Submitted by slick on
By Sarah Lick
College preparatory boarding school, expeditionary learning, Chinese-language immersion, and International Baccalaureate curriculum are not concepts that usually come to mind when thinking about American public schools - although all are descriptive of public schools in DC: charter schools. But what is IB curriculum? What does language immersion mean for a preschooler or middle school child? What does charter school really mean?
Answers to these questions (and questions you haven’t even thought of yet) can be found at a First Friday tour! The First Fridays series, presented by FOCUS, CityBridge Foundation, and Charter Board Partners, aims to teach guests about charter schools, light their fire for public education, and help them get involved. Once a month during the school year, guests spend an hour and a half touring a charter school and asking questions to a panel. Each First Fridays tour is an opportunity for both guests and charters themselves to discover a unique charter school; to hear directly from teachers, administrators, students and parents; to see great instruction in action; and to grow the community of advocates for DC charter schools.
Currently finishing up its second year, First Fridays has visited 13 very different schools. We’ve seen elementary, middle, and high schools in wards 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8; nationally recognized charter operators and small local startups; and schools with specific missions on public policy, language immersion, and training great teachers. Most recently we visited the Carlos Rosario International School, an institution with a nationally recognized model for adult education. While they are incredibly different, all of the schools we have visited are high performing and are meeting the educational needs of Washingtonians from across the city.
First Fridays tours also illuminate shared challenges. Charters struggle with finding appropriate space to teach and play. They also struggle with less funding than traditional public. Despite disadvantages, these schools are opening doors for individuals with limited options and providing extraordinary learning experiences for almost half of the city’s public school students.
For more information about First Friday’s, email info@firstfridaysdc.org. Look out for the kick-off event for our 2013-2014 tour series this October, where we will continue to offer a glimpse at the innovative, effective, and impressive teaching and learning happening at charter schools across DC!