FOCUS and Public Charter Schools in the News: November and December

Friends of Choice in Urban Schools (FOCUS) is now the DC Charter School Alliance!

Please visit www.dccharters.org to learn about our new organization and to see the latest news and information related to DC charter schools.

The FOCUS DC website is online to see historic information, but is not actively updated.

Submitted by Anonymous on

New Year’s is coming up, which means it’s time to reflect on 2011 and look to what’s ahead.  To help, here’s a sample of recent articles, many directly mentioning FOCUS, that highlight issues like equitable funding, the achievement gap, charter accountability, and school enrollment in relation to the public charter school movement.

 

Treat D.C.’s charter school students fairly (The Washington Times, 12/13)

 

This is an op-ed by FOCUS Executive Director Robert Cane that was recently reposted to our blog.  In it, he explicates the obstacles facing public charter equity in spite of public charters outperforming traditional schools in several wards, notably Wards 7 and 8.  It’s an issue that the Public Education Finance Reform Commission (PEFRC) is set to make policy recommendations on next year.    

 

D.C. charter schools succeed with poor kids (The Examiner, 12/13)

 

Harry Jaffe of The Examiner writes about several public charter schools in proving that “charter schools are succeeding at the toughest place in public education: raising scores for poor children.”  He mentions the 2011 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) results to show that public charters are “the best way to level the playing field.”  

 

Academic Success (and Struggle) in D.C. (The Washington Post, 12/12)

 

The Washington Post’s take on DCPCSB’s new Performance Management Framework and the 2011 NAEP results mentions the significance of public charter successes in improving DC education. 

 

Does School Choice Improve Education? (The New York Times, 12/11)

 

In this selection, the differences between four letters to editor, written in response to Natalie Hopkinson’s December 5th New York Times op-ed “Why School Choice Fails,” reflect the debates, often featuring public charter misconceptions, surrounding public charter schools.  Robert Cane cites statistics to refute Hopkinson’s claim that “charters consistently perform worse than the traditional schools, yet they are rarely closed” in his contribution.

 

Enrollment climbs in D.C. public schools, preliminary count shows (The Examiner, 11/7)

 

The Examiner’s Lisa Gartner notes that “charter school growth is outpacing that of D.C. Public Schools, even as both make gains.”

 

Charter schools are ending the minority achievement gap (The Examiner, 11/3)

 

This Examiner editorial features our campaign to educate D.C. families on the benefits of public charter schools and finds that “here in D.C. and nationwide, it's public charter schools, not the traditional teachers-union-dominated public schools, that are breaking the failure mold, eliminating the minority achievement gap, and refusing to leave any more disadvantaged children behind.”