impact on how your child is taught.

It’s NOT about the money! I just want to be treated decently, I don’t need the bonus. I want to be evaluated on real metrics- how much growth are my students making, what were their general scores like, etc. If a student misses 50+ days they shouldn’t be counted but they are. I also don’t want to be forced to promote students when they never come to school.
My ‘commitment to the school’ is not a real metric! It’s subjective. The rubric for my observation is subjective.

NP and I have seen commitment to the school scoring used to get rid of teachers they don’t like. And it was clearly manipulated because some of those teachers volunteered to do every extra activity, plan events, sponsor clubs, chaperone after school activities, etc.

All industries have an evaluation system. You have not experienced corporate America, I see. Only volunteers are evaluation-free. If you don't want to be evaluated, volunteer to teach.

PP but where did I say teachers shouldn’t be evaluated? At your job are you evaluated for your commitment to the company? You lost points if you don’t attend the company picture or holiday party? Does that sound ridiculous to you?

And what I was saying is I’ve had coworkers do hours and hours of work outside their job to support the school. Plan events outside school hours, help organize standardized tests, join committees, etc. And they get low scores for commitment because the principal wanted to get rid of them.

Yes I worked at a company where not only did I need to go to the company holiday party, so did my spouse.

All that said, CO should go. This is what they’re spending their time on? Good grief.

The difference is that it’s company politics. When your evaluation comes does it say, ‘went to company holiday party with spouse?’ And each time you do it you must clearly document it and submit that you went to a minimum of 10 parties a year to meet the basic requirements of your job?

In my job, I can be dismissed regardless of perfect evaluations. So it doesn’t matter what’s on the evaluations. Would you prefer that? I could dismiss you for not liking you, or for too many off-topic conversations.

Like this one. The conversation is about the CO, not whether or not teacher evaluation rubrics should be tweaked. Nothing in this thread convinces me that CO is a good use of funds.

That’s what we are trying to tell you. Teachers can be dismissed just for not being liked, regardless of their eval.

This has everything to do with central office as DCPS purposely inflates useless teams and keeps teams that deal with abuse of any kind short staffed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's more than a hint of racism in many of these comments. I have no doubt that those calling for mass firings at DCPS are white.

Yup, I definitely see that and it is obvious. I would say that at least 65% of Central Office is black employees. The people complaining about Central Office cannot fathom the fact that black people are in charge. We all know that certain people believe that just because someone is black, they are lazy and unqualified for their position. Case closed. Prove me wrong that this isn’t the reason for the disdain for Central Office. I’ll wait….

Bingo. This right here. There are people who loathe at the fact that this district has mostly Black people making decisions and they can't stand it. There is nothing said about how fast the district is improving (faster than most urban districts in the nation), but chose to focus on negative opinions. Remember, public school is a choice. If you hate it so much, pay the private school big bucks. You can't have it both ways. Same for DCPS staff who are complaining. If you dislike it so much, resign. It's really that simple.

The things they complain about are also things that teachers should be doing and that are expectations everywhere! I started teaching in a different state and our union didn’t have a contract the way DC does, so there were no limits on meetings, duties, we didn’t get admin premium, etc. Having an objective posted and following a pacing guide is standard. Complaining about central office for student test scores when they aren’t the ones directly instructing is…interesting. And like you mentioned, DCPS is actually improving and doing better than other similar districts.

Exactly. I have worked in a district where professional development was non-existent and it took forever and a day to get anything from the central office because they were severely understaffed. The schools all did their own thing resulting in major inequities ( especially schools that had strong PTA's versus schools that didn't). We won't begin to speak on the range of instruction in the district. The schools that were hard to staff were also the underperforming schools because there were no incentives for teachers to chance possible dangerous working conditions while risking minimal student achievement growth. Also keep in mind that this district is CONTROLLED BY THE MAYOR which makes all the difference. Most school districts are controlled by their school board which has more say on who is hired to do what, timelines, and outcomes. The DCPS machine takes some getting used to, but when compared to some other large urban districts, I will say that it is much better than most. Try working for Baltimore, Philadelphia, NYC, Los Angeles, Chicago school districts. DCPS is a day at the beach.

Why are you lying, I have worked in 2 of the other districts, they were easier to work in.
And by ‘incentives’ you must mean the bonus that 30% of teachers get including non-title 1 teachers and Rsp’s -making it much less.

The schools that are underperforming in DCPS are also hard to staff, don’t fool yourself. Many of these schools are a revolving door. I see many new teacher get allured by the bonus and salary, only to be disappointed and upset by the treatment. They leave the teaching profession or teach in VA or MD.

The things ‘they’ complain about? List them. List our real complaints that are such pinnacles of standards in all other districts.

You my friend have never been outside of the DMV. It is a reason that teachers from Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Alabama come to DC. It is so much worse elsewhere. There are no unions in others states like it is in DC, teachers in DC are some of the highest paid in the country and yet they don't know that some of these same problems exist all over the nation but there are no union protections and you are working for peanuts.

First of all learn how to reply, second again do not respond if you have no clue what you’re saying.

DC pays well after 20 years of service and even then if you live in DC it’s not enough to buy a house. The average DCPS teacher makes 84k.

Also I am not from DC, so again I have taught in other states. My sister in law teaches Florida. She’s not clamoring to push to move to DC.

Union protections? You mean the one DCPS bulldozes over and teachers have to wait 5-10 years for a hearing result- thus end up somewhere else.

It’s interesting when parents complain about wanting better for their children from the school system it’s applauded, in fact ‘other districts’ are worse is not acceptable.
But when teachers tell you at title 1 schools we are not doing well it’s: ‘oh but you’re paid well or other districts have it worse.’ It’s incredibly sad that you think this has no impact on how your child is taught.

It’s NOT about the money! I just want to be treated decently, I don’t need the bonus. I want to be evaluated on real metrics- how much growth are my students making, what were their general scores like, etc. If a student misses 50+ days they shouldn’t be counted but they are. I also don’t want to be forced to promote students when they never come to school.
My ‘commitment to the school’ is not a real metric! It’s subjective. The rubric for my observation is subjective.

NP and I have seen commitment to the school scoring used to get rid of teachers they don’t like. And it was clearly manipulated because some of those teachers volunteered to do every extra activity, plan events, sponsor clubs, chaperone after school activities, etc.

All industries have an evaluation system. You have not experienced corporate America, I see. Only volunteers are evaluation-free. If you don't want to be evaluated, volunteer to teach.

I know teachers are not popular among certain crowds but they were not saying teachers should not be evaluated.
In corporate America I have never seen a percentage of the evaluation be ‘commitment to XYZ company’ and have it be mostly things outside of your paid time. The company expects you to do it for free and it’s part of your evaluation, however it is not stated that it will be on your free time only when you are hired.

I imagine you also have clear metrics in which you are evaluated on. It is not subjective but a clear metric to those who work in the company.

Also even if that’s not the case, why does that equate to teachers who want to be evaluated by their work and skill as people who should ‘volunteer’ instead?

Again, the American University found IMPACT (the evaluation tool used) to be RACIST and biased. That’s ok with you?

The American university study found a disparity in scores and called it racist, and definitely avoided reviews from any serious statistician or economist who can tell you that the presence of a disparity is not evidence of racism. The difference could be SES and parental education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's more than a hint of racism in many of these comments. I have no doubt that those calling for mass firings at DCPS are white.

Yup, I definitely see that and it is obvious. I would say that at least 65% of Central Office is black employees. The people complaining about Central Office cannot fathom the fact that black people are in charge. We all know that certain people believe that just because someone is black, they are lazy and unqualified for their position. Case closed. Prove me wrong that this isn’t the reason for the disdain for Central Office. I’ll wait….

Bingo. This right here. There are people who loathe at the fact that this district has mostly Black people making decisions and they can't stand it. There is nothing said about how fast the district is improving (faster than most urban districts in the nation), but chose to focus on negative opinions. Remember, public school is a choice. If you hate it so much, pay the private school big bucks. You can't have it both ways. Same for DCPS staff who are complaining. If you dislike it so much, resign. It's really that simple.

The things they complain about are also things that teachers should be doing and that are expectations everywhere! I started teaching in a different state and our union didn’t have a contract the way DC does, so there were no limits on meetings, duties, we didn’t get admin premium, etc. Having an objective posted and following a pacing guide is standard. Complaining about central office for student test scores when they aren’t the ones directly instructing is…interesting. And like you mentioned, DCPS is actually improving and doing better than other similar districts.

Exactly. I have worked in a district where professional development was non-existent and it took forever and a day to get anything from the central office because they were severely understaffed. The schools all did their own thing resulting in major inequities ( especially schools that had strong PTA's versus schools that didn't). We won't begin to speak on the range of instruction in the district. The schools that were hard to staff were also the underperforming schools because there were no incentives for teachers to chance possible dangerous working conditions while risking minimal student achievement growth. Also keep in mind that this district is CONTROLLED BY THE MAYOR which makes all the difference. Most school districts are controlled by their school board which has more say on who is hired to do what, timelines, and outcomes. The DCPS machine takes some getting used to, but when compared to some other large urban districts, I will say that it is much better than most. Try working for Baltimore, Philadelphia, NYC, Los Angeles, Chicago school districts. DCPS is a day at the beach.

Why are you lying, I have worked in 2 of the other districts, they were easier to work in.
And by ‘incentives’ you must mean the bonus that 30% of teachers get including non-title 1 teachers and Rsp’s -making it much less.

The schools that are underperforming in DCPS are also hard to staff, don’t fool yourself. Many of these schools are a revolving door. I see many new teacher get allured by the bonus and salary, only to be disappointed and upset by the treatment. They leave the teaching profession or teach in VA or MD.

The things ‘they’ complain about? List them. List our real complaints that are such pinnacles of standards in all other districts.

You my friend have never been outside of the DMV. It is a reason that teachers from Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Alabama come to DC. It is so much worse elsewhere. There are no unions in others states like it is in DC, teachers in DC are some of the highest paid in the country and yet they don't know that some of these same problems exist all over the nation but there are no union protections and you are working for peanuts.

First of all learn how to reply, second again do not respond if you have no clue what you’re saying.

DC pays well after 20 years of service and even then if you live in DC it’s not enough to buy a house. The average DCPS teacher makes 84k.

Also I am not from DC, so again I have taught in other states. My sister in law teaches Florida. She’s not clamoring to push to move to DC.

Union protections? You mean the one DCPS bulldozes over and teachers have to wait 5-10 years for a hearing result- thus end up somewhere else.

It’s interesting when parents complain about wanting better for their children from the school system it’s applauded, in fact ‘other districts’ are worse is not acceptable.
But when teachers tell you at title 1 schools we are not doing well it’s: ‘oh but you’re paid well or other districts have it worse.’ It’s incredibly sad that you think this has no impact on how your child is taught.

It’s NOT about the money! I just want to be treated decently, I don’t need the bonus. I want to be evaluated on real metrics- how much growth are my students making, what were their general scores like, etc. If a student misses 50+ days they shouldn’t be counted but they are. I also don’t want to be forced to promote students when they never come to school.
My ‘commitment to the school’ is not a real metric! It’s subjective. The rubric for my observation is subjective.

NP and I have seen commitment to the school scoring used to get rid of teachers they don’t like. And it was clearly manipulated because some of those teachers volunteered to do every extra activity, plan events, sponsor clubs, chaperone after school activities, etc.

All industries have an evaluation system. You have not experienced corporate America, I see. Only volunteers are evaluation-free. If you don't want to be evaluated, volunteer to teach.

PP but where did I say teachers shouldn’t be evaluated? At your job are you evaluated for your commitment to the company? You lost points if you don’t attend the company picture or holiday party? Does that sound ridiculous to you?

And what I was saying is I’ve had coworkers do hours and hours of work outside their job to support the school. Plan events outside school hours, help organize standardized tests, join committees, etc. And they get low scores for commitment because the principal wanted to get rid of them.

Yes I worked at a company where not only did I need to go to the company holiday party, so did my spouse.

All that said, CO should go. This is what they’re spending their time on? Good grief.

The difference is that it’s company politics. When your evaluation comes does it say, ‘went to company holiday party with spouse?’ And each time you do it you must clearly document it and submit that you went to a minimum of 10 parties a year to meet the basic requirements of your job?

In my job, I can be dismissed regardless of perfect evaluations. So it doesn’t matter what’s on the evaluations. Would you prefer that? I could dismiss you for not liking you, or for too many off-topic conversations.

Like this one. The conversation is about the CO, not whether or not teacher evaluation rubrics should be tweaked. Nothing in this thread convinces me that CO is a good use of funds.

There’s a distinction between a lay off and a firing (constructive dismissal or whatever). Lay offs are, well, if you get laid off because the manager only gets to save so many it’s somewhat understandable. Getting fired because the manager doesn’t like your face is a different issue and frankly any firm that does that is not a model for anything, even in PWM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's more than a hint of racism in many of these comments. I have no doubt that those calling for mass firings at DCPS are white.

Yup, I definitely see that and it is obvious. I would say that at least 65% of Central Office is black employees. The people complaining about Central Office cannot fathom the fact that black people are in charge. We all know that certain people believe that just because someone is black, they are lazy and unqualified for their position. Case closed. Prove me wrong that this isn’t the reason for the disdain for Central Office. I’ll wait….

Bingo. This right here. There are people who loathe at the fact that this district has mostly Black people making decisions and they can't stand it. There is nothing said about how fast the district is improving (faster than most urban districts in the nation), but chose to focus on negative opinions. Remember, public school is a choice. If you hate it so much, pay the private school big bucks. You can't have it both ways. Same for DCPS staff who are complaining. If you dislike it so much, resign. It's really that simple.

The things they complain about are also things that teachers should be doing and that are expectations everywhere! I started teaching in a different state and our union didn’t have a contract the way DC does, so there were no limits on meetings, duties, we didn’t get admin premium, etc. Having an objective posted and following a pacing guide is standard. Complaining about central office for student test scores when they aren’t the ones directly instructing is…interesting. And like you mentioned, DCPS is actually improving and doing better than other similar districts.

Exactly. I have worked in a district where professional development was non-existent and it took forever and a day to get anything from the central office because they were severely understaffed. The schools all did their own thing resulting in major inequities ( especially schools that had strong PTA's versus schools that didn't). We won't begin to speak on the range of instruction in the district. The schools that were hard to staff were also the underperforming schools because there were no incentives for teachers to chance possible dangerous working conditions while risking minimal student achievement growth. Also keep in mind that this district is CONTROLLED BY THE MAYOR which makes all the difference. Most school districts are controlled by their school board which has more say on who is hired to do what, timelines, and outcomes. The DCPS machine takes some getting used to, but when compared to some other large urban districts, I will say that it is much better than most. Try working for Baltimore, Philadelphia, NYC, Los Angeles, Chicago school districts. DCPS is a day at the beach.

Why are you lying, I have worked in 2 of the other districts, they were easier to work in.
And by ‘incentives’ you must mean the bonus that 30% of teachers get including non-title 1 teachers and Rsp’s -making it much less.

The schools that are underperforming in DCPS are also hard to staff, don’t fool yourself. Many of these schools are a revolving door. I see many new teacher get allured by the bonus and salary, only to be disappointed and upset by the treatment. They leave the teaching profession or teach in VA or MD.

The things ‘they’ complain about? List them. List our real complaints that are such pinnacles of standards in all other districts.

You my friend have never been outside of the DMV. It is a reason that teachers from Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Alabama come to DC. It is so much worse elsewhere. There are no unions in others states like it is in DC, teachers in DC are some of the highest paid in the country and yet they don't know that some of these same problems exist all over the nation but there are no union protections and you are working for peanuts.

First of all learn how to reply, second again do not respond if you have no clue what you’re saying.

DC pays well after 20 years of service and even then if you live in DC it’s not enough to buy a house. The average DCPS teacher makes 84k.

Also I am not from DC, so again I have taught in other states. My sister in law teaches Florida. She’s not clamoring to push to move to DC.

Union protections? You mean the one DCPS bulldozes over and teachers have to wait 5-10 years for a hearing result- thus end up somewhere else.

It’s interesting when parents complain about wanting better for their children from the school system it’s applauded, in fact ‘other districts’ are worse is not acceptable.
But when teachers tell you at title 1 schools we are not doing well it’s: ‘oh but you’re paid well or other districts have it worse.’ It’s incredibly sad that you think this has no impact on how your child is taught.

It’s NOT about the money! I just want to be treated decently, I don’t need the bonus. I want to be evaluated on real metrics- how much growth are my students making, what were their general scores like, etc. If a student misses 50+ days they shouldn’t be counted but they are. I also don’t want to be forced to promote students when they never come to school.
My ‘commitment to the school’ is not a real metric! It’s subjective. The rubric for my observation is subjective.

NP and I have seen commitment to the school scoring used to get rid of teachers they don’t like. And it was clearly manipulated because some of those teachers volunteered to do every extra activity, plan events, sponsor clubs, chaperone after school activities, etc.

All industries have an evaluation system. You have not experienced corporate America, I see. Only volunteers are evaluation-free. If you don't want to be evaluated, volunteer to teach.

PP but where did I say teachers shouldn’t be evaluated? At your job are you evaluated for your commitment to the company? You lost points if you don’t attend the company picture or holiday party? Does that sound ridiculous to you?

And what I was saying is I’ve had coworkers do hours and hours of work outside their job to support the school. Plan events outside school hours, help organize standardized tests, join committees, etc. And they get low scores for commitment because the principal wanted to get rid of them.

Yes I worked at a company where not only did I need to go to the company holiday party, so did my spouse.

All that said, CO should go. This is what they’re spending their time on? Good grief.

The difference is that it’s company politics. When your evaluation comes does it say, ‘went to company holiday party with spouse?’ And each time you do it you must clearly document it and submit that you went to a minimum of 10 parties a year to meet the basic requirements of your job?

I used to work for a consulting firm where the expectation is that we would go to client parties but that was explicitly a job function. I see no reason for teachers to do it- for us it was to get to know younger executives and management like us and hopefully drive future business as those people got promoted. Not like teachers are doing business development.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's more than a hint of racism in many of these comments. I have no doubt that those calling for mass firings at DCPS are white.

Yup, I definitely see that and it is obvious. I would say that at least 65% of Central Office is black employees. The people complaining about Central Office cannot fathom the fact that black people are in charge. We all know that certain people believe that just because someone is black, they are lazy and unqualified for their position. Case closed. Prove me wrong that this isn’t the reason for the disdain for Central Office. I’ll wait….

Bingo. This right here. There are people who loathe at the fact that this district has mostly Black people making decisions and they can't stand it. There is nothing said about how fast the district is improving (faster than most urban districts in the nation), but chose to focus on negative opinions. Remember, public school is a choice. If you hate it so much, pay the private school big bucks. You can't have it both ways. Same for DCPS staff who are complaining. If you dislike it so much, resign. It's really that simple.

The things they complain about are also things that teachers should be doing and that are expectations everywhere! I started teaching in a different state and our union didn’t have a contract the way DC does, so there were no limits on meetings, duties, we didn’t get admin premium, etc. Having an objective posted and following a pacing guide is standard. Complaining about central office for student test scores when they aren’t the ones directly instructing is…interesting. And like you mentioned, DCPS is actually improving and doing better than other similar districts.

Exactly. I have worked in a district where professional development was non-existent and it took forever and a day to get anything from the central office because they were severely understaffed. The schools all did their own thing resulting in major inequities ( especially schools that had strong PTA's versus schools that didn't). We won't begin to speak on the range of instruction in the district. The schools that were hard to staff were also the underperforming schools because there were no incentives for teachers to chance possible dangerous working conditions while risking minimal student achievement growth. Also keep in mind that this district is CONTROLLED BY THE MAYOR which makes all the difference. Most school districts are controlled by their school board which has more say on who is hired to do what, timelines, and outcomes. The DCPS machine takes some getting used to, but when compared to some other large urban districts, I will say that it is much better than most. Try working for Baltimore, Philadelphia, NYC, Los Angeles, Chicago school districts. DCPS is a day at the beach.

Why are you lying, I have worked in 2 of the other districts, they were easier to work in.
And by ‘incentives’ you must mean the bonus that 30% of teachers get including non-title 1 teachers and Rsp’s -making it much less.

The schools that are underperforming in DCPS are also hard to staff, don’t fool yourself. Many of these schools are a revolving door. I see many new teacher get allured by the bonus and salary, only to be disappointed and upset by the treatment. They leave the teaching profession or teach in VA or MD.

The things ‘they’ complain about? List them. List our real complaints that are such pinnacles of standards in all other districts.

You my friend have never been outside of the DMV. It is a reason that teachers from Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Alabama come to DC. It is so much worse elsewhere. There are no unions in others states like it is in DC, teachers in DC are some of the highest paid in the country and yet they don't know that some of these same problems exist all over the nation but there are no union protections and you are working for peanuts.

First of all learn how to reply, second again do not respond if you have no clue what you’re saying.

DC pays well after 20 years of service and even then if you live in DC it’s not enough to buy a house. The average DCPS teacher makes 84k.

Also I am not from DC, so again I have taught in other states. My sister in law teaches Florida. She’s not clamoring to push to move to DC.

Union protections? You mean the one DCPS bulldozes over and teachers have to wait 5-10 years for a hearing result- thus end up somewhere else.

It’s interesting when parents complain about wanting better for their children from the school system it’s applauded, in fact ‘other districts’ are worse is not acceptable.
But when teachers tell you at title 1 schools we are not doing well it’s: ‘oh but you’re paid well or other districts have it worse.’ It’s incredibly sad that you think this has no impact on how your child is taught.

It’s NOT about the money! I just want to be treated decently, I don’t need the bonus. I want to be evaluated on real metrics- how much growth are my students making, what were their general scores like, etc. If a student misses 50+ days they shouldn’t be counted but they are. I also don’t want to be forced to promote students when they never come to school.
My ‘commitment to the school’ is not a real metric! It’s subjective. The rubric for my observation is subjective.

NP and I have seen commitment to the school scoring used to get rid of teachers they don’t like. And it was clearly manipulated because some of those teachers volunteered to do every extra activity, plan events, sponsor clubs, chaperone after school activities, etc.

All industries have an evaluation system. You have not experienced corporate America, I see. Only volunteers are evaluation-free. If you don't want to be evaluated, volunteer to teach.

I know teachers are not popular among certain crowds but they were not saying teachers should not be evaluated.
In corporate America I have never seen a percentage of the evaluation be ‘commitment to XYZ company’ and have it be mostly things outside of your paid time. The company expects you to do it for free and it’s part of your evaluation, however it is not stated that it will be on your free time only when you are hired.

I imagine you also have clear metrics in which you are evaluated on. It is not subjective but a clear metric to those who work in the company.

Also even if that’s not the case, why does that equate to teachers who want to be evaluated by their work and skill as people who should ‘volunteer’ instead?

Again, the American University found IMPACT (the evaluation tool used) to be RACIST and biased. That’s ok with you?

The American university study found a disparity in scores and called it racist, and definitely avoided reviews from any serious statistician or economist who can tell you that the presence of a disparity is not evidence of racism. The difference could be SES and parental education.

I can tell you didn’t read the study.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's more than a hint of racism in many of these comments. I have no doubt that those calling for mass firings at DCPS are white.

Yup, I definitely see that and it is obvious. I would say that at least 65% of Central Office is black employees. The people complaining about Central Office cannot fathom the fact that black people are in charge. We all know that certain people believe that just because someone is black, they are lazy and unqualified for their position. Case closed. Prove me wrong that this isn’t the reason for the disdain for Central Office. I’ll wait….

Bingo. This right here. There are people who loathe at the fact that this district has mostly Black people making decisions and they can't stand it. There is nothing said about how fast the district is improving (faster than most urban districts in the nation), but chose to focus on negative opinions. Remember, public school is a choice. If you hate it so much, pay the private school big bucks. You can't have it both ways. Same for DCPS staff who are complaining. If you dislike it so much, resign. It's really that simple.

The things they complain about are also things that teachers should be doing and that are expectations everywhere! I started teaching in a different state and our union didn’t have a contract the way DC does, so there were no limits on meetings, duties, we didn’t get admin premium, etc. Having an objective posted and following a pacing guide is standard. Complaining about central office for student test scores when they aren’t the ones directly instructing is…interesting. And like you mentioned, DCPS is actually improving and doing better than other similar districts.

Exactly. I have worked in a district where professional development was non-existent and it took forever and a day to get anything from the central office because they were severely understaffed. The schools all did their own thing resulting in major inequities ( especially schools that had strong PTA's versus schools that didn't). We won't begin to speak on the range of instruction in the district. The schools that were hard to staff were also the underperforming schools because there were no incentives for teachers to chance possible dangerous working conditions while risking minimal student achievement growth. Also keep in mind that this district is CONTROLLED BY THE MAYOR which makes all the difference. Most school districts are controlled by their school board which has more say on who is hired to do what, timelines, and outcomes. The DCPS machine takes some getting used to, but when compared to some other large urban districts, I will say that it is much better than most. Try working for Baltimore, Philadelphia, NYC, Los Angeles, Chicago school districts. DCPS is a day at the beach.

Why are you lying, I have worked in 2 of the other districts, they were easier to work in.
And by ‘incentives’ you must mean the bonus that 30% of teachers get including non-title 1 teachers and Rsp’s -making it much less.

The schools that are underperforming in DCPS are also hard to staff, don’t fool yourself. Many of these schools are a revolving door. I see many new teacher get allured by the bonus and salary, only to be disappointed and upset by the treatment. They leave the teaching profession or teach in VA or MD.

The things ‘they’ complain about? List them. List our real complaints that are such pinnacles of standards in all other districts.

You my friend have never been outside of the DMV. It is a reason that teachers from Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Alabama come to DC. It is so much worse elsewhere. There are no unions in others states like it is in DC, teachers in DC are some of the highest paid in the country and yet they don't know that some of these same problems exist all over the nation but there are no union protections and you are working for peanuts.

First of all learn how to reply, second again do not respond if you have no clue what you’re saying.

DC pays well after 20 years of service and even then if you live in DC it’s not enough to buy a house. The average DCPS teacher makes 84k.

Also I am not from DC, so again I have taught in other states. My sister in law teaches Florida. She’s not clamoring to push to move to DC.

Union protections? You mean the one DCPS bulldozes over and teachers have to wait 5-10 years for a hearing result- thus end up somewhere else.

It’s interesting when parents complain about wanting better for their children from the school system it’s applauded, in fact ‘other districts’ are worse is not acceptable.
But when teachers tell you at title 1 schools we are not doing well it’s: ‘oh but you’re paid well or other districts have it worse.’ It’s incredibly sad that you think this has no impact on how your child is taught.

It’s NOT about the money! I just want to be treated decently, I don’t need the bonus. I want to be evaluated on real metrics- how much growth are my students making, what were their general scores like, etc. If a student misses 50+ days they shouldn’t be counted but they are. I also don’t want to be forced to promote students when they never come to school.
My ‘commitment to the school’ is not a real metric! It’s subjective. The rubric for my observation is subjective.

NP and I have seen commitment to the school scoring used to get rid of teachers they don’t like. And it was clearly manipulated because some of those teachers volunteered to do every extra activity, plan events, sponsor clubs, chaperone after school activities, etc.

All industries have an evaluation system. You have not experienced corporate America, I see. Only volunteers are evaluation-free. If you don't want to be evaluated, volunteer to teach.

I know teachers are not popular among certain crowds but they were not saying teachers should not be evaluated.
In corporate America I have never seen a percentage of the evaluation be ‘commitment to XYZ company’ and have it be mostly things outside of your paid time. The company expects you to do it for free and it’s part of your evaluation, however it is not stated that it will be on your free time only when you are hired.

I imagine you also have clear metrics in which you are evaluated on. It is not subjective but a clear metric to those who work in the company.

Also even if that’s not the case, why does that equate to teachers who want to be evaluated by their work and skill as people who should ‘volunteer’ instead?

Again, the American University found IMPACT (the evaluation tool used) to be RACIST and biased. That’s ok with you?

The American university study found a disparity in scores and called it racist, and definitely avoided reviews from any serious statistician or economist who can tell you that the presence of a disparity is not evidence of racism. The difference could be SES and parental education.

I can tell you didn’t read the study.

Honestly it’s 46 qual interviews and a light survey, calling it a study is stretching things. That being said, you’ve deeply mischaracterized the findings. The authors find a racial disparity in the survey data, and I should give them some credit, they don’t claim it’s racism driving things. That’s you.

The authors are guilty of the ed school sin of laundering shady qual data by attaching it to a bad survey and calling it “science.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's more than a hint of racism in many of these comments. I have no doubt that those calling for mass firings at DCPS are white.

Yup, I definitely see that and it is obvious. I would say that at least 65% of Central Office is black employees. The people complaining about Central Office cannot fathom the fact that black people are in charge. We all know that certain people believe that just because someone is black, they are lazy and unqualified for their position. Case closed. Prove me wrong that this isn’t the reason for the disdain for Central Office. I’ll wait….

Bingo. This right here. There are people who loathe at the fact that this district has mostly Black people making decisions and they can't stand it. There is nothing said about how fast the district is improving (faster than most urban districts in the nation), but chose to focus on negative opinions. Remember, public school is a choice. If you hate it so much, pay the private school big bucks. You can't have it both ways. Same for DCPS staff who are complaining. If you dislike it so much, resign. It's really that simple.

The things they complain about are also things that teachers should be doing and that are expectations everywhere! I started teaching in a different state and our union didn’t have a contract the way DC does, so there were no limits on meetings, duties, we didn’t get admin premium, etc. Having an objective posted and following a pacing guide is standard. Complaining about central office for student test scores when they aren’t the ones directly instructing is…interesting. And like you mentioned, DCPS is actually improving and doing better than other similar districts.

Exactly. I have worked in a district where professional development was non-existent and it took forever and a day to get anything from the central office because they were severely understaffed. The schools all did their own thing resulting in major inequities ( especially schools that had strong PTA's versus schools that didn't). We won't begin to speak on the range of instruction in the district. The schools that were hard to staff were also the underperforming schools because there were no incentives for teachers to chance possible dangerous working conditions while risking minimal student achievement growth. Also keep in mind that this district is CONTROLLED BY THE MAYOR which makes all the difference. Most school districts are controlled by their school board which has more say on who is hired to do what, timelines, and outcomes. The DCPS machine takes some getting used to, but when compared to some other large urban districts, I will say that it is much better than most. Try working for Baltimore, Philadelphia, NYC, Los Angeles, Chicago school districts. DCPS is a day at the beach.

Why are you lying, I have worked in 2 of the other districts, they were easier to work in.
And by ‘incentives’ you must mean the bonus that 30% of teachers get including non-title 1 teachers and Rsp’s -making it much less.

The schools that are underperforming in DCPS are also hard to staff, don’t fool yourself. Many of these schools are a revolving door. I see many new teacher get allured by the bonus and salary, only to be disappointed and upset by the treatment. They leave the teaching profession or teach in VA or MD.

The things ‘they’ complain about? List them. List our real complaints that are such pinnacles of standards in all other districts.

You my friend have never been outside of the DMV. It is a reason that teachers from Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Alabama come to DC. It is so much worse elsewhere. There are no unions in others states like it is in DC, teachers in DC are some of the highest paid in the country and yet they don't know that some of these same problems exist all over the nation but there are no union protections and you are working for peanuts.

First of all learn how to reply, second again do not respond if you have no clue what you’re saying.

DC pays well after 20 years of service and even then if you live in DC it’s not enough to buy a house. The average DCPS teacher makes 84k.

Also I am not from DC, so again I have taught in other states. My sister in law teaches Florida. She’s not clamoring to push to move to DC.

Union protections? You mean the one DCPS bulldozes over and teachers have to wait 5-10 years for a hearing result- thus end up somewhere else.

It’s interesting when parents complain about wanting better for their children from the school system it’s applauded, in fact ‘other districts’ are worse is not acceptable.
But when teachers tell you at title 1 schools we are not doing well it’s: ‘oh but you’re paid well or other districts have it worse.’ It’s incredibly sad that you think this has no impact on how your child is taught.

It’s NOT about the money! I just want to be treated decently, I don’t need the bonus. I want to be evaluated on real metrics- how much growth are my students making, what were their general scores like, etc. If a student misses 50+ days they shouldn’t be counted but they are. I also don’t want to be forced to promote students when they never come to school.
My ‘commitment to the school’ is not a real metric! It’s subjective. The rubric for my observation is subjective.

NP and I have seen commitment to the school scoring used to get rid of teachers they don’t like. And it was clearly manipulated because some of those teachers volunteered to do every extra activity, plan events, sponsor clubs, chaperone after school activities, etc.

All industries have an evaluation system. You have not experienced corporate America, I see. Only volunteers are evaluation-free. If you don't want to be evaluated, volunteer to teach.

I know teachers are not popular among certain crowds but they were not saying teachers should not be evaluated.
In corporate America I have never seen a percentage of the evaluation be ‘commitment to XYZ company’ and have it be mostly things outside of your paid time. The company expects you to do it for free and it’s part of your evaluation, however it is not stated that it will be on your free time only when you are hired.

I imagine you also have clear metrics in which you are evaluated on. It is not subjective but a clear metric to those who work in the company.

Also even if that’s not the case, why does that equate to teachers who want to be evaluated by their work and skill as people who should ‘volunteer’ instead?

Again, the American University found IMPACT (the evaluation tool used) to be RACIST and biased. That’s ok with you?

The American university study found a disparity in scores and called it racist, and definitely avoided reviews from any serious statistician or economist who can tell you that the presence of a disparity is not evidence of racism. The difference could be SES and parental education.

I can tell you didn’t read the study.

Honestly it’s 46 qual interviews and a light survey, calling it a study is stretching things. That being said, you’ve deeply mischaracterized the findings. The authors find a racial disparity in the survey data, and I should give them some credit, they don’t claim it’s racism driving things. That’s you.

The authors are guilty of the ed school sin of laundering shady qual data by attaching it to a bad survey and calling it “science.”

I can tell you did not read it.

They also used Administrative Data Analysis: The team also analyzed DCPS-provided data—IMPACT test outcomes and responses from the DCPS Insight Survey—to triangulate findings.

The study found that IMPACT exacerbates inequities, particularly in Wards 7 and 8, which are predominantly Black and lower-income.
Teachers in these wards reported that IMPACT felt punitive and failed to account for the realities of teaching in under-resourced schools.


There is a higher retention of teachers in non-title 1 schools as well. Lowest retention rates in W8 then 7.
The highest is W3, filled with mostly white teachers (key word teachers)
I wonder why many of those schools don’t want to hire more POC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's more than a hint of racism in many of these comments. I have no doubt that those calling for mass firings at DCPS are white.

Yup, I definitely see that and it is obvious. I would say that at least 65% of Central Office is black employees. The people complaining about Central Office cannot fathom the fact that black people are in charge. We all know that certain people believe that just because someone is black, they are lazy and unqualified for their position. Case closed. Prove me wrong that this isn’t the reason for the disdain for Central Office. I’ll wait….

Bingo. This right here. There are people who loathe at the fact that this district has mostly Black people making decisions and they can't stand it. There is nothing said about how fast the district is improving (faster than most urban districts in the nation), but chose to focus on negative opinions. Remember, public school is a choice. If you hate it so much, pay the private school big bucks. You can't have it both ways. Same for DCPS staff who are complaining. If you dislike it so much, resign. It's really that simple.

The things they complain about are also things that teachers should be doing and that are expectations everywhere! I started teaching in a different state and our union didn’t have a contract the way DC does, so there were no limits on meetings, duties, we didn’t get admin premium, etc. Having an objective posted and following a pacing guide is standard. Complaining about central office for student test scores when they aren’t the ones directly instructing is…interesting. And like you mentioned, DCPS is actually improving and doing better than other similar districts.

Exactly. I have worked in a district where professional development was non-existent and it took forever and a day to get anything from the central office because they were severely understaffed. The schools all did their own thing resulting in major inequities ( especially schools that had strong PTA's versus schools that didn't). We won't begin to speak on the range of instruction in the district. The schools that were hard to staff were also the underperforming schools because there were no incentives for teachers to chance possible dangerous working conditions while risking minimal student achievement growth. Also keep in mind that this district is CONTROLLED BY THE MAYOR which makes all the difference. Most school districts are controlled by their school board which has more say on who is hired to do what, timelines, and outcomes. The DCPS machine takes some getting used to, but when compared to some other large urban districts, I will say that it is much better than most. Try working for Baltimore, Philadelphia, NYC, Los Angeles, Chicago school districts. DCPS is a day at the beach.

Why are you lying, I have worked in 2 of the other districts, they were easier to work in.
And by ‘incentives’ you must mean the bonus that 30% of teachers get including non-title 1 teachers and Rsp’s -making it much less.

The schools that are underperforming in DCPS are also hard to staff, don’t fool yourself. Many of these schools are a revolving door. I see many new teacher get allured by the bonus and salary, only to be disappointed and upset by the treatment. They leave the teaching profession or teach in VA or MD.

The things ‘they’ complain about? List them. List our real complaints that are such pinnacles of standards in all other districts.

You my friend have never been outside of the DMV. It is a reason that teachers from Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Alabama come to DC. It is so much worse elsewhere. There are no unions in others states like it is in DC, teachers in DC are some of the highest paid in the country and yet they don't know that some of these same problems exist all over the nation but there are no union protections and you are working for peanuts.

First of all learn how to reply, second again do not respond if you have no clue what you’re saying.

DC pays well after 20 years of service and even then if you live in DC it’s not enough to buy a house. The average DCPS teacher makes 84k.

Also I am not from DC, so again I have taught in other states. My sister in law teaches Florida. She’s not clamoring to push to move to DC.

Union protections? You mean the one DCPS bulldozes over and teachers have to wait 5-10 years for a hearing result- thus end up somewhere else.

It’s interesting when parents complain about wanting better for their children from the school system it’s applauded, in fact ‘other districts’ are worse is not acceptable.
But when teachers tell you at title 1 schools we are not doing well it’s: ‘oh but you’re paid well or other districts have it worse.’ It’s incredibly sad that you think this has no impact on how your child is taught.

It’s NOT about the money! I just want to be treated decently, I don’t need the bonus. I want to be evaluated on real metrics- how much growth are my students making, what were their general scores like, etc. If a student misses 50+ days they shouldn’t be counted but they are. I also don’t want to be forced to promote students when they never come to school.
My ‘commitment to the school’ is not a real metric! It’s subjective. The rubric for my observation is subjective.

NP and I have seen commitment to the school scoring used to get rid of teachers they don’t like. And it was clearly manipulated because some of those teachers volunteered to do every extra activity, plan events, sponsor clubs, chaperone after school activities, etc.

All industries have an evaluation system. You have not experienced corporate America, I see. Only volunteers are evaluation-free. If you don't want to be evaluated, volunteer to teach.

I know teachers are not popular among certain crowds but they were not saying teachers should not be evaluated.
In corporate America I have never seen a percentage of the evaluation be ‘commitment to XYZ company’ and have it be mostly things outside of your paid time. The company expects you to do it for free and it’s part of your evaluation, however it is not stated that it will be on your free time only when you are hired.

I imagine you also have clear metrics in which you are evaluated on. It is not subjective but a clear metric to those who work in the company.

Also even if that’s not the case, why does that equate to teachers who want to be evaluated by their work and skill as people who should ‘volunteer’ instead?

Again, the American University found IMPACT (the evaluation tool used) to be RACIST and biased. That’s ok with you?

The American university study found a disparity in scores and called it racist, and definitely avoided reviews from any serious statistician or economist who can tell you that the presence of a disparity is not evidence of racism. The difference could be SES and parental education.

I can tell you didn’t read the study.

Honestly it’s 46 qual interviews and a light survey, calling it a study is stretching things. That being said, you’ve deeply mischaracterized the findings. The authors find a racial disparity in the survey data, and I should give them some credit, they don’t claim it’s racism driving things. That’s you.

The authors are guilty of the ed school sin of laundering shady qual data by attaching it to a bad survey and calling it “science.”

I can tell you did not read it.

They also used Administrative Data Analysis: The team also analyzed DCPS-provided data—IMPACT test outcomes and responses from the DCPS Insight Survey—to triangulate findings.

The study found that IMPACT exacerbates inequities, particularly in Wards 7 and 8, which are predominantly Black and lower-income.
Teachers in these wards reported that IMPACT felt punitive and failed to account for the realities of teaching in under-resourced schools.


There is a higher retention of teachers in non-title 1 schools as well. Lowest retention rates in W8 then 7.
The highest is W3, filled with mostly white teachers (key word teachers)
I wonder why many of those schools don’t want to hire more POC?

Yes. You are making the mistake the authors didn’t. You are making a causal claim that racism caused the disparity in scores, which the authors are extremely careful not to do, as it is inappropriate. This is a common enough mistake. They do not have evidence that racism causes a difference in scores.