Submitted by acollier on
Are you frustrated with the educational options available to your child here in the District? Has your child been stuck on charter school waiting lists year after year? Are you unhappy with the school in which you currently teach? Perhaps you should consider starting your own public charter school.
Submitted by acollier on
FOCUS was thrilled last Monday night when the DC Public Charter School Board granted conditional charters to two of the groups that participated in our School Design & Development program, Lee Montessori and Academy of Hope. They were the only two of the nine applicants that received approval.
Submitted by acollier on
This year, FOCUS’s annual gala honored founder Malcolm “Mike” Peabody who is stepping down as board chair after 17 years. Under his stewardship, charter school enrollment has grown to 35,000 students in 57 schools on 100+ campuses making up 43% of the total public school population in the District.
“Who’d a thunk,” Mike said in his farewell speech. “I certainly never imagined we would get to this level so fast.”
Over 250 people attended the March 21st gala, and enjoyed dinner, drinks, and dancing as well as a program celebrating Mike’s contributions to the DC charter school movement. Attendees included: current charter school leaders; founders of the charter school movement; representatives from various charter support organizations; political officials including Mayor Anthony Williams, Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, Councilmember David Catania; and other friends of FOCUS.
Submitted by acollier on
Over the past few weeks, FOCUS has received many phone calls from groups interested in applying for a new charter school in DC. With the application deadline from the DC Public Charter School Board fast approaching (applications are due March 1st, 2013), we thought it would be helpful to provide our insight about the process.
Read the application guidelines from the Public Charter School Board
The application requires a detailed blueprint of your proposed school, communicated via 150 pages plus appendices. It is not easy!
Submitted by acollier on
Are you looking for a high quality public school for your child? Interested in career opportunities at one of the 57 charter schools in Washington, DC? Want to see the thriving charter movement for yourself? Come to the Charter Expo!
The 4th Annual DC Public Charter School Expo will be held at the Washington Convention Center on Saturday, January 5th, 2013, from 12-4pm. The Expo will bring together the local charter school community, parents, prospective teachers, community members, and vendors. Admission is free!
Submitted by acollier on
Enrollment in DC public charter schools grew another 11 percent in the 2012-2013 school year, according to unaudited enrollment numbers released by the DC Public Charter School Board (PCSB) last week. Just over 35,000 students chose one of 57 public charter schools on 107 campuses across the District. This continues the annual growth trend in the charter sector, which has seen marked growth every year since the first charters opened in 1996. Almost half of the growth was due to either new charter schools or new/expanded campuses of existing charters: four new schools opened their doors in 2012, and 12 existing schools added more students.
Of note is that 20 percent of the new seats were in schools designated as “Tier One” under the PCSB’s Performance Management Framework (PMF), the ranking system that was rolled out last fall, while there was a 10 percent decrease in enrollment in Tier 3 schools (the lowest tier in the PCSB system). But there is still much more demand for quality education options; there are thousands of students on waitlists for the higher performing schools. FOCUS is one of many charter support organizations across the District that is focusing its efforts on increasing the number of quality seats available at charter schools. Our startup services help high potential groups open quality schools, while our workshops and consulting services support existing schools to improve their performance.
