For teachers: in re impact

[Anonymous]

This thread is really interesting to me. I have been a teacher in DCPS now for 12 years and I have taught in Wards 3,4, and 8. I can say that all of the schools I worked at had a list of challenges. I would say the most challenging thing working in Ward 3 was dealing with parents. The children had their own issues, which often stemmed from parental expectations, however in most cases, they were on grade level or above. Teaching many of these students the grade level texts and curriculum was inappropriate but very easy to do for IMPACT related tasks. I scored high on IMPACT, because I was a solid teacher and my students knew how to hold conversations with each other and express their ideas in a coherent way. I wouldn't necessarily call it "gaming" the system, however I could say I put my students in situations that they could thrive in easily. In Ward 4, the most challenging thing was handling gentrification and dealing with families that have and those that were not as fortunate. Expectations for students in schools were not the same for many people in the building. This was difficult to deal with because as children went to different areas of the building, they were held to different standards by different adults. This was by far the worst, because ALL children were not treated fairly or pushed to their capabilities. Oh and the parents similar to me (SES) had the most voice in schools despite being in the minority of the school. Ward 8 was challenging due to compliance issues that were held over teachers heads. Teachers in SE are not given the same amount of flexibility or respect as teachers in other wards of the city. Being a teacher here was difficult because of district policies and the variety of challenges that students presented each day. This in my opinion was by far the most challenging area to work in. The tramua students brought in the classroom each day at times made it very difficult to introduce ELA or math topics. Relationships and really knowing the ins/outs about the students were a must to being successful in my opinion. Once getting past that you had IMPACT and all the things you had to do to get solid scores there. Many of the school things my students in NW knew how to do had to be taught to my students in SE. They had the skills but had to be shown how to use them before teaching, which made it really difficult to teach at times. Overall kids are kids and they can all excel if we do what's necessary, but I would say that teaching in SE was more difficult in relationship to meeting "academic" goals for students.

With all that being said, IMPACT is IMPACT. We need some type of system to evaluate teachers and keep ppl doing what's best for kids. Way to many teachers retire on the job and only do what's best of kids when people are looking or when it counts. Its sad and really sucks for kids! FIX IMPACT by modifying it somehow, but keep in the part where teachers wont just get tenure for being somewhere forever.... Oh and bonuses are nice should be provided to teachers especially those who teach in Title I and ward7/8 schools.

Just one ward 4 teacher's thoughts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is really interesting to me. I have been a teacher in DCPS now for 12 years and I have taught in Wards 3,4, and 8. I can say that all of the schools I worked at had a list of challenges. I would say the most challenging thing working in Ward 3 was dealing with parents. The children had their own issues, which often stemmed from parental expectations, however in most cases, they were on grade level or above. Teaching many of these students the grade level texts and curriculum was inappropriate but very easy to do for IMPACT related tasks. I scored high on IMPACT, because I was a solid teacher and my students knew how to hold conversations with each other and express their ideas in a coherent way. I wouldn't necessarily call it "gaming" the system, however I could say I put my students in situations that they could thrive in easily. In Ward 4, the most challenging thing was handling gentrification and dealing with families that have and those that were not as fortunate. Expectations for students in schools were not the same for many people in the building. This was difficult to deal with because as children went to different areas of the building, they were held to different standards by different adults. This was by far the worst, because ALL children were not treated fairly or pushed to their capabilities. Oh and the parents similar to me (SES) had the most voice in schools despite being in the minority of the school. Ward 8 was challenging due to compliance issues that were held over teachers heads. Teachers in SE are not given the same amount of flexibility or respect as teachers in other wards of the city. Being a teacher here was difficult because of district policies and the variety of challenges that students presented each day. This in my opinion was by far the most challenging area to work in. The tramua students brought in the classroom each day at times made it very difficult to introduce ELA or math topics. Relationships and really knowing the ins/outs about the students were a must to being successful in my opinion. Once getting past that you had IMPACT and all the things you had to do to get solid scores there. Many of the school things my students in NW knew how to do had to be taught to my students in SE. They had the skills but had to be shown how to use them before teaching, which made it really difficult to teach at times. Overall kids are kids and they can all excel if we do what's necessary, but I would say that teaching in SE was more difficult in relationship to meeting "academic" goals for students.

With all that being said, IMPACT is IMPACT. We need some type of system to evaluate teachers and keep ppl doing what's best for kids. Way to many teachers retire on the job and only do what's best of kids when people are looking or when it counts. Its sad and really sucks for kids! FIX IMPACT by modifying it somehow, but keep in the part where teachers wont just get tenure for being somewhere forever.... Oh and bonuses are nice should be provided to teachers especially those who teach in Title I and ward7/8 schools.

Just one ward 4 teacher's thoughts.

I think if bonuses/step freezes were gone the whole system would be a lot less stressful and allow teachers to use the program as a growth tool instead of a competition. Would love to see a more team based approach to teacher growth opposed to this give and take we have to currently do with our admin. It’s like dogs putting on a show for treat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is really interesting to me. I have been a teacher in DCPS now for 12 years and I have taught in Wards 3,4, and 8. I can say that all of the schools I worked at had a list of challenges. I would say the most challenging thing working in Ward 3 was dealing with parents. The children had their own issues, which often stemmed from parental expectations, however in most cases, they were on grade level or above. Teaching many of these students the grade level texts and curriculum was inappropriate but very easy to do for IMPACT related tasks. I scored high on IMPACT, because I was a solid teacher and my students knew how to hold conversations with each other and express their ideas in a coherent way. I wouldn't necessarily call it "gaming" the system, however I could say I put my students in situations that they could thrive in easily. In Ward 4, the most challenging thing was handling gentrification and dealing with families that have and those that were not as fortunate. Expectations for students in schools were not the same for many people in the building. This was difficult to deal with because as children went to different areas of the building, they were held to different standards by different adults. This was by far the worst, because ALL children were not treated fairly or pushed to their capabilities. Oh and the parents similar to me (SES) had the most voice in schools despite being in the minority of the school. Ward 8 was challenging due to compliance issues that were held over teachers heads. Teachers in SE are not given the same amount of flexibility or respect as teachers in other wards of the city. Being a teacher here was difficult because of district policies and the variety of challenges that students presented each day. This in my opinion was by far the most challenging area to work in. The tramua students brought in the classroom each day at times made it very difficult to introduce ELA or math topics. Relationships and really knowing the ins/outs about the students were a must to being successful in my opinion. Once getting past that you had IMPACT and all the things you had to do to get solid scores there. Many of the school things my students in NW knew how to do had to be taught to my students in SE. They had the skills but had to be shown how to use them before teaching, which made it really difficult to teach at times. Overall kids are kids and they can all excel if we do what's necessary, but I would say that teaching in SE was more difficult in relationship to meeting "academic" goals for students.

With all that being said, IMPACT is IMPACT. We need some type of system to evaluate teachers and keep ppl doing what's best for kids. Way to many teachers retire on the job and only do what's best of kids when people are looking or when it counts. Its sad and really sucks for kids! FIX IMPACT by modifying it somehow, but keep in the part where teachers wont just get tenure for being somewhere forever.... Oh and bonuses are nice should be provided to teachers especially those who teach in Title I and ward7/8 schools.

Just one ward 4 teacher's thoughts.

I think if bonuses/step freezes were gone the whole system would be a lot less stressful and allow teachers to use the program as a growth tool instead of a competition. Would love to see a more team based approach to teacher growth opposed to this give and take we have to currently do with our admin. It’s like dogs putting on a show for treat.

No, it’s called rewarding those who go above and beyond. Highly effective is literally that, if you don’t want to do that then what is so bad about effective? You still get step increases just not the HE rewards.
Many other jobs people receive bonuses that not everyone gets, teachers in DC want all the benefits without having to put in extra work just because our jobs are already very difficult. Team based…and yet teachers never wanna go to LEAP lol.

I would like impact to be modified and the admin portion to be only worth 40% or less. It’s worth way to much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is really interesting to me. I have been a teacher in DCPS now for 12 years and I have taught in Wards 3,4, and 8. I can say that all of the schools I worked at had a list of challenges. I would say the most challenging thing working in Ward 3 was dealing with parents. The children had their own issues, which often stemmed from parental expectations, however in most cases, they were on grade level or above. Teaching many of these students the grade level texts and curriculum was inappropriate but very easy to do for IMPACT related tasks. I scored high on IMPACT, because I was a solid teacher and my students knew how to hold conversations with each other and express their ideas in a coherent way. I wouldn't necessarily call it "gaming" the system, however I could say I put my students in situations that they could thrive in easily. In Ward 4, the most challenging thing was handling gentrification and dealing with families that have and those that were not as fortunate. Expectations for students in schools were not the same for many people in the building. This was difficult to deal with because as children went to different areas of the building, they were held to different standards by different adults. This was by far the worst, because ALL children were not treated fairly or pushed to their capabilities. Oh and the parents similar to me (SES) had the most voice in schools despite being in the minority of the school. Ward 8 was challenging due to compliance issues that were held over teachers heads. Teachers in SE are not given the same amount of flexibility or respect as teachers in other wards of the city. Being a teacher here was difficult because of district policies and the variety of challenges that students presented each day. This in my opinion was by far the most challenging area to work in. The tramua students brought in the classroom each day at times made it very difficult to introduce ELA or math topics. Relationships and really knowing the ins/outs about the students were a must to being successful in my opinion. Once getting past that you had IMPACT and all the things you had to do to get solid scores there. Many of the school things my students in NW knew how to do had to be taught to my students in SE. They had the skills but had to be shown how to use them before teaching, which made it really difficult to teach at times. Overall kids are kids and they can all excel if we do what's necessary, but I would say that teaching in SE was more difficult in relationship to meeting "academic" goals for students.

With all that being said, IMPACT is IMPACT. We need some type of system to evaluate teachers and keep ppl doing what's best for kids. Way to many teachers retire on the job and only do what's best of kids when people are looking or when it counts. Its sad and really sucks for kids! FIX IMPACT by modifying it somehow, but keep in the part where teachers wont just get tenure for being somewhere forever.... Oh and bonuses are nice should be provided to teachers especially those who teach in Title I and ward7/8 schools.

Just one ward 4 teacher's thoughts.

I think if bonuses/step freezes were gone the whole system would be a lot less stressful and allow teachers to use the program as a growth tool instead of a competition. Would love to see a more team based approach to teacher growth opposed to this give and take we have to currently do with our admin. It’s like dogs putting on a show for treat.

No, it’s called rewarding those who go above and beyond. Highly effective is literally that, if you don’t want to do that then what is so bad about effective? You still get step increases just not the HE rewards.
Many other jobs people receive bonuses that not everyone gets, teachers in DC want all the benefits without having to put in extra work just because our jobs are already very difficult. Team based…and yet teachers never wanna go to LEAP lol.

I would like impact to be modified and the admin portion to be only worth 40% or less. It’s worth way to much.

Ummm I get HE every year and I think we should ditch the bonuses. You think people are getting real data of their TAS when it effects their IMPACT? You think people are giving their true self during observations in IMPACT? How are people supposed to improve when they have this carrot dangling over their head all year?
Sorry that people at your school don’t like LEAP that seems like a school culture issue

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is really interesting to me. I have been a teacher in DCPS now for 12 years and I have taught in Wards 3,4, and 8. I can say that all of the schools I worked at had a list of challenges. I would say the most challenging thing working in Ward 3 was dealing with parents. The children had their own issues, which often stemmed from parental expectations, however in most cases, they were on grade level or above. Teaching many of these students the grade level texts and curriculum was inappropriate but very easy to do for IMPACT related tasks. I scored high on IMPACT, because I was a solid teacher and my students knew how to hold conversations with each other and express their ideas in a coherent way. I wouldn't necessarily call it "gaming" the system, however I could say I put my students in situations that they could thrive in easily. In Ward 4, the most challenging thing was handling gentrification and dealing with families that have and those that were not as fortunate. Expectations for students in schools were not the same for many people in the building. This was difficult to deal with because as children went to different areas of the building, they were held to different standards by different adults. This was by far the worst, because ALL children were not treated fairly or pushed to their capabilities. Oh and the parents similar to me (SES) had the most voice in schools despite being in the minority of the school. Ward 8 was challenging due to compliance issues that were held over teachers heads. Teachers in SE are not given the same amount of flexibility or respect as teachers in other wards of the city. Being a teacher here was difficult because of district policies and the variety of challenges that students presented each day. This in my opinion was by far the most challenging area to work in. The tramua students brought in the classroom each day at times made it very difficult to introduce ELA or math topics. Relationships and really knowing the ins/outs about the students were a must to being successful in my opinion. Once getting past that you had IMPACT and all the things you had to do to get solid scores there. Many of the school things my students in NW knew how to do had to be taught to my students in SE. They had the skills but had to be shown how to use them before teaching, which made it really difficult to teach at times. Overall kids are kids and they can all excel if we do what's necessary, but I would say that teaching in SE was more difficult in relationship to meeting "academic" goals for students.

With all that being said, IMPACT is IMPACT. We need some type of system to evaluate teachers and keep ppl doing what's best for kids. Way to many teachers retire on the job and only do what's best of kids when people are looking or when it counts. Its sad and really sucks for kids! FIX IMPACT by modifying it somehow, but keep in the part where teachers wont just get tenure for being somewhere forever.... Oh and bonuses are nice should be provided to teachers especially those who teach in Title I and ward7/8 schools.

Just one ward 4 teacher's thoughts.

I think if bonuses/step freezes were gone the whole system would be a lot less stressful and allow teachers to use the program as a growth tool instead of a competition. Would love to see a more team based approach to teacher growth opposed to this give and take we have to currently do with our admin. It’s like dogs putting on a show for treat.

No, it’s called rewarding those who go above and beyond. Highly effective is literally that, if you don’t want to do that then what is so bad about effective? You still get step increases just not the HE rewards.
Many other jobs people receive bonuses that not everyone gets, teachers in DC want all the benefits without having to put in extra work just because our jobs are already very difficult. Team based…and yet teachers never wanna go to LEAP lol.

I would like impact to be modified and the admin portion to be only worth 40% or less. It’s worth way to much.

I go above and beyond. I do before school programs, I do after school programs, I’ve done lunch/recess programs. I’ve lead PD, gotten free PD, gotten thousands of dollars of donations. I’ve successfully used connections to get the city to do things the school had been trying to get done for years. I love LEAP time. I volunteer to mentor new teachers. You know what else I do? Raise holy heck when the school isn’t doing what it’s supposed to do. Makes me pretty darn unpopular with the one person who does my Impact. So F this above and beyond crap. You know it’s more than that.

[Anonymous]

So wait - how do you get to making over $100,000 in theee years? If you get highly effective theee years in a row - you move up 5 steps and are eligible?? Is that for all teachers or just those in Title 1 schools? Impact seems like it sucks and I cannot handle that stress, but am a little jealous of moving up the steps like that. What percent of teachers in the system achieve that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So wait - how do you get to making over $100,000 in theee years? If you get highly effective theee years in a row - you move up 5 steps and are eligible?? Is that for all teachers or just those in Title 1 schools? Impact seems like it sucks and I cannot handle that stress, but am a little jealous of moving up the steps like that. What percent of teachers in the system achieve that?

It’s called LIFT. I think after 2 or 3 highly effective ratings at a low income school you get 2 step skips. Then after two more you get 5 step skips. I think one of those includes a move to the Master’s level even if you don’t have a master’s. I could be off on the number of HE ratings required for each move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is really interesting to me. I have been a teacher in DCPS now for 12 years and I have taught in Wards 3,4, and 8. I can say that all of the schools I worked at had a list of challenges. I would say the most challenging thing working in Ward 3 was dealing with parents. The children had their own issues, which often stemmed from parental expectations, however in most cases, they were on grade level or above. Teaching many of these students the grade level texts and curriculum was inappropriate but very easy to do for IMPACT related tasks. I scored high on IMPACT, because I was a solid teacher and my students knew how to hold conversations with each other and express their ideas in a coherent way. I wouldn't necessarily call it "gaming" the system, however I could say I put my students in situations that they could thrive in easily. In Ward 4, the most challenging thing was handling gentrification and dealing with families that have and those that were not as fortunate. Expectations for students in schools were not the same for many people in the building. This was difficult to deal with because as children went to different areas of the building, they were held to different standards by different adults. This was by far the worst, because ALL children were not treated fairly or pushed to their capabilities. Oh and the parents similar to me (SES) had the most voice in schools despite being in the minority of the school. Ward 8 was challenging due to compliance issues that were held over teachers heads. Teachers in SE are not given the same amount of flexibility or respect as teachers in other wards of the city. Being a teacher here was difficult because of district policies and the variety of challenges that students presented each day. This in my opinion was by far the most challenging area to work in. The tramua students brought in the classroom each day at times made it very difficult to introduce ELA or math topics. Relationships and really knowing the ins/outs about the students were a must to being successful in my opinion. Once getting past that you had IMPACT and all the things you had to do to get solid scores there. Many of the school things my students in NW knew how to do had to be taught to my students in SE. They had the skills but had to be shown how to use them before teaching, which made it really difficult to teach at times. Overall kids are kids and they can all excel if we do what's necessary, but I would say that teaching in SE was more difficult in relationship to meeting "academic" goals for students.

With all that being said, IMPACT is IMPACT. We need some type of system to evaluate teachers and keep ppl doing what's best for kids. Way to many teachers retire on the job and only do what's best of kids when people are looking or when it counts. Its sad and really sucks for kids! FIX IMPACT by modifying it somehow, but keep in the part where teachers wont just get tenure for being somewhere forever.... Oh and bonuses are nice should be provided to teachers especially those who teach in Title I and ward7/8 schools.

Just one ward 4 teacher's thoughts.

I think if bonuses/step freezes were gone the whole system would be a lot less stressful and allow teachers to use the program as a growth tool instead of a competition. Would love to see a more team based approach to teacher growth opposed to this give and take we have to currently do with our admin. It’s like dogs putting on a show for treat.

No, it’s called rewarding those who go above and beyond. Highly effective is literally that, if you don’t want to do that then what is so bad about effective? You still get step increases just not the HE rewards.
Many other jobs people receive bonuses that not everyone gets, teachers in DC want all the benefits without having to put in extra work just because our jobs are already very difficult. Team based…and yet teachers never wanna go to LEAP lol.

I would like impact to be modified and the admin portion to be only worth 40% or less. It’s worth way to much.

Ummm I get HE every year and I think we should ditch the bonuses. You think people are getting real data of their TAS when it effects their IMPACT? You think people are giving their true self during observations in IMPACT? How are people supposed to improve when they have this carrot dangling over their head all year?
Sorry that people at your school don’t like LEAP that seems like a school culture issue

I get HE every year too so? Us getting HE doesn’t make our opinions more valuable than other teachers. If you don’t like impact you don’t like it.
You think during ANY observation at any job people don’t try to look the best they can possible? This is not special to us.
Sorry your school lets you lie about TAS, mine is on a computer so I cannot lie unless I’d like to take computer tests for students or possibly go to jail for fudging PARCC scores.


Oh yea it’s just my school that hates LEAP. For all your collaboration why are your students still so behind? Or shall we just blame trauma, low SES parents, and behaviors?

I’m not too worried though, I’m not even sure why this is a discussion. Teachers in DCPS can barely get together to stage a sick out, let alone negotiate things like IMPACT. I do think we will get it changed but it’s not going away for at least 10+ years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So wait - how do you get to making over $100,000 in theee years? If you get highly effective theee years in a row - you move up 5 steps and are eligible?? Is that for all teachers or just those in Title 1 schools? Impact seems like it sucks and I cannot handle that stress, but am a little jealous of moving up the steps like that. What percent of teachers in the system achieve that?

It’s called LIFT. I think after 2 or 3 highly effective ratings at a low income school you get 2 step skips. Then after two more you get 5 step skips. I think one of those includes a move to the Master’s level even if you don’t have a master’s. I could be off on the number of HE ratings required for each move.

Depends on your level too, they likely started off on the second type of teacher, forget what it’s called. You get HE one year and 2 pay skips. Then you on advanced you get HE two years consecutively in a row and get 5 pay skips.

So in 3 years you are able to get 7 pay skips and move to the Masters band if you’re not already there.

Not sure how many teachers are able to do that, but I know it’s not many.

I’ve been teaching for about 8 years now but the thing that blows me is all these teachers who’ve taught for 20+ years making 116k. You can look it up, anytime someone is super vocal about impact I check their salary, always making 100k+
They already got theirs and it feels like they are the most vocal. What about the new teachers starting out at 55k? Why should their choice be taken away just because they are ready for tenure?

Notice also how no ideas are ever offered up except this kumbaya BS, of let’s foster and grow teachers. They have no ideas either, and neither does the union. I just hope I am incorrect and we are thinking of ways to make things actively better. We shouldn’t have to work for DCPS for 20 years just to make 100k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for taking the time to post This . This year has been very tough and I was honestly in tears last night because I just didn’t think I cared anymore. I couldn’t even make the distinction between loving my actual job of working with kids and hating my school district. I’ve got a find a way to do what I love, in a system that doesn’t constantly break people down.

I hated working for DCPS . As I approached school in the morning, I felt a ball tighten up in my stomach. The kids were generally just the same (fine, funny, curious, meaningful to teach) as I have found in other settings--but the DCPS framework is so toxic. I wouldn't care about IMPACT either, except as one more stressor. If you can afford it, switch to teaching in a good charter or independent school or another school system. Get a specialist degree or work in a different educational strand (curriculum development etc.) I made the move from DCPS classroom teacher and my health (both physical and mental) greatly improved, and I then I did what I loved as an educator in a setting that provided full support.

As a parent, what burns me up about DCPS toxicity is it can't help but impact the educational experience for children. Though many teachers are valiant and protect the kids from it, it's very set up to fail from the get-go. Overall a toxic framework does not a happy school make.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for taking the time to post This . This year has been very tough and I was honestly in tears last night because I just didn’t think I cared anymore. I couldn’t even make the distinction between loving my actual job of working with kids and hating my school district. I’ve got a find a way to do what I love, in a system that doesn’t constantly break people down.

I hated working for DCPS . As I approached school in the morning, I felt a ball tighten up in my stomach. The kids were generally just the same (fine, funny, curious, meaningful to teach) as I have found in other settings--but the DCPS framework is so toxic. I wouldn't care about IMPACT either, except as one more stressor. If you can afford it, switch to teaching in a good charter or independent school or another school system. Get a specialist degree or work in a different educational strand (curriculum development etc.) I made the move from DCPS classroom teacher and my health (both physical and mental) greatly improved, and I then I did what I loved as an educator in a setting that provided full support.

As a parent, what burns me up about DCPS toxicity is it can't help but impact the educational experience for children. Though many teachers are valiant and protect the kids from it, it's very set up to fail from the get-go. Overall a toxic framework does not a happy school make.

Teacher leave at a higher rate from charters and don’t have impact…
There’s something else that stresses people here out :-/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is really interesting to me. I have been a teacher in DCPS now for 12 years and I have taught in Wards 3,4, and 8. I can say that all of the schools I worked at had a list of challenges. I would say the most challenging thing working in Ward 3 was dealing with parents. The children had their own issues, which often stemmed from parental expectations, however in most cases, they were on grade level or above. Teaching many of these students the grade level texts and curriculum was inappropriate but very easy to do for IMPACT related tasks. I scored high on IMPACT, because I was a solid teacher and my students knew how to hold conversations with each other and express their ideas in a coherent way. I wouldn't necessarily call it "gaming" the system, however I could say I put my students in situations that they could thrive in easily. In Ward 4, the most challenging thing was handling gentrification and dealing with families that have and those that were not as fortunate. Expectations for students in schools were not the same for many people in the building. This was difficult to deal with because as children went to different areas of the building, they were held to different standards by different adults. This was by far the worst, because ALL children were not treated fairly or pushed to their capabilities. Oh and the parents similar to me (SES) had the most voice in schools despite being in the minority of the school. Ward 8 was challenging due to compliance issues that were held over teachers heads. Teachers in SE are not given the same amount of flexibility or respect as teachers in other wards of the city. Being a teacher here was difficult because of district policies and the variety of challenges that students presented each day. This in my opinion was by far the most challenging area to work in. The tramua students brought in the classroom each day at times made it very difficult to introduce ELA or math topics. Relationships and really knowing the ins/outs about the students were a must to being successful in my opinion. Once getting past that you had IMPACT and all the things you had to do to get solid scores there. Many of the school things my students in NW knew how to do had to be taught to my students in SE. They had the skills but had to be shown how to use them before teaching, which made it really difficult to teach at times. Overall kids are kids and they can all excel if we do what's necessary, but I would say that teaching in SE was more difficult in relationship to meeting "academic" goals for students.

With all that being said, IMPACT is IMPACT. We need some type of system to evaluate teachers and keep ppl doing what's best for kids. Way to many teachers retire on the job and only do what's best of kids when people are looking or when it counts. Its sad and really sucks for kids! FIX IMPACT by modifying it somehow, but keep in the part where teachers wont just get tenure for being somewhere forever.... Oh and bonuses are nice should be provided to teachers especially those who teach in Title I and ward7/8 schools.

Just one ward 4 teacher's thoughts.

I think if bonuses/step freezes were gone the whole system would be a lot less stressful and allow teachers to use the program as a growth tool instead of a competition. Would love to see a more team based approach to teacher growth opposed to this give and take we have to currently do with our admin. It’s like dogs putting on a show for treat.

No, it’s called rewarding those who go above and beyond. Highly effective is literally that, if you don’t want to do that then what is so bad about effective? You still get step increases just not the HE rewards.
Many other jobs people receive bonuses that not everyone gets, teachers in DC want all the benefits without having to put in extra work just because our jobs are already very difficult. Team based…and yet teachers never wanna go to LEAP lol.

I would like impact to be modified and the admin portion to be only worth 40% or less. It’s worth way to much.

Ummm I get HE every year and I think we should ditch the bonuses. You think people are getting real data of their TAS when it effects their IMPACT? You think people are giving their true self during observations in IMPACT? How are people supposed to improve when they have this carrot dangling over their head all year?
Sorry that people at your school don’t like LEAP that seems like a school culture issue

I get HE every year as well and get better because I want to do better for kids, not because of a HE check. I can continue doing what Im doing just to get HE, but my practice needs to evolve to meet the needs of our students. I'm not saying everyone is doing this, however I do want to point out that there are people who are improving and doing things, despite the "carrot" being dangled.
At the end of the day, I believe good teaching is good teaching, and it will be recognized regardless of what tool ppl use to evaluate you on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for taking the time to post This . This year has been very tough and I was honestly in tears last night because I just didn’t think I cared anymore. I couldn’t even make the distinction between loving my actual job of working with kids and hating my school district. I’ve got a find a way to do what I love, in a system that doesn’t constantly break people down.

I hated working for DCPS . As I approached school in the morning, I felt a ball tighten up in my stomach. The kids were generally just the same (fine, funny, curious, meaningful to teach) as I have found in other settings--but the DCPS framework is so toxic. I wouldn't care about IMPACT either, except as one more stressor. If you can afford it, switch to teaching in a good charter or independent school or another school system. Get a specialist degree or work in a different educational strand (curriculum development etc.) I made the move from DCPS classroom teacher and my health (both physical and mental) greatly improved, and I then I did what I loved as an educator in a setting that provided full support.

As a parent, what burns me up about DCPS toxicity is it can't help but impact the educational experience for children. Though many teachers are valiant and protect the kids from it, it's very set up to fail from the get-go. Overall a toxic framework does not a happy school make.

Teacher leave at a higher rate from charters and don’t have impact…
There’s something else that stresses people here out :-/

I think it depends which charters. Some charted give teachers a lot of say and chances to advance and have great retention. Others are top down. Others, teachers leave for other reasons like the overall management or challenge, or it was an entry job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is really interesting to me. I have been a teacher in DCPS now for 12 years and I have taught in Wards 3,4, and 8. I can say that all of the schools I worked at had a list of challenges. I would say the most challenging thing working in Ward 3 was dealing with parents. The children had their own issues, which often stemmed from parental expectations, however in most cases, they were on grade level or above. Teaching many of these students the grade level texts and curriculum was inappropriate but very easy to do for IMPACT related tasks. I scored high on IMPACT, because I was a solid teacher and my students knew how to hold conversations with each other and express their ideas in a coherent way. I wouldn't necessarily call it "gaming" the system, however I could say I put my students in situations that they could thrive in easily. In Ward 4, the most challenging thing was handling gentrification and dealing with families that have and those that were not as fortunate. Expectations for students in schools were not the same for many people in the building. This was difficult to deal with because as children went to different areas of the building, they were held to different standards by different adults. This was by far the worst, because ALL children were not treated fairly or pushed to their capabilities. Oh and the parents similar to me (SES) had the most voice in schools despite being in the minority of the school. Ward 8 was challenging due to compliance issues that were held over teachers heads. Teachers in SE are not given the same amount of flexibility or respect as teachers in other wards of the city. Being a teacher here was difficult because of district policies and the variety of challenges that students presented each day. This in my opinion was by far the most challenging area to work in. The tramua students brought in the classroom each day at times made it very difficult to introduce ELA or math topics. Relationships and really knowing the ins/outs about the students were a must to being successful in my opinion. Once getting past that you had IMPACT and all the things you had to do to get solid scores there. Many of the school things my students in NW knew how to do had to be taught to my students in SE. They had the skills but had to be shown how to use them before teaching, which made it really difficult to teach at times. Overall kids are kids and they can all excel if we do what's necessary, but I would say that teaching in SE was more difficult in relationship to meeting "academic" goals for students.

With all that being said, IMPACT is IMPACT. We need some type of system to evaluate teachers and keep ppl doing what's best for kids. Way to many teachers retire on the job and only do what's best of kids when people are looking or when it counts. Its sad and really sucks for kids! FIX IMPACT by modifying it somehow, but keep in the part where teachers wont just get tenure for being somewhere forever.... Oh and bonuses are nice should be provided to teachers especially those who teach in Title I and ward7/8 schools.

Just one ward 4 teacher's thoughts.

I think if bonuses/step freezes were gone the whole system would be a lot less stressful and allow teachers to use the program as a growth tool instead of a competition. Would love to see a more team based approach to teacher growth opposed to this give and take we have to currently do with our admin. It’s like dogs putting on a show for treat.

No, it’s called rewarding those who go above and beyond. Highly effective is literally that, if you don’t want to do that then what is so bad about effective? You still get step increases just not the HE rewards.
Many other jobs people receive bonuses that not everyone gets, teachers in DC want all the benefits without having to put in extra work just because our jobs are already very difficult. Team based…and yet teachers never wanna go to LEAP lol.

I would like impact to be modified and the admin portion to be only worth 40% or less. It’s worth way to much.

Ummm I get HE every year and I think we should ditch the bonuses. You think people are getting real data of their TAS when it effects their IMPACT? You think people are giving their true self during observations in IMPACT? How are people supposed to improve when they have this carrot dangling over their head all year?
Sorry that people at your school don’t like LEAP that seems like a school culture issue

I get HE every year too so? Us getting HE doesn’t make our opinions more valuable than other teachers. If you don’t like impact you don’t like it.
You think during ANY observation at any job people don’t try to look the best they can possible? This is not special to us.
Sorry your school lets you lie about TAS, mine is on a computer so I cannot lie unless I’d like to take computer tests for students or possibly go to jail for fudging PARCC scores.


Oh yea it’s just my school that hates LEAP. For all your collaboration why are your students still so behind? Or shall we just blame trauma, low SES parents, and behaviors?

I’m not too worried though, I’m not even sure why this is a discussion. Teachers in DCPS can barely get together to stage a sick out, let alone negotiate things like IMPACT. I do think we will get it changed but it’s not going away for at least 10+ years.

Sure yours is on a computer but what about teachers in non traditional classes (music, PE, as examples) who get to create their own TAS. And don’t have IVA. Surely you don’t think it makes for an equitable evaluation system.

“For all your collaboration why are your students still so behind? Or shall we just blame trauma, low SES parents, and behaviors?” I have no idea what you mean by that other then I’m very thankful not to be at your school but at a place where I’ve learned so much from my leap coaches and trust them to provide feedback on my teaching.
Much more so than my admin who pops in 60 minutes/year and thinks that they have a definitive view of my teaching.
IMPACT will be out by 2023, if not sooner. Enjoy your money while you can

[Anonymous]

Op here-
Finally have better words. My dissatisfaction with impact is that it actually doesn’t make teachers better- it makes them scammy. It doesn’t help students learn- it creates artificial test scores.
I left bottom 40 scores because yes- I was getting the bonuses but the teachers who are attracted to those schools- for the bonuses are bottom feeders. I once had an ELA coach run a PD about how to inflate TAS.

I’m sad because all the pro impact people can say is ‘don’t come for my money. No one even claims it works.

FWIW I’d love to pay you all- to stay home. Bonuses and all. Take it- and go.