DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PUBLIC
SCHOOLS
Office of the Chancellor
825 North Capitol Street, NE, 9th Floor, Washington, D.C., 20002-1994
(202) 442-5885 – fax: (202) 442-5026
March 13, 2009
Dear DCPS Educator,
Over the past couple of months I’ve been holding a series of Q&A
sessions to get your feedback on our reform initiatives. I deeply
appreciate so many of you taking time out of your very busy lives to come
downtown, share your innovative ideas, and offer your honest appraisal of
our efforts. Meeting educators and students is the best part of my job!
One of the things I’ve learned during these meetings is that many of
you would like to know more about the contract negotiations between DCPS
and the WTU. So I’d like to take this opportunity to provide an update.
We’ve been engaged in negotiations for just about a year and half
now. We’ve worked closely with George Parker and his team during this
time and, although we haven’t always agreed, there’s no doubt in my
mind that everyone involved wants the very best for the children and
educators of this city.
We’re now entering a new phase of the negotiations. At Mr. Parker’s
request, Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of
Teachers, has joined the process. I welcome her involvement and have high
hopes that we’ll reach an agreement that is respectful of teachers, good
for children, and supportive of our reform efforts.
As we enter into these conversations, I want to make sure that you have
a clear sense of the beliefs and principles that will guide me throughout
the process. I very much look forward to working with the WTU to craft an
agreement that reflects these ideas.
- Resources – You deserve to have the resources you need
to perform your job effectively. For years, you’ve been expected to
operate with less than what you need. This is unacceptable. I’m
committed to ensuring that you have the instructional supplies, office
supplies, and technology you need to support your work. I’m also
committed to ensuring that your classrooms are safe, clean, and fully
functional.
- Professional Development – You deserve robust
professional development to help you meet the demanding instructional
challenges you face. I’ve talked to so many DCPS educators who
are eager to improve their practice, but feel let down by our
training. I’m committed to helping you grow by providing the highest
quality support. That means providing you with job-embedded
professional development that’s differentiated by need, aligned with
clear instructional expectations, and relevant to your
work.
- Student Discipline – You deserve to work in safe and
orderly schools. I’ve been in enough schools over my 16-year
career in education to know that one or two troubled students can
disrupt an entire classroom. We can’t allow that to occur. That
means setting very clear expectations for behavior and holding
students accountable. It also means creating new programs to help our
young people meet the behavioral expectations we set and piloting
instructionally robust alternative settings for students who are not
reaching their potential in traditional classrooms.
- Evaluation – You deserve to be evaluated fairly and
responsibly. That means that we must use multiple measures of
performance and never test scores alone. It also means
that when we do use test scores as one of several components, we must
focus on growth, not AYP. Finally, we need to include impartial
master teachers as evaluators, not just administrators, in the
observational process. My goal is to ensure that all educators
accurately understand their professional strengths and weaknesses so
that they can continually improve their practice.
- Compensation – You deserve to be compensated as true
professionals. Teachers are the most under-valued professionals in
our society. I want to change that in DCPS. That means ensuring that
your base pay increases and that you have opportunities to earn
bonuses when your school excels and when you excel. It also
means providing you with compensation choices. I know that money isn’t
what drives you. If it did, you wouldn’t be in this profession. That
said, increased compensation is one way we can demonstrate our
appreciation for how incredibly hard you work every single day.
In addition to laying out these core principles, I want to take this
opportunity to address the 10 most common questions that I’ve heard at
the Q&A sessions. I’ve included those questions in a Top 10 list,
along with straightforward answers, on the pages that follow.
As we move forward, I want to make sure that I continue to hear your
feedback. So I’ve already scheduled additional Q&A sessions:
- TODAY, March 13, 4:30 PM – 6:30 PM, at Cardozo SHS
- Wednesday, March 18, 4:30 PM – 6:00 PM, at Ron Brown MS
- Thursday, March 19, 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM, at Ballou SHS
- Monday, March 30, 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM, at Wilson SHS
I’ve selected these locations as they have ample parking and are
spread across the city. You don’t have to work at one of these schools
to attend.
This is just the beginning of what I hope will be a long and fruitful
conversation. As we move forward, please do not hesitate to e-mail me at michelle.rhee@dc.gov
to provide feedback, voice concerns, or just say hello. Thank you so much
for the extraordinary work you do on behalf of the District’s children
each and every day!
With appreciation,
Michelle Rhee
Chancellor, DCPS
Top 10 Questions
1. How am I supposed to teach when I don’t even have paper and
pencils, let alone computers or Internet access?
Teaching is hard enough as it is. You shouldn’t also have to deal
with insufficient resources. I’m committed to ensuring that every
educator in this system has what she or he needs to be successful. If
you need paper, pencils, books, or any other essential supplies, please
e-mail me right away. Bullet out what you need and I will make every
effort to get it to you as soon as possible.
I also know how challenging it is to teach in a classroom that’s
too cold or too hot, that doesn’t have properly functioning windows,
or that doesn’t have Internet access. I know that many of you have
worked diligently to overcome these challenges, but you shouldn’t have
to. I can’t fix all of these problems overnight, but I’ve committed
to addressing each and every one of them in the Master Facilities Plan.
My job is to set you up for success.
2. I work very hard, but student discipline is incredibly
challenging. What can you do to help?
As a former teacher, I know how one or two students can derail the
learning environment for an entire class. We just can’t let that
happen. It’s not fair to you and it’s not fair to your students. So
I’m proposing a three-part plan. First, we’re rewriting the DC
regulations around student behavior to outline clear expectations and
clear consequences. One of the biggest problems we face is that there’s
a great deal of confusion across the school system when it comes to
student discipline.
Second, we need to do a better job of helping schools prevent
inappropriate behavior. We’re planning to do a number of things on
this front. For example, we’re working to establish advisory programs
in our schools that will pair each adult with a small group of students
in an effort to foster communication and build a sense of family. We’re
also redesigning our Student Support Teams to better address challenges
before they turn into discipline problems. And we’re going to pilot
wraparound services to help students and their families address the
broad array of challenges they face.
Third, we need to do a better job of helping you manage the student
discipline challenges that already exist. So we’re targeting much of
our professional development agenda towards student discipline. We’re
also developing more instruction-oriented In-School Suspension programs
that will allow schools to more effectively maintain order. And we’re
piloting a number of alternative settings for over-age students for whom
the traditional classroom setting simply isn’t working.
Bottom line: I want to make sure that you have the policies,
programs, and supports you need to ensure an orderly learning
environment. Teachers need to be able to teach!
3. Many of my students come to school unprepared for learning. How
can you hold me accountable for their achievement?
I recognize that many of our students face significant challenges in
their lives that affect their readiness for school. That’s why we’re
investing in wraparound services and other intervention programs. But I
know these efforts won’t erase the effects of poverty, the lack of
affordable healthcare, or the deteriorating job market.
That’s why the work you do is so incredibly important. You
are the agents of social justice in our nation’s capital. You’re far
more powerful than the Senators and Congressmen who work just blocks
away from our schools. By pushing forward in the face of daunting
challenges, you are providing the one thing that will give our children
the opportunities they all deserve: an excellent education.
As for accountability, please know that I will always focus on growth,
not absolute achievement, when assessing your performance. If your
students start the year at the 5th percentile and you move them to the
20th percentile, you’ve done something incredible!
4. I want to improve, but the training DCPS offers is not up to the
task. What’s your plan?
I know that professional development in DCPS has been lacking for
many, many years. Rest assured, we’re working around the clock to fix
that. Let me highlight a few of the things we’re doing. First, since
my appointment, we’ve increased funding for professional development
by 400%. And we plan to invest even more in the years to
come.
Second, we believe deeply in the job-embedded model of professional
development. That’s why we’re committed to refining the Professional
Developer role to make sure that it serves your needs.
Third, we know that our professional development offerings must be
coherent – and right now they’re not. So we’re developing a
comprehensive Teaching and Learning Framework that will clearly
delineate the key skills we believe all educators should have. It will
also provide the tools and resources you need to support your growth.
Fourth, we know that professional development must be differentiated
based on your individual needs. Some teachers need help with management,
others with planning. Some are great at data analysis; others have never
used a spreadsheet before. We don’t want to waste your time by
dragging you to a class or a training that you don’t need. So we’re
building a development model that appropriately differentiates based on
your individual skills and knowledge.
5. There are too many initiatives going on. I’m worn out and
overwhelmed. What’s your priority?
I hear you. In our exuberance to fix everything all at once, we’ve
thrown so many different programs at you. Please know that this comes
from a desire to support you, not inundate you. But I now see that we
may have pushed on too many different fronts all at the same time.
My priority is for you to focus on the content standards and align
all of your instruction to them. I promise to provide you with
curricular supports, assessments, resources, and training that are all
aligned to this priority. It’s going to take some time, but we know we’ve
got to do this.
6. The special education program in DCPS is broken and my teaching
is suffering. What’s your plan to fix things?
Let me first say that I know how hard all of you are working to meet
the needs of our special education students. I also want to acknowledge
that we need to do a much better job of supporting you in this work.
Towards that end, here are just a few of the things on our agenda.
First, we’re working to provide everyone–special education and
general education educators alike–with better training. The key to
solving special education is ensuring that every student receives
instruction that’s differentiated according to her or his needs. I
know that’s not easy to do. So we’re making sure that our
professional development focuses explicitly on differentiation.
Second, we’re aggressively working to comply with all special
education laws so that we can regain the trust of the courts. In fact,
of the four major special education lawsuits that were pending against
DCPS at the time of my appointment, we’ve already exited one and have
made dramatic strides with the others.
Third, we’re working to bring many of our students who are in
private special education placements back to the school system. The
millions of dollars allocated for these placements would be better spent
on improving the services we provide right here in DCPS.
Those of you who have been in the system for many years have probably
heard quite a bit from the central office about improving special
education. I imagine you don’t have much trust in our ability to make
any changes. But please know that this is one of my top priorities and
that I’m firmly committed to seeing this through.
7. How are you going to evaluate me? If my students don’t meet AYP,
will I be fired?
First let me say that you will NOT be fired simply because your
students don’t meet AYP. I believe it’s important to include
student achievement in teacher evaluations, but we’ve got to look at growth.
In other words, we need to look at where your students started the year
and where they finished.
Second, student achievement – even measured by growth – will never
be the only thing we look at when assessing your performance. Student
growth is an important piece of the puzzle, but it’s just one
piece.
Third, we know that the current teacher observation process is
imperfect. Some of you never get observed, and when you do, it’s only
for 10 minutes. That’s not fair and it doesn’t help you improve. We
need to make sure that you’re observed at multiple points for a
significant amount of time and that you get frequent, constructive
feedback. To help ensure fairness, we’re also going to use impartial
master teachers, in addition to administrators, in the
evaluation process. In short, we must get observations right. They’re
critical to helping you improve your practice.
Finally, let me add that we’re still in the process of revamping
the evaluation process and we value your input. If you’d like to
participate in the focus groups we’re holding, please e- mail me right
away.
8. Some people say that you want to fire all the veterans in DCPS
and replace them with Teach For America teachers or DC Teaching Fellows.
Is that true?
Absolutely not. High-performing veterans are the people I most want
to retain. They’re invaluable. I need them to serve our
children as classroom teachers, mentors, and professional developers.
They’re the backbone of our system.
Teach For America and the DC Teaching Fellows are important programs
that help us bring new teachers into DCPS. But I have absolutely no
plans to use them to replace our great veteran educators and I never
will.
It’s essential that we have effective ways to bring new talent into
our schools, but it’s just as important that we keep our best teachers
in the system, no matter who they are or how they got here.
9. I’ve heard you’re going to require teachers to give up
tenure. Is that true?
No. I have never proposed – and will never do so in the future –
that anyone be forced to give up her or his tenure. Those of you who
earned tenure are entitled to keep it for the rest of your careers.
Period. I have proposed giving DCPS educators new choices.
But these options would always be voluntary.
10. I’ve heard you talk about salaries over $100,000. How are you
going to afford that?
High-performing teachers are the most important and hardest working
people in America. I believe they should be earning much higher salaries
– even more than $100,000 per year. I know money isn’t everything and
I know you didn’t choose this profession to become rich. But right now
there’s an enormous gap between how much you’re paid and how hard you
work.
I’ve proposed a salary package that significantly increases
compensation by seeking funds from private foundations whose leaders
believe in the vital importance of having a great teacher in every
classroom in America. I know many of you are suspicious of external groups
playing a role in your compensation. I would be, too. But very soon I’ll
be able share with you the details of these commitments. Rest assured,
they’re sustainable over the long-term with public funding
alone. The last thing I want to do is launch a pay structure that can’t
survive.
***
Keep the questions coming! It’s important for me to hear your
feedback and know what’s on your mind. As I frequently tell my staff, we
exist to serve you and your students. For us to do our jobs well,
we need to know when we’re doing things right and when we’re missing
the mark. We also need to hear your ideas. Just about every important
development in education has come from a great teacher, not a bureaucrat.
So please keep e-mailing me, coming to the Q&A sessions, and speaking
candidly with me at your schools. Thank you! |
