Pros
DSST sounds good when you interview. They will talk a lot about values and high performance and social justice education. But the interview is nothing like the experience of working in a school. I wish I had visited before accepting the position.
Cons
I am a knowledgeable and competent science teacher with 8 years of experience. I moved to Denver and immediately got a job with DSST in the early fall. I had only taught in regular public schools, never charters. I don't know if being a charter had to do with the negative things I experienced. But I had a very bad year and won't be back. 1. There is no set curriculum. You are expected to come up with one yourself. I did so and then was constantly criticized for how the curriculum and my lessons wasn't good. When I said , well I will just follow one if you have it, no such one existed. So they expect you to write your own excellent curriculum (differentiation, standards-based planning, culturally-responsive, supportive for mlls, etc etc). This grew exhausting and I just started using TPT every day. Which was expensive. They don't have textbooks or anything either. 2. Studnet behavior is very bad, and teachers are blamed for it. There are no consequences for cussing teachers out, or for being off task in class, or for playing on phones all day, or for skipping classes. Students have no expectations for being on task or being minimally civil. Students this year called teachers a number of slurs. There was no consequence at all. 3. Admin is very disengaged. Never in classrooms, never in hallways. There are a lot of them at my school, more than I am used to in public schools. But they ignore most issues that arise, and tend to blame teachers for students' bad behavior. You get the "build a relationship with him" thing, all the time. When students tell admin something like "this teacher is always picking on me!" admin never looks into it, they believe the student. After this year I am really questioning continuing as a teacher. I think i may change careers. But DSST has overall been a very negative experience.
