- D.C. school leaders concerned about proposed graduation requirements [Thurgood Marshall Academy PCS mentioned]
- Are school closings just the start of a DCPS reorganization
- Barras: Parents and D.C. public schools
- Chancellor trims list for upcoming closures
- Henderson outlines boundary change process
D.C. school leaders concerned about proposed graduation requirements [Thurgood Marshall Academy PCS mentioned]
The Washington Examiner
By Rachel Baye
January 24, 2013
D.C. students would have to complete more art, music and physical education before they can graduate under a proposal by the DC State Board of Education. But school leaders warn that the new requirements would hurt both students who excel and those who lag behind.
In a letter to the DC State Board of Education, DC Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson and the heads of seven major public charter schools also criticized the proposal to increase the total number of required credits from 24 to 26 -- among the highest in the nation -- to mandate that students log 225 minutes of physical activity a week and to require a senior thesis.
The increase in requirements would make it difficult for students at Thurgood Marshall Academy to take Advanced Placement classes, which take up two course periods, said school Executive Director Alexandra Pardo, who signed the letter. "I would hate to have to say to a kid, 'You can't take AP [Calculus] because you have to take art or you have to take P.E.' "
On the other end of the spectrum, students who are struggling with math or reading might not have time to get extra help.
The proposal also presents a problem for schools that lack the facilities for additional art or gym classes, the letter says.
"Not every charter high school has a gymnasium," Pardo said. Students would likely end up taking art in a room intended for math or taking P.E. behind the school building.
In a city where 59 percent of students graduate high school on time, more requirements would necessitate smaller classes and increases in computers, libraries and counselors, said Washington Teachers' Union President Nathan Saunders at a hearing Wednesday night.
Increasing the number of credits from 24 to 26 also would force all high schools to have at least seven periods a day or adopt a block schedule, the school leaders wrote. "Even a seven-period schedule resulting in 28 [credit] hours would not be in the best interest of students as this leaves little room for remediation courses or course recovery for students who fail a course."
The State Board is accepting comments on the proposed changes through Friday, said Executive Director Jesse Rauch, and the proposal will likely change before being finalized in March.
"I don't think it will pass the board the way it is now," said board member Patrick Mara, who said he objects to several parts of the proposal.
The question also remains whether charter schools will have to abide by the new requirements.
The DC Public Charter School Board, not the State Board, oversees the charter schools, Charter School Board Chairman Brian Jones wrote in a letter Thursday.
"Were the new state graduation requirements to be adopted in their current form, PCSB is concerned that many charter schools would seek charter amendments to establish different graduation criteria."
Rauch would not comment on that legal question.
Are school closings just the start of a DCPS reorganization
The Washington Post
By Emma Brown
January 24, 2013
Closing 15 D.C. schools is a first step in what will be a larger effort by the school system to reorganize resources, find new efficiencies and offer stronger academic programs across the city, Chancellor Kaya Henderson says.
That effort is informed by the work of Education Resource Strategies, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit organization, Henderson told the D.C. Council’s education committee. DCPS commissioned ERS to study the school system’s schools and budgets and suggest changes.
ERS recommended a series of changes that it says may save the school system close to $80 million, which could then be reinvested in improving instruction and academic offerings.
The suggested changes include closing small schools; paring back non-instructional staff; cutting central office costs and costs associated with special-education administration; raising class sizes in non-core classes; and eliminating automatic raises given to teachers for education credits and experience.
Henderson outlined the recommendations for the council Wednesday, but cautioned that the school system may not act on all of them. She also said that ERS had provided general guidance, but hadn’t suggested specific schools to be closed.
“ERS has provided us good direction with a strong research backing, not a step-by-step set of directions to improve,” the chancellor said. “As such, we may not implement all of their recommendations and certainly won’t do so in the upcoming year. We also do not anticipate that our savings will map precisely to their projections.”
Still, the recommendations offer a glimpse of some changes that might be on the horizon for D.C. schools. You can read the final ERS memo, which Henderson gave council members Wednesday, here.
The memo highlights an important budget challenge that DCPS will face due to its commitment to merit pay for highly rated teachers. If the school system meets a goal for 90 percent of its teacher force to be effective or highly effective by 2017, it will have to find an extra $38 million to fund the additional merit raises and bonuses according to ERS.
The costs of merit pay were initially funded by private donations, but now have been absorbed by the school system — a shift that community activists argue has stretched school budgets and resulted in large class sizes, especially at the high school level.
Many of the ERS proposals and conclusions are likely to generate debate, including its analysis of the District’s spending on under-enrolled schools.
The ERS analysis suggests that small schools (those smaller than 350 students) are far more expensive for DCPS to operate than larger schools (those larger than 550) — to the tune of $1,400 more per student in elementary school and $2,300 more per student in K-8 schools.
That contradicts a recent study by the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, which found that the city is spending little extra on small schools.
The two groups used different methodologies to arrive at their different conclusions. DCFPI analyzed only general education spending funded by local dollars, leaving out special-education spending and other federal programs because those depend on student populations that vary widely from school to school.
ERS factored in special-education and other federal spending and concluded that those programs operate less efficiently in small schools than in large schools. ERS also factored in some costs that are normally reported as central-office costs but are actually spent at the school level, such as security and after-school coordinators. More details on ERS’s methodology are here.
Outside of dollars, ERS says that the District’s small schools prevent the kind of teacher teamwork and flexible student groups that schools need to improve.
“I credit ERS with challenging and expanding our thinking related to school consolidation,” Henderson said Wednesday.
Barras: Parents and D.C. public schools
The Washington Examiner
By Jonetta Rose Barras
January 24, 2013
D.C. Councilman David Catania is right: More parents should be pushed to get their children to school. It's hard to dispute the fact that a child who is not in the classroom can't receive any academic benefits. Still, his recently introduced legislative proposal, which would impose a series of sanctions -- from written warnings to jail time or a $100 fine -- on parents whose children have 10 or more unexcused absences, is no panacea for poor test scores and low graduation rates. In fact, his approach appears to ignore the reality of life in some low-income communities where truancy is highest.
Often students from those areas live in single-parent homes, where burdens are enormous. I grew up in such a household.
From junior high through high school, I was a latch-key kid. My mother refused to accept a government check and simultaneously held multiple jobs. Sometimes she left for work before my brother and I even woke up. We were given strict instructions about what to eat, what to wear and how to spend our lunch money. On many days, my brother didn't make it to school -- if he did, he didn't stay. Sadly, he led a troubled life and died young.
The District is filled with mothers similarly trying to ensure their children have better lives, including not repeating the poor choices of their parents. Sometimes their best efforts aren't good enough.
Instead of jail time, shouldn't the District push more aggressively for creation and preservation of two-parent homes? Should DCPS provide more tangible assistance to families of truant children? Equally important, what is the government's responsibility to offering exciting and inspiring educational environments?
Unquestionably truancy is a problem in the District, but it's only one reason for low student performance in many of the city's traditional public schools. After all, a child who is not at school doesn't take a standardized test.
Thousands of students checked present everyday still aren't proficient in reading and mathematics. Don't even consider achievement levels in science.
Part of the problem in DCPS was laid bare earlier this week as Chancellor Kaya Henderson presented to the legislature -- for the second time -- her plan to close 15 schools over the next two years. Not unlike the first time, she could not tell council members -- and residents who sat through a three-hour committee briefing -- what new or improved academic programs would be offered at schools that would receive students from those shuttered facilities.
Generally speaking, Henderson said arts, music and physical education instruction would be provided to every student. She said there would be world language programs in elementary schools. She also said there would be 21st century libraries.
That all sounds good -- just as it did in 2008. Then-Chancellor Michelle Rhee made similar promises when 23 facilities were shuttered; Henderson was her deputy. The council failed to keep track sufficiently of the details of those closings and particulars of education reform.
"We have been missing in action for six years," said Catania.
Time will tell whether anything has changed -- including whether Henderson delivers on her promises.
Chancellor trims list for upcoming closures
The Current Newspapers
By Deirdre Bannon
January 23, 2014
Garrison Elementary School and Francis-Stevens Education Campus will remain open after all, following a reversal by D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson.
After presenting plans in November to close 20 under-enrolled D.C. Public Schools campuses, Henderson last week dropped the number to 15. School officials determined that Garrison was likely to see future growth and that Francis Stevens’ underused capacity could accommodate overflow from the School Without Walls. Henderson described her consolidation plan as an effort to better manage resources by shuttering under-enrolled and in some cases aging facilities. Those savings would instead go toward implementing stronger programming in the remaining public schools.
In Northwest, though Garrison and Francis-Stevens will remain open, both will be required to make some changes to help boost enrollment. And in what some perceived as a surprising move, Ward 4’s MacFarland Middle School — which Henderson first proposed consolidating with nearby Roosevelt High School — will now send its students to various Ward 4 pre-K-to eighth-grade campuses, with special needs students slated to attend the Takoma Education Campus.
Other affected Northwest schools include Shaw Middle School, which will still be consolidated with Cardozo High School to create a sixth-to-12th-grade campus. The Choice Academy public charter school in Northeast was also slated to move to Cardozo, but it will now relocate to the Emery Education Campus in Northeast. Sharpe Health School, a citywide special-needs campus located in Ward 4, is still slated to relocate in August 2014 to the former River Terrace Elementary School in Ward 7, along with the Mamie D. Lee School, which also serves special needs students in Ward 5.
“I went into this knowing that school consolidations are treacherous territory,” the chancellor told reporters at a briefing last Thursday. “I hope the community sees what they said [to us] reflected in this final plan. … I believe that it’s the next step in creating a set of schools across the city that are able to deliver a high-quality education.”
In Logan Circle, community members and elected officials had rallied to save Garrison, which had made strides in recent years — increasing enrollment, hiring new
faculty and strengthening its PTA.
New population estimates for Ward 2 suggested that the school might grow faster than originally forecast, which played a significant role in Henderson’s decision to keep it open. Under the new plan, Garrison will add early education and special education classrooms to boost enrollment — elements the school’s PTA suggested to Henderson.
“It’s a huge relief that we’re staying open,” said Garrison PTA president Ann McLeod in an interview. “But the hard work begins now. We made a lot of commitments to DCPS, and now we need to prove to them that they made the right decision.”
Garrison’s PTA members and other stakeholders will now refocus their efforts on recruiting new students for the school at 1200 S St. However, McLeod said, community members could use more specifics from the chancellor on the school’s future programming to help convince prospective parents to choose Garrison in the school lottery, which starts this month.
Stakeholders will also redouble their efforts to fully modernize the elementary school, which was built in 1964 but hasn’t been significantly renovated since. A PTA survey
showed that the aging facility was a major barrier for parents when deciding whether or not to enroll their children at Garrison.
At Francis-Stevens, details are still fuzzy, but the chancellor’s plans call for the pre-K-to-eighth-grade school to be “merged” with School Without Walls, a magnet high school in Foggy Bottom. Under the proposal, Walls will shift its ninth-grade classrooms to the Francis-Stevens site at 2425 N St. The move not only allows Francis-Stevens to stay open, but also gives more space to the overpopulated Walls.
The joined campus would have one principal, according to Henderson. While the pre-K to eighth grades would remain as an open-enrollment school, high school students at Walls would continue to be admitted through a competitive application process – which FrancisStevens students would have to go through in order to matriculate to the ninth grade there.
Members of the Francis-Stevens community are “thrilled” that the school is staying open, Tim Ryan, vice president of the school’s PTA, said in an interview. While the PTA was always amenable to sharing the campus with Walls, Ryan said the two school communities and D.C. Public Schools administrators have not yet communicated about how the new configuration would work.
But Ryan said he’s optimistic the schools can work out the details.
“I think in the long run, we’ll have the best school in the city because of where we’re starting from and because of the community support behind it,” he said. “It will
be better than what would have existed if we hadn’t gone through this process. It’s a win, period.”
But Terry Lynch, a Walls parent, said teacher and parent organizations at the school oppose expanding the ninth grade to Francis-Stevens.
“It would isolate teachers from their colleagues and students from other clubs and activities at the school,” Lynch said in an interview. “It would be different if they were
near each other, but the two schools are more than a mile apart.”
When Walls’ theater and arts classes were located at FrancisStevens two years ago, Lynch said, faculty members felt cut off. He said there are no models showing that a bifurcated campus is in the best interest of students.
Elsewhere in the District, Ward 8’s Johnson Middle School and Malcolm X Elementary School will remain open. The latter is reported to be partnering with nearby Achievement Preparatory Academy Public Charter School, although the chancellor declined to confirm that. Smothers Elementary School in Ward 7 will also remain open.
Still slated for closure are Ward 5’s Marshall Elementary, Spingarn High School and STAY programs; Ward 6’s Prospect Learning Center; Ward 7’s Davis and Kenilworth elementary schools, Winston Education Campus and Ron Brown Middle School; and Ward 8’s Ferebee-Hope and M.C. Terrell/McGogney elementary schools.
In February, “transition committees” will be assigned to each school slated for closure as well as the receiving schools in order to address concerns and begin the planning process.
The Washington Teacher’s Union released a statement saying it would work to minimize the impact of school closures on teachers, students and schools.
But another local group, Empower DC, announced Friday that it would pursue litigation to block the planned school closures, saying that the plan denies some students equal access to quality education and targets students of color in lower-income neighborhoods.
Also ahead this year for D.C. Public Schools is a proposal for future changes to school boundaries and feeder patterns, an issue some say could be more contentious than school closings and consolidations.
Henderson outlines boundary change process
The Washington Post
By Emma Brown
January 24, 2013
A citywide task force will lead the effort to determine new school boundaries and feeder patterns in the District, Chancellor Kaya Henderson said Wednesday.
DCPS will convene the task force next month, Henderson told the D.C. Council’s Education Committee in a hearing Wednesday. The task force will gather input from parents and community members before making final recommendations in June.
The changes would go into effect in the 2014-15 school year.
Boundary changes are likely to be even more politically difficult and explosive than Henderson’s controversial plan to close 15 city schools. The prospect of being shut out of desirable schools, especially those west of Rock Creek Park in the Wilson High School feeder pattern, is already triggering angst among parents.
Henderson floated the possibility Wednesday of eliminating boundaries and feeder patterns at the high school level. That would essentially do away with assigned neighborhood high schools, many of which are severely under-enrolled, and replace them with magnet and theme-based schools.
Giving students the chance to choose a high school based upon their interests might draw teens back into the school system from charters — especially if DCPS provides transportation to and from school, Henderson said.
How and whether that would work will be part of public conversation in the coming months.