FOCUS DC News Wire 6/22/2015

The District’s education leaders emphasized the progress that they have made in reforming the city’s schools in recent years but acknowledged Monday that they must increase efforts to improve prospects for thousands of underperforming students.

“It’s no secret we need to do more,” Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson testified before the D.C. Council’s Education Committee. “We need great teachers, rigorous content, engaged students.”

Henderson’s comments came in response to the National Research Council’s independent evaluation of the effects of sweeping changes the city put in motion in 2007, when then-Mayor Adrian M. Fenty took control of the schools and appointed Michelle A. Rhee as schools chancellor.

The 2007 Public Education Reform Amendment Act created a governance structure for education in the city that gave the chancellor unprecedented freedom to implement reforms. It also helped pave the way for the city’s charter schools to grow.

The report found that more than seven years after the reforms took root, the District’s poor and minority students are still far less likely to have a quality teacher in their classrooms, perform at grade level and graduate from high school in four years. Although performance on standardized tests has improved for all groups, the city’s academic achievement gap has not diminished.

Henderson said that the school system has come a long way in making basic aspects of the school system functional, including paying teachers on time and preparing for the first day of school.

She said improving achievement gaps is a top priority, and she is working to address the gaps by focusing on the 40 lowest-performing schools, by using literacy interventions and a new initiative to improve the performance of young men of color.

The report also emphasized a need for one agency to have primary responsibility for public education in the District, calling for more centralized data collection across all public schools, including charters, which enroll 44 percent of the city’s public school students.

Deputy Mayor for Education Jennifer C. Niles said Monday that she expects to have a “road map” prepared by year’s end detailing improvements to the school data infrastructure. She also said her office is well positioned to provide more centralized monitoring and oversight of public education.

Scott Pearson, executive director of the D.C. Public Charter School Board, said he was concerned that some data requirements would be “overly burdensome” and said more centralized oversight could infringe on the autonomy and flexibility that charter schools enjoy.

“The report’s dry academic language buries the biggest headline: PERAA has been an outstanding success,” he said. He noted that test scores have climbed at “an astounding rate” since the law was enacted, and he said enrollment numbers have climbed at both charter and traditional schools.

Before the government officials spoke, more than 20 parents, teachers and education advocates testified. Many said they were frustrated by the slow pace of progress, given the prolonged attention and extra resources that have gone into public education in the District.

Some said that the streamlined system under mayoral control has reduced opportunities for parents and community members to respond to changes and help shape the direction of the schools.

“Right now, avenues of participation are closed off other than for the most persevering or those with the best connections,” said Laura Fuchs, a teacher at H.D. Woodson High School in Ward 7.

Four graduates from Woodson said they were disappointed in the lack of opportunities to take advanced classes at their school.

“There shouldn’t be that big a gap between the schools,” said Edward Seay, who transferred to Woodson from Duke Ellington School of the Arts as a junior and was dismayed to find limited academic opportunities.

The report noted disparities in access to Advanced Placement courses, something that Henderson has taken steps to improve with an increase in programs and budgets for high schools. Next school year, each comprehensive high school will be expected to offer at least eight AP classes.