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By Lauren Outlaw
D.C. students reach new heights in annual standardized tests (The Washington Post, 7/30/13)
In this article, Emma Brown highlights the significant gains charter schools across the district made on this year’s DC CAS. The DC Comprehensive Assessment System (DC CAS) is administered to students in grades 3 through 8 and 10 every spring. Public charter schools saw the biggest gains since 2009 and for the first time ever more than half of students attending charter schools scored proficient or above in reading. For more exciting news on this year’s test results, read this article! For additional school data information including past test results, please visit our Data Center.
Charters Struggle in Search for Affordable Space (Education Week, 7/25/13)
Katie Ash reports on the challenges charter schools around the country face trying to acquire affordable facilities. “‘It’s a nonstop political battle,’” stated FOCUS Executive Director Robert Cane. “‘There’s a tendency to want to keep control [of public school buildings] because [the district] is afraid that if [it] gives up [the facilities] to charter schools, that will just accelerate the decline of their enrollment.’” The newly formed Charter Schools Facilities Initiative has “launched a national effort to gather comprehensive information on charters’ access to affordable facilities.” For more on the on-going facilities issue, please click here.
Report: Fewer D.C. charter schools have financial problems (The Washington Post, 7/24/13)
Emma Brown highlights three charter schools (DC Bilingual, National Collegiate Preparatory, and Ideal Academy) that improved their financial performance from the 2012 fiscal year. Congratulations to these schools. For more information on how they were able to improve there finances, click the link above!
Closed DCPS school to reopen as a charter (The Washington Post, 7/9/13)
Emma Brown reports on Somerset Preparatory Academy’s (one of four charter schools opening in August) move into the M.C. Terrell-McGogney Elementary building this fall. Somerset has a one-year lease to operate in this facility through the Charter School Incubator Initiative. M.C. Terrell is one of the 13 traditional DC schools closed in June for low performance under Chancellor Kaya Henderson’s school closure plan (released in January 2013).
D.C.’s charter schools get a gold star (The Washington Post, 7/6/13)
The Washington Post Editorial Board summarizes the findings of a study conducted by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO). The study reports DC charter schools performance far exceeded that of other charters nationwide. “Students who attend charter schools in the District gained an extra 72 days in reading and an additional 101 days in math over the course of a year.” These gains are attributed in part to the District’s strong charter law that “ensures charter independence.”
D.C. charter school leader wins national recognition (The Washington Post, 7/1/13)
In this article, Emma Brown announces Linda Moore’s induction into the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools’ Hall of Fame. Moore is the founder and executive director of Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School, a tier one French- and Spanish- immersion school located in Northeast, DC. Congratulations to Ms. Moore!