DCPS teacher here.

My five IMPACT observation reports for this year are peppered with spelling, grammatical, and other errors, including a reference to "personal effect" instead of "affect". It's really laughable that administrators and so-called master educators who are so incompetent have the power to determine whether or not I keep my job.

Anonymous wrote:PP I have heard that DCPS is revamping the professional development program to be more student centered and supportive of teachers so hopefully teachers can receive more support and less punishment

Should be interesting. What does it mean for professional development to be more student centered? Why should teachers receive any punishment -- unless of course they are doing something very wrong, or is that a given?

Anonymous wrote:What does "teach harder" look like to you???

Like a crazy DCPS idea that if only the teachers taught harder, the kids would all achieve at the highest levels.

PP I have heard that DCPS is revamping the professional development program to be more student centered and supportive of teachers so hopefully teachers can receive more support and less punishment

I think there is nearly universal belief that IMPACT may be too punitive, even for those of us that support it. I was speaking with a parent at my son's pre-school who is one of the master educator's doing the evaluation and she herself said that she worried about the lack of professional development available help teachers get better. However she also said that as far as she was concerned it was weeding out some of the truly awful teachers out there. As for the Principals and VP I think there is an IMPACT evaluation system out there also for them. I know there was scuttlebut at my DD's school was that the principal was surprised at the issues the teachers raised in his evaluation.

Anonymous wrote:The situation is made quite clear in this part of the article
"The real problem with IMPACT teacher evaluation"

(http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/the-real-problem-with-impact-teacher-evaluation/2011/07/17/gIQAj6cpKI_blog.html)

"... 22% of teachers in the affluent Ward 3 were rated “highly effective.” In contrast to only 5% in the high-poverty Ward 8 were ranked highly effective."

This fact was miss represented in another DCUM post. But this is the bottom line, people. Poor families make poor students.

I wouldn't use those words. However, low-SES students tend to start school with much smaller vocabulary and a lot less background knowledge. This doesn't mean that they are poor students. It means that they get lower scores on standardized tests.

Anonymous wrote:According to the research most of the highly effective teachers work in NW or non-Title I schools.

So most of the bonus money is not going to teachers who work with the neediest children.

That's not made clear in the public DCPS message.

Do you mean teachers who earn the rating of "highly effective" or do you literally mean highly effective? And what research are you referring to?

The situation is made quite clear in this part of the article
"The real problem with IMPACT teacher evaluation"

(http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/the-real-problem-with-impact-teacher-evaluation/2011/07/17/gIQAj6cpKI_blog.html)

"... 22% of teachers in the affluent Ward 3 were rated “highly effective.” In contrast to only 5% in the high-poverty Ward 8 were ranked highly effective."

This fact was miss represented in another DCUM post. But this is the bottom line, people. Poor families make poor students.

According to the research most of the highly effective teachers work in NW or non-Title I schools.

So most of the bonus money is not going to teachers who work with the neediest children.

That's not made clear in the public DCPS message.

Teach harder; stop erasing just use disapperaring ink.

What does "teach harder" look like to you???

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like you have a basic understanding of the IMPACT bonuses. But, there is a lot more to it than that. Every employee who works in a school is evaluated under IMPACT but all are not eligible for bonuses. The guidelines under which employees are evaluated (ie frequency, perimeters, types of student data, % of student data, etc) vary a lot. Sorry I can't go into all the details because it is too much. Hopefully other educators/employees can weigh in.

It must have cost a fortune to work out that complicated formula, but I doubt many teachers will see the money - either because they opt out or because in title 1 schools it's very hard to make highly effective. But that's the point, I think -- they want you to "teach harder" to earn the extra $$.

It sounds like you have a basic understanding of the IMPACT bonuses. But, there is a lot more to it than that. Every employee who works in a school is evaluated under IMPACT but all are not eligible for bonuses. The guidelines under which employees are evaluated (ie frequency, perimeters, types of student data, % of student data, etc) vary a lot. Sorry I can't go into all the details because it is too much. Hopefully other educators/employees can weigh in.

Title I teacher here. I have achieved "Effective" for two years in a row and have never been offered bonus pay for working at a Title I school.

Perhaps you need to reach Highly Effective to get that bonus.

Also, many Highly Effective teachers opted out of bonus pay because of the strings attached. They were reluctant to give up some of job security. Although I don't know if job security is valid anymore. Tenure is out last I heard.

I just read the IMPACT guidelines and compensation on DCPS site. (It's a LOT of info.) I'm no expert in education. I am just a parent of DCPS kids who are not in traditional/general classrooms. I'm concerned about turnover of high performers at our school.

On paper, as a development and compensation tool IMPACT seems fair and, frankly, more advantageous for employees than some other professions. A few things jumped out as potential positives. It looks like the bonuses are highest for lower income schools and hard to staff areas like special ed. Salary increases are accelerated for lower income schools. If you have a masters degree and consistently reach highly effective you can be paid at PhD level. DC CAS is not the only quantitative measure, etc.

http://dcps.dc.gov/DCPS/In+the+Classroom/Ensuring+Teacher+Success/IMPACT+(Performance+Assessment)/IMPACT+Guidebooks

http://dcps.dc.gov/DCPS/Files/downloads/TEACHING%20&%20LEARNING/IMPACT/IMPACTplus/DCPS-IMPACTplus-guidebook-Sept-2010.pdf

But how is it being used? Is there an IMPACT for principals? How do we know principals and APs are actually using it as a development tool? Our AP is notoriously petty, vindictive, and unprofessional. I can easily see how some of our teachers who report to the AP would never make it to highly effective based on the AP's "observations". Worse still, they may not get any of the support they deserve that would ensure they achieve highly effective and stay in DCPS.

Who is watching the watchers? How can parents and students' observations counted?