Recently, I had a chat with some colleagues who I don't run into that often. The subject of Impact came up. Essentially it was stated that the impact of Impact has been to create a great deal more stress for teachers, crush morale, and in general, to make you feel like you are not a good teacher. (And that it has not necessarily led to better teaching.) Ouch.
I hesitate to even open this Pandora's box but it can't be ignored. Before Impact, teachers could be stressed and frustrated by not seeing enough of our students succeed and the myriad other problems that accompany our job. That was bad enough. Now we have someone coming in to tell us that the problem is our teaching.
Let me also say, as so many others have, I'm all in favor of identifying poor teachers and ousting them if they are beyond help. And our old method of evaluation left much to be desired. However, detecting the effective teacher from the ineffective is not all that difficult. If you are paying attention and talking to students, it will be revealed. If you, as an administrator are moving around the building as part of your day, and even popping in some classrooms just for fun, it will be pretty clear who needs help or might need to find another career. I'm not saying that that is a foolproof method but it's a pretty good one. And I'm not saying Impact is without merit and should be written off completely.
What I am saying is that the pendulum has swung too far in the opposite direction. In my experience in DCPS, we went from a lack of oversight in the classroom to the current model which is extremely subjective and wholly unrealistic. Now, anything less than perfection (as defined by someone with little or limited experience with our student population) pretty much paints you as mediocre. The phrase “out to get you” comes up repeatedly when describing Impact, and it's not healthy.
[I may develop a posting of “master educator suggestions” that I've heard, and would be quite humorous if they weren't true, and if these suggestions weren't accompanied by denigrating Impact scores. But I digress.]
Anyway, the oppressive threat of Impact that has led to teachers feeling more constricted, less creative and playful, and less satisfied with their jobs leads me to ask the question: If I were a student, what kind of teacher would I want? One who feels like the current downtrodden DCPS teacher or one with the time and energy to still explore life, feels confident, and feels supported by their administration and school system? The second scenario may seem far fetched, but so what? We can dream can't we?
IMPACT was supposed to be about accountability but from everything I have experienced in my school it has done nothing but instill the fear of God in very hardworking competent teachers.
ReplyDeleteIt has also caused division as close friends of the principal get very high scores when a couple of them actually should have received scores in the ineffective range. It is depressing to see favoritism in an evaluation tool that is being praised.
We also have widely ranging scores depending on if the principal or assistant principal does the evaluation.
In the beginning of the year our principal said Rhee made it clear that since our school is failing to meet AYP then very few if any staff members should be receiving Highly effective.
I am extremely committed to the children and bust my behind everyday. This nonsense does not inspire me to work harder it just makes me want to quit.
IMPACT is broken and needs to be completely revamped.
I agree with anonymous at 9:25. It's not about Impact catching bad teachers, but about Impact creating a negative work envioronment that affects everyone--good teachers as well.
ReplyDeleteIt's too bad, because there were many good teachers, including myself, who recognized weak teachers who needed to be removed. Yet, Impact is not about identifying the bad from the good. It is about accumulating enough information to get pretty much anyone.
The most pressing problem in DCPS right now is not bad teachers, it's about bad/weak administration at the school and district level. What are teachers to do?
The teachers with the least amount of years move on to other jobs/careers, and the ones more experienced just get demoralized and hide behind their classroom door.
There's got to be a better way to reform public education. DCPS is full of talk with no substance or real change.
My favorite master educator comment was that "you need to be more physical when dealing with misbehavior in the classroom." Really?
ReplyDeleteHow about the reality that Impact encourages certain behaviors that are not good for students? For example, at my school, some of the "highly-effective" teachers actively find ways to remove troubled students from their class. They either will prevent the students without uniforms on from coming in (against school policy) or prevent tardy students from entering class (also against school policy).
ReplyDeleteAnd how about the highly effective teachers who get the "bad" kids removed from their class lists through a schedule change? Of course those students end up in the "effective" or "minimially effective" teachers' classrooms.