DCPS paid out $8+ million in IMPACT bonuses during grade inflation

[NathanBacaABC7]

http://wjla.com/features/7-on-your-side/faking-the-grade-dcps-gave-out-8-million-in-bonuses-despite-grade-inflation


WASHINGTON (ABC7) — Data exclusively obtained by the ABC7 I-Team show DCPS gave a total of $8,755,975 in IMPACTplus bonuses to teachers and administrators since 2014.

An Office of State Superintendent-commissioned audit, states an average of 34 percent of students graduated last year in violation of DCPS attendance policy requiring students to be present. As first reported by the I-Team last week, only 42 percent of high school seniors are currently “on track” to graduate this year.

Three schools graduated a majority of their high school seniors in violation of attendance policy, yet still handed out large bonuses since 2014:
- Anacostia High School: $651,000
- Ballou High School: $569,000
- Luke Moore High School: $134,000
Teachers are eligible for up to $25,000 annual bonuses under the IMPACTplus system. Eligibility depends on their ability to increase student grades. An investigation by the ABC7 I-Team and the State Superintendent indicated student received grades that should have been impossible to achieve based on exceeding the allowed amount of absences.

When asked in January about the bonuses, State Superintendent Hanseul Kang replied in reference to their audit, “The scope of the investigation did not allow for looking into every single teacher's records, but they [auditing firm Marsal & Alvarez] did not find any pattern or any broad indication that teachers received bonuses based on the policy violations.”
However, an ABC7 I-Team analysis of the numbers indicates that schools with higher percentages of graduating students in violation of the attendance policy did receive more bonus money than those which had lower percentages of passing students in violation of attendance policy.
The DC Attorney General’s Office says they are looking into whether they would possibly be involved in any effort to recover bonus payments. Questions to the Office of the DC Mayor, State Superintendent and Washington Teachers Union remain unanswered.

https://www.scribd.com/document/373044268/IMPACTplus-Bonuses#from_embed

[Anonymous]

Sadly not shocking.

[Anonymous]

OP, how does eligibility depend on teachers' ability to increases students' grades?

The DCPS website talks about IMPACTplus and LIFT at the links below. Bonuses appear to be tied to having a highly effective rating and working in high-poverty schools. Is a highly effective rating based in part on increase in student grades?

https://dcps.dc.gov/page/compensation-lift-and-impactplus

https://dcps.dc.gov/page/impactplus

It would be helpful if you could link to a document outlining the relationship between students' grades and teacher IMPACT bonuses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, how does eligibility depend on teachers' ability to increases students' grades?

The DCPS website talks about IMPACTplus and LIFT at the links below. Bonuses appear to be tied to having a highly effective rating and working in high-poverty schools. Is a highly effective rating based in part on increase in student grades?

https://dcps.dc.gov/page/compensation-lift-and-impactplus

https://dcps.dc.gov/page/impactplus

It would be helpful if you could link to a document outlining the relationship between students' grades and teacher IMPACT bonuses.

It varies greatly by position: https://dcps.dc.gov/publication/2017-2018-impact-guidebooks

In my ES, part of our evaluation"TAS" is based on a data point decided upon by the principal. It could be reading levels, math scores, etc. It would be easy to falsify this data or misrepresent student progress. Having had students from other schools I can say reading levels are regularly inflated by large amounts.

[Anonymous]

For so many reasons, assessments should not be tied to hiring and firing. One of my favourite aspects of moving to teach in independent schools was getting away from that culture.

[Anonymous]

NathanBacaABC7 wrote:http://wjla.com/features/7-on-your-side/faking-the-grade-dcps-gave-out-8-million-in-bonuses-despite-grade-inflation


WASHINGTON (ABC7) — Data exclusively obtained by the ABC7 I-Team show DCPS gave a total of $8,755,975 in IMPACTplus bonuses to teachers and administrators since 2014.

An Office of State Superintendent-commissioned audit, states an average of 34 percent of students graduated last year in violation of DCPS attendance policy requiring students to be present. As first reported by the I-Team last week, only 42 percent of high school seniors are currently “on track” to graduate this year.

Three schools graduated a majority of their high school seniors in violation of attendance policy, yet still handed out large bonuses since 2014:
- Anacostia High School: $651,000
- Ballou High School: $569,000
- Luke Moore High School: $134,000
Teachers are eligible for up to $25,000 annual bonuses under the IMPACTplus system. Eligibility depends on their ability to increase student grades. An investigation by the ABC7 I-Team and the State Superintendent indicated student received grades that should have been impossible to achieve based on exceeding the allowed amount of absences.

When asked in January about the bonuses, State Superintendent Hanseul Kang replied in reference to their audit, “The scope of the investigation did not allow for looking into every single teacher's records, but they [auditing firm Marsal & Alvarez] did not find any pattern or any broad indication that teachers received bonuses based on the policy violations.”
However, an ABC7 I-Team analysis of the numbers indicates that schools with higher percentages of graduating students in violation of the attendance policy did receive more bonus money than those which had lower percentages of passing students in violation of attendance policy.
The DC Attorney General’s Office says they are looking into whether they would possibly be involved in any effort to recover bonus payments. Questions to the Office of the DC Mayor, State Superintendent and Washington Teachers Union remain unanswered.

https://www.scribd.com/document/373044268/IMPACTplus-Bonuses#from_embed

Oh leave those teachers alone. For one, it will be hard to determine which ones just passed kids along for the money (all of them, I'd suspect) but a lot received bonuses because they were in good with the principal. They were probably all not 12th grade teachers so it won't be easy to determine they passed kids despite attendance issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

NathanBacaABC7 wrote:http://wjla.com/features/7-on-your-side/faking-the-grade-dcps-gave-out-8-million-in-bonuses-despite-grade-inflation


WASHINGTON (ABC7) — Data exclusively obtained by the ABC7 I-Team show DCPS gave a total of $8,755,975 in IMPACTplus bonuses to teachers and administrators since 2014.

An Office of State Superintendent-commissioned audit, states an average of 34 percent of students graduated last year in violation of DCPS attendance policy requiring students to be present. As first reported by the I-Team last week, only 42 percent of high school seniors are currently “on track” to graduate this year.

Three schools graduated a majority of their high school seniors in violation of attendance policy, yet still handed out large bonuses since 2014:
- Anacostia High School: $651,000
- Ballou High School: $569,000
- Luke Moore High School: $134,000
Teachers are eligible for up to $25,000 annual bonuses under the IMPACTplus system. Eligibility depends on their ability to increase student grades. An investigation by the ABC7 I-Team and the State Superintendent indicated student received grades that should have been impossible to achieve based on exceeding the allowed amount of absences.

When asked in January about the bonuses, State Superintendent Hanseul Kang replied in reference to their audit, “The scope of the investigation did not allow for looking into every single teacher's records, but they [auditing firm Marsal & Alvarez] did not find any pattern or any broad indication that teachers received bonuses based on the policy violations.”
However, an ABC7 I-Team analysis of the numbers indicates that schools with higher percentages of graduating students in violation of the attendance policy did receive more bonus money than those which had lower percentages of passing students in violation of attendance policy.
The DC Attorney General’s Office says they are looking into whether they would possibly be involved in any effort to recover bonus payments. Questions to the Office of the DC Mayor, State Superintendent and Washington Teachers Union remain unanswered.

https://www.scribd.com/document/373044268/IMPACTplus-Bonuses#from_embed

Oh leave those teachers alone. For one, it will be hard to determine which ones just passed kids along for the money (all of them, I'd suspect) but a lot received bonuses because they were in good with the principal. They were probably all not 12th grade teachers so it won't be easy to determine they passed kids despite attendance issues.

As the pressure came from up above, it's Principals and central office bonuses they should be going after!

[Anonymous]

Those are large schools, so honestly it isn't that much. There are at least 60 staff members at those schools. If only 6 people each year received the bonus during those years, it would be around 500k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

NathanBacaABC7 wrote:http://wjla.com/features/7-on-your-side/faking-the-grade-dcps-gave-out-8-million-in-bonuses-despite-grade-inflation


WASHINGTON (ABC7) — Data exclusively obtained by the ABC7 I-Team show DCPS gave a total of $8,755,975 in IMPACTplus bonuses to teachers and administrators since 2014.

An Office of State Superintendent-commissioned audit, states an average of 34 percent of students graduated last year in violation of DCPS attendance policy requiring students to be present. As first reported by the I-Team last week, only 42 percent of high school seniors are currently “on track” to graduate this year.

Three schools graduated a majority of their high school seniors in violation of attendance policy, yet still handed out large bonuses since 2014:
- Anacostia High School: $651,000
- Ballou High School: $569,000
- Luke Moore High School: $134,000
Teachers are eligible for up to $25,000 annual bonuses under the IMPACTplus system. Eligibility depends on their ability to increase student grades. An investigation by the ABC7 I-Team and the State Superintendent indicated student received grades that should have been impossible to achieve based on exceeding the allowed amount of absences.

When asked in January about the bonuses, State Superintendent Hanseul Kang replied in reference to their audit, “The scope of the investigation did not allow for looking into every single teacher's records, but they [auditing firm Marsal & Alvarez] did not find any pattern or any broad indication that teachers received bonuses based on the policy violations.”
However, an ABC7 I-Team analysis of the numbers indicates that schools with higher percentages of graduating students in violation of the attendance policy did receive more bonus money than those which had lower percentages of passing students in violation of attendance policy.
The DC Attorney General’s Office says they are looking into whether they would possibly be involved in any effort to recover bonus payments. Questions to the Office of the DC Mayor, State Superintendent and Washington Teachers Union remain unanswered.

https://www.scribd.com/document/373044268/IMPACTplus-Bonuses#from_embed

Oh leave those teachers alone. For one, it will be hard to determine which ones just passed kids along for the money (all of them, I'd suspect) but a lot received bonuses because they were in good with the principal. They were probably all not 12th grade teachers so it won't be easy to determine they passed kids despite attendance issues.

As the pressure came from up above, it's Principals and central office bonuses they should be going after!

Exactly! They would also be easier to pinpoint and identify.

By the way, thanks OP Nathan Baca for standing up for teachers by shedding light on these issues. Teachers are terribly mistreated these days. This is why a national teacher shortage is happening in this country.