Aug. 16, 2024
Celebrating Our Employees and Achievements from the Office of Talent
Dear DPS Community,
We are excited to share the tremendous progress we have made in the last year and our continued efforts to make meaningful improvements to the Adult Experience and the overall well-being for all Team DPS Members.
Upholding Equity and Inclusion
In alignment with our Strategic Roadmap, as well as the district’s Ends Statements, the Office of Talent strives to put inclusion and equity at the forefront of everything we do. Throughout our departments and programs, we believe it is our collective responsibility to dismantle systems of oppression. We believe in creating conditions where we all belong, are included, have a clear purpose, and have the autonomy to lead in our respective areas. In that pursuit, we initiated and continued a number of programs to support our employees and ensure equity.
Recruitment and Retention
While the country continues to struggle with a teacher shortage, we are entering this school year with one of the highest fill rates this district has seen with 94% of our requests for teacher and teacher leaders positions filled and 92% of our Special Education teacher requests filled. It continues to be a priority that our students see themselves reflected in their educators. We are proud that 48% of our new teachers and teacher leaders self-identify as an educator of color, which is an 11% increase from last year.
Many departments across the Office of Talent collaborated in Collective Bargaining Agreements that led to improved working conditions for our bus drivers, mechanics, paraprofessionals, food service workers, school leaders, security officers and building tradespeople. Other initiatives, such as our DPS Belong Groups, Reach One Mentoring and scholarship offerings for professional development for BIPOC leaders support our efforts to increase retention and growth opportunities for our talented team members. We are thrilled that our retention numbers continue to trend positively into the new school year. Our increased recruitment and retention efforts support educators across all our classrooms and ensure that our students are receiving high-quality instruction and our educators are supported in their work.
The International Educators Institute (IEI) program provides comprehensive and complete services to international educators who have been recruited and retained specifically to fill hard-to-staff positions, bring new ideas and passion to education, and become the next generation of champions for our students. This program is specifically designed to support extended onboarding processes, cultural/societal assimilation support, family care, professional development and growth, and ongoing social-emotional support for new and returning international educators. This year, we are thrilled to welcome 77 new educators.
Growth and Performance
All performance frameworks saw an increase in participation last year. This work ensures that we are applying high standards and expectations across positions in a fair and equitable way. For example, the work of the Special Service Provider Collaborative Committee aligned all the frameworks so that they are comparable in rigor and expectations and all include equity for students in the language.
In support of district goals, we made major improvements in our staff’s performance evaluations.
Leadership Investment Framework for Talent (LIFT) Evaluations completion rate increased 37% from last year.
Classified Performance Evaluations completion rate increased 32% from last year.
Leadership Excellence and Development (LEAD) Evaluations completion rate increased 16% from last year.
Special Service Providers (SSP) Evaluations completion rate increased 6% from last year.
Leading Effective Academic Practice (LEAP) overrides decreased 57%.
The Growth and Performance Team led calibration training for central office LIFT managers for the new rubric. More than 343 managers attended and 91% agree/strongly agree that they now "understand the importance of calibrating on evaluation ratings." There is also a new series for LIFT called LIFT Off for Managers to assist managers in setting goals, mid-year conversations, and end-of-year calibration and ratings. The Growth and Performance team collaborated with Strategic Operations to cascade the district priorities to team and individual goals for more streamlined alignment to the Strategic Roadmap. A LIFT Fairness Guide was designed to support performance management with central office staff.
Building Culture requires a number of events focused on our employees and students throughout the year. Last year, we hosted the LatinX Student Alliance and Black Student Alliance Banquet and Awards, the First Annual LGBTQ+ and Allies Student Banquet, the Second Annual Women’s Herstory ceremony and more. Achieving Excellence Academy, a four-week program, was hosted over the summer to highlight the experiences of Black/African-American, Lantinx, Asian-American/Pacific Islander and Native American/Indigenous families, students and educators.
Focus on Well-being
The overall well-being of our Team DPS Members is one of the top priorities for the Office of Talent. We are proud to share some of our accomplishments over the past year, including financial, mental/emotional and physical well-being.
Financial Well-being: We worked to bring salary increases to all Team DPS Members at the start of this school year. These increases support our efforts to retain top talent to support our students and our schools. Our Benefits team has continued to offer a free medical plan option through MotivHealth while capping premium increase impacts to just 3.5% while neighboring school districts saw double-digit premium increases.
Mental/Emotional Well-Being: Our Benefits team continues to offer work-life solutions, confidential counseling and more through our Employee Assistance Program.
Physical Well-Being: Our Wellness team is hard at work prioritizing our educators well-being through a number of programs, including Move@Work events, Guided Meditations, organizing 5K marathon events and more. Our Wellness Champions are spread out across our schools and departments to promote and support the physical well-being of all team members throughout the year.
We launched a Serenity Room at the Emily Griffith Campus last fall. The space is open to all team members daily in 15-minute allotments and has been intentionally designed to focus on and prioritize mental, emotional and social well-being. Plans for the creation of similar spaces in other buildings are currently in progress.
The Office of Talent looks forward to another school year of supporting current and new team members who join Team DPS.
Sincerely,
Edwin Hudson
Chief of Talent