- D.C. charter school wait lists vary widely [Community Academy PCS, KIPP DC PCS, Two Rivers PCS, Capital City PCS, EL Haynes PCS, Mundo Verde PCS, and Creative Minds PCS mentioned]
- Long D.C. charter school student waiting lists point to structural problems [Washington Latin PCS mentioned]
- Jonetta Rose Barras: Curing the disease, not the symptoms
- Many teachers say they need training in Common Core standards, poll says
D.C. charter school wait lists vary widely [Community Academy PCS, KIPP DC PCS, Two Rivers PCS, Capital City PCS, EL Haynes PCS, Mundo Verde PCS, and Creative Minds PCS mentioned]
The Washington Post
By Emma Brown
May 6, 2013
Charter school waiting lists vary widely across the District, according to data released Monday by the D.C. Public Charter School Board that suggests demand tends to be greatest for early childhood programs and schools rated high-performing.
The highest-performing charter schools, ranked “Tier 1” by the charter board, together have the longest waitlists for admission next fall: nearly 14,000 combined names, including duplicates. In contrast, there are only 230 names on waiting lists for low-performing “Tier 3” schools.
“There is clearly a need for more high-quality education programs,” charter board spokeswoman Theola Labbé-DeBose wrote in an e-mail.
Some schools have built strong word-of-mouth reputations among parents despite being too new to be ranked by the charter board. Creative Minds International in Mount Pleasant, for example, is only in its first year of operations but has a waitlist next year of 868 students.
More than two dozen schools, meanwhile, still have empty seats and are seeking more students.
The Amos 3 campus of Community Academy Public Charter School has the most available space with 208 empty seats. It is ranked on the low end of Tier 2. Other schools with empty seats include brand-new schools that have yet to establish a reputation among parents, such as the Hebrew-immersion school Sela, and new campuses of established charter networks, including KIPP DC’s new location at the renovated Webb Elementary School in Ward 5.
Citywide, there are about 1,400 open seats.
This is the second year that the charter board has released waitlist numbers by school and by grade level. The data was collected between April 19 and May 3.
“We want to give parents not only information about where there are available slots but also the number of waitlists in each grade at each school, so that parents can make their own estimate of how likely or unlikely it might be to gain entry in the school were they to submit an application now,” Labbé-DeBose wrote.
Charter schools are open to students across the city, with lotteries conducted when demand exceeds space. The intense competition for the most sought-after schools has fueled debate about giving admissions preference to children who live nearby, but many charter advocates argue that would limit access for children from poor neighborhoods.
Altogether D.C. charter schools carry waitlists of more than 22,000 names, but it is not clear how many individual children that represents because the number includes duplicates. Families can apply to an unlimited number of charters, and many parents keep their children on more than one waiting list over the summer and into the fall.
Parents of the youngest children face some of the most intense competition: More than 12,000 names — again, including duplicates — appear on waitlists for kindergarten and public preschool for three- and four-year-olds.
The shortest waitlist for a charter school is one student at the Riverside campus of Appleseed, an early childhood education school. The longest is 1,776 students at Two Rivers, a pre-kindergarten-8th grade expeditionary learning school.
For a complete list of school waitlists, click here. Here's a snapshot of campuses with the longest waitlists:
1. Two Rivers: 1,776 students
2. Capital City (Lower): 1,563 students
3. EL Haynes (Elementary campus): 1,442 students
4. Mundo Verde Bilingual: 1,226 students
5. Creative Minds: 868 students
Long D.C. charter school student waiting lists point to structural problems [Washington Latin PCS mentioned]
The Examiner
By Mark Lerner
May 7, 2013
I've now read about three of the annual articles pointing out the long waiting list of students desiring to attend many of the charter schools in the nation's capital. At Washington Latin PCS the number is well over one thousand. So the obvious question is why is there not an adequate supply to meet the demand?
There are many reasons. For a high performing school replication is far from a simple process. As discussed here facilities are still exceedingly difficult to obtain. Obtaining funding is a long and tedious process that many don't have the stomach for after facing all of the other constant challenges of running a school. Recruiting and developing a quality staff is another factor limiting the ability to grow. In addition, expansion has a way of diverting attention away from a singular concentration on the academic program. Finally, due to funding restraints, the majority do not have the administrative capacity to pull off such a move.
The Public Charter School Board has played a role in a scarcity of good seats. The emphasis on being a Tier 1 school leaves many charters reluctant to take any steps which will lower its status. I've interviewed many leaders from some of the best charters in town. When I bring up the issue of another site they look at me as if I had just uttered a bad four letter word. Since a change in a school's grade can have a direct negative impact on the number of kids signing up, and therefore on revenue, there is an extremely strong disincentive to mess with the status quo.
I think this is where the PCSB could help. The role of this body is to regulate and promote charters. It is past time that the Board explored ways to improve access to facilities and financing. Our movement went through the quantity phase, has been living in the quality phase, and now should transition to a focus on replication.
Of course, charter schools cannot be forced to take on new students. For a good number being a small school is part of their mission. However, if the right environmental conditions are present schools may decide to take the plunge to add new campuses. For many parents in this city there is no time to lose.
The Washington Examiner
By Jonetta Rose Barras
May 6, 2013
That rumbling sound coming from the John A. Wilson Building is D.C. Council members tussling over recommended changes to Mayor Vincent Gray's $12 billion 2014 budget. Committees have begun reducing expenditures or searching for additional funds to address select programs or satisfy demands of special-interest groups that could make their lives miserable during the upcoming election season.
In other words, the process doesn't simply involve assessing the cost-effectiveness of policies and programs. Politics plays a role.
Gray's budget was presented under the theme "Investing in tomorrow." But his plan lacked sufficient support for the one area that truly affects the city's future: public education.
"I came in thinking we had plenty of money," At-large Councilman David Grosso, a member of the Committee on Education and Libraries, told me last week during a wide-ranging interview. Now, after public hearings, he has decided more investment is needed. Further, echoing the sentiments of committee Chairman David Catania and many residents, Grosso said the mayor also should provide "more personal attention on this issue."
Some legislators have argued for more money to end poverty, address high unemployment, crime, drug addiction, homelessness and the ever-disintegrating family structure. Those issues are symptoms.
The District's disease is an unstable, failing public education system.
The city's myriad social and economic issues are the result of whole communities being poorly educated, left without critical skills to compete. Even now, many District children, including those attending charter schools, are receiving a mediocre education. Without radical change, they will enter that class of citizens unable to seize available opportunities during the city's continuing renaissance.
It will take Catania more time to improve the overall financial management of the city's public education system. Still, elected officials should declare an emergency, marshalling resources -- human and fiscal -- to dramatically improve schools.
Sure, sparkling facilities have been constructed. But the academic needs of the District's children, particularly those from low-income communities and low-performing schools, are far greater than chrome and glass.
Gray snatched critical revenues from DC Public Schools. The council should restore those funds. Among other things, that action would result in more than what DCPS Chancellor Kaya Henderson described as "exposure" to foreign languages and library "coverage."
A public education system, struggling with an average citywide reading proficiency rate below 50 percent, needs more than baby sitters for its libraries. Professionally trained, creative and engaged full-time librarians are required to help children develop an intimate relationship with books and a love of reading that could empower and propel their futures.
The Stabilization Fund advocated by Catania would minimize the negative effects of Gray's actions. Equally important, the legislature should support an "achievement gap" fund that could be tapped by charter or traditional schools to reduce the academic performance gulf between low-income students and others.
There are dozens of valuable government programs. But few have the long-term curative effect of public education. Legislators should double-down on their commitment, making reform of city schools their No. 1 public policy and financial priority.
The Washington Post
By Lyndsey Layton
May 3, 2013
PALO ALTO, Calif. — Most public school teachers feel unprepared to teach math and reading to the Common Core standards that are rolling out in 45 states and the District, according to a poll of 800 teachers released Friday by the American Federation of Teachers.
The new standards, written by a group of states and embraced by the Obama administration, set common goals for reading, writing and math skills that students should develop from kindergarten through high school graduation. Curriculum is left to the states. The standards emphasize critical thinking and problem solving and are supposed to encourage students to think deeply about fewer topics.
While a clear majority — 75 percent — of teachers surveyed by the union said they support the Common Core, less than one-third said their school districts have given them the training and resources to teach to the new standards.
Many states have begun implementing the standards. All participating states are expected to have them in place by 2014, when students will take new standardized tests based on the Common Core.
Two states — Kentucky and New York — have already tested students on the new standards. In New York, teachers, parents and students complained that the tests were poorly designed, covered material that had not been taught and frustrated children to the point of tears. Like many other states, New York intends to use the test results in decisions about student grade promotion, teacher job evaluations and school closings.
AFT President Randi Weingarten on Tuesday called for a moratorium on consequences for at least one year until teachers and students across the country are sufficiently steeped in the Common Core standards. Among the teachers polled, 83 percent supported the moratorium. The poll was conducted in March and included teachers from kindergarten through 12th grade.
Weingarten, a supporter of the Common Core, said sloppy implementation threatens to turn the new standards into another failed education reform. “The last thing we need is for teachers and the public to lose confidence in something that can actually transform teaching and learning,” she said. “We’ve got to get it right.”
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