DC Public Schools reviews

Breakneck work pace with high turnover and low job satisfaction.

If you work in a high poverty school it is exponentially more difficult than working in the more affluent schools. Not only do you have the normal challenges that one is faced with in working in this kind of environment you are also subject to the ill conceived poorly implemented teaching and learning framework dubbed IMPACT. This is a high stakes (said to be objective) evaluation tool that is used to measure teacher effectiveness. It does not. This instrument is sold as way to help teachers grow their skills but in actuality it is a punitive framework that is design to keep everyone in fear and walking on eggshells. It uses the same rubrics and standards in schools where practically every student is on grade level or above in schools where students are two, three or more grade levels behind and the teachers teaching these students are penalized for it. As an educator serving the disadvantaged you become the disadvantaged with regard to your professional stability. Naturally, anyone adversely affected by IMPACT would speak poorly of it but most DCPS teachers even those who have received the highest ratings and the bonuses speak poorly of it. I will not continue to down this path however I will advise anyone who is considering working for DCPS to look at what third party education authorities and experts are saying about IMPACT.