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.
