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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=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.
[/quote]

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. [/quote]

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.[/quote]

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 [/quote]

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.[/quote]

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[/quote]

You know what I meant, all the teachers who want to blame everything BUT their own dang selves and admin. Yes absolutely those things play a factor but it's not the only one. Many of our students are STILL behind and thus we lose a chunk pretty much 50% to 'innovative' charters. Some of which who are making more progress with the same kinds of students.
And you misunderstood, teachers at my school hate LEAP because it's so intensive, twice a week is a lot. Other schools just have bad LEAP and hate it.

Ok guess we will see, definitely not 2023. Also I think it'll be modified NOT gone.

Not sure why the snarky end but I already make 116k, I have been teaching less than 10 years. So even if I lose the 10k, that's fine. [/quote

I hear what you are saying, and yes there are a TON of problems with the way some teachers work, but I don’t see how a punitive system like IMPACT helps that. It’s pretty evident that it’s been damaging to the districts talent pool. I think 70% of teachers leave DCPS within 5 years. It’s awesome for you that you can have that salary but you are a huge outlier to the system. If we really wanted to hold teachers accountable, I don’t see how this is the way. ES’ can’t find upper level teachers bc nobody wants to teach tested subjects, due to IMPACT. Even the creator of the program regrets it and didn’t bring it with him to Richmond [/quote]

How may teachers do you really think deserve HE though? Yes, 35%-37% in W4,5,7,8 is low. But I don't think the majority of teachers are HE, especially when they leave within 5 years and get replaced with usually an inexperienced teacher.

I won't argue about how bad Impact is, I am a self-contained special education teacher and my concerns are there won't be a system that includes us too and ELL/resource sped.

It scares me that my evaluator has ZERO experience in my program and the rubric is absolutely based on a typical non-title 1 classroom.

The first thing that needs to happen is differentiation between teacher rubrics.
Data that has to be submitted through a computer evaluation so teachers cannot lie about all their data.
New teachers absolutely need a mentor teacher. (required, I know some schools do this)
Teachers who aren't producing results have to get extra support and training.
All schools have to have a FULL SEL team (social worker, counselor, school psyc, and a behavior support person) who facilitates PDs

I do believe teachers deserve bonuses and support. You can believe in changing the system while still rewarding people. [/quote]

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