DC Public Schools Employee Reviews about "dcps"

Pros

DCPS pays teachers more than some of the surrounding districts. It is a high-need district with students and families who deserve great teachers.

Cons

DCPS does not treat teachers very consistently or fairly. The merit pay system creates many problematic incentives for teachers. Teacher evaluations tend to be highly subjective, and administrators face other adverse incentives that further poison the process. Turnover and burnout rates are high.

Pros

*Dedicated, passionate colleagues *Hilarious, wonderful students *Decent pay

Cons

*One size fits none - the mantra is that kids need more rigor, yet kids who fail a course take a one month class to "pass" and move to the next level. This creates an impossible job for a teacher in high school who has to teach rigorous concepts to an overpopulated classroom ranging from 2nd grade to high school levels of understanding. *There is no planning time or time to grade, due to the constant addition of meetings and professional "development". If you want to make good lessons and collect regular classroom data for you 80-100 students, expect to work no less than 70 hours per week and still feel like you're not doing enough. *Students receive no consequences for cursing out teachers, being tardy every day (if they show up in the last minute of an 80 minute class, that's considered tardy), disrupting class, breaking any established rules whatsoever, etc. *If a student fails, because they have not come to class and have not completed any of the work, the teacher is held responsible. I get the reasoning, in that we don't want teachers who are entirely rigid, but how can we instill responsibility in young adults if they get a pass all of the time for their own choices (and blame the teachers instead) *Professional development is a joke. Most recently, DCPS has focused on diversity, bias, and restorative justice, which are extremely important topics and crucial to the next generation of education. However, it seems like they are only interested in talking about this stuff on the surface to win points and no real changes have occurred as a result of these conversations. *It's all about numbers, but the data is a lie. Higher graduation rates? Well, if you lower the standards of education so that everyone passes regardless of the work they've done or their understanding of the concepts, it's easy to see why the numbers go up. Fewer suspensions? Well, if you punish principals for giving out too many disciplinary measures, you create a Lord of the Flies scenario, where no student is held accountable for their actions until it becomes extremely violent (and even then, they will try to cover it up or downplay it).

Pros

great potential, great buildings, amazing teachers.

Cons

Work at a school in which class sizes are too large and exceed the contractual limits. This seems to be the norm in DCPS (especially comprehensive high schools). Teaching a non-tested subject leaves you with virtually no useful support. LEAP is useless if you teach a non-parcc subject. School administrations often set very low expectations for the students which is really sad because I see loss of potential when students are not held to high expectations. Administrators are just worried about numbers and nothing else.

Pros

DCPS has the highest salary in the DMV area for teachers and you have many opportunities to earn bonuses and additional pay for taking on additional roles in the school. I would also say the overwhelming majority of teachers here do wish to support their students.

Cons

The pay received is essentially "combat pay." Each school has a different culture; I will say the school I came from had a strong culture and high expectations, but it was hard to maintain these expectations for long periods of time without support. Support is given hastily, and often comes in the form of more paperwork and tasks on the teachers. While my contract stated my working hours were 8:00 - 3:30, we had mandatory PD sessions 3 days a week. Administration was shady and had their inner circle, who were often put in leadership roles. Administration also would text and email other staff members negative opinions about employees on a personal level and honestly were just unprofessional. Because the majority of teachers start in DCPS as "TFA" or "non traditionally certified teachers" there is a lack of knowledge of pedagogy. Additionally, young, unqualified educators get put into leadership and administrative roles they are not prepared for. This creates tension, unprofessionalism, and ill-informed decisions. At my school, I was also required to give my personal cell-phone number and be available on call until 8 pm every night. Of course, urban school districts require more commitment, and when it comes to a child there is no such thing as too much of a sacrifice, however, if teachers cannot have a work-life balance, everyone fails. At the district level, too many initiatives are put out at once--it's like a "show-and-pony" act. Instead of taking time to thoroughly research a new instructional practice and have schools due thorough research and perfecting of the skill, it gets thrown out within a few months, or school years, and replaced by something else, which may or may not be effective. District-wide PD always turns into a vent-session, to which district representatives get defensive when materials are criticized.