DCCAS and Performance Pay

Here's an email I sent to Michelle Rhee:

Dear Chancellor Rhee,

I am a DCPS and attended yesterday’s rally. While I was happy to see so many teacher’s hard work recognized, I was disappointed at how much emphasis was put on the DCCAS results. The DCCAS is one tool in determining student achievement, but can not be used as the only tool. As you know at the high school level only 10th graders are tested. As a 12th grade teacher, none of my students participated in the DCCAS. One high school received an award for most improved attendance for the test. Wouldn’t it have been more meaningful to reward the school with most improved attendance overall? There are so many ways to measure the effectiveness of a school: graduation rates, number of students taking AP classes, attendance rates etc. Wouldn’t it make more sense to tie bonuses to the jobs that teachers and support stuff actually do, rather than tie everything to standardized test results, which involve only a small portion of our students?

It is for these reasons that I am wary of a contract which relies on performance based pay and bonuses. How exactly will our performance be evaluated?

Sincerely,

Eve McCarey