NEWS
- Most D.C. student transfers in 2013-14 moved between city schools and other states
- Student enrollment in D.C. public schools remarkably stable throughout the year
Most D.C. student transfers in 2013-14 moved between city schools and other states
The Washington Post
About three quarters of the students who transferred in or out of public schools in the District during the 2013-2014 school year came from or went to another state, according to a new analysis of student mobility trends released by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education on Thursday.
The report, which look at trends over three different school years from September 2011 to Spring 2014, also showed that traditional public schools were disproportionately affected by mid-year transfers. Between 1,650 and 1,875 students entered traditional D.C. Public Schools from out of state each year, compared with between 110 and 289 students who entered charter schools in the District. And while between 540 and 620 students transferred from charter schools to traditional schools mid-year, only between 32 and 49 traditional school students moved from traditional schools into charter schools between October and June.
Students who left traditional D.C. Public Schools during the year were much more likely to leave the state than those who left charter schools. In 2013-2014, for example, 95 percent of all students who left traditional schools left the city’s public schools altogether, while just 60 percent of those who left charter schools left the city’s public schools completely.
Source: The Office of the State Superintendent of Education
Student mobility, particularly within the school year, is a concern for school districts because it’s associated with lower academic performance and an increased risk of dropping out of school. Mid-year entries and exits create disruptions to school culture, routines, and classrooms. Some schools are affected much more than others.
The churn is particularly acute in the city’s comprehensive high schools, where rosters grew by as much as 30 percent, according to an analysis by the Washington Post.
The city released another report on student mobility in 2013 that showed significant mid-year turnover. This report builds on that work with three years of data and a look at systems being used in other states to track how much students are coming and going. The Colorado Department of Education, for example, measures and reports a “student stability rate,” which includes the enrolled students who remain in a school in a given year.
About 91 or 92 percent of students in regular traditional or charter schools remained in the same school throughout each of the years studied in the District’s analysis. When all schools were taken into account, including alternative and adult education programs, the portion of students who stayed at one school dropped to between 86 and 89 percent.
The report said it hopes to inform policy makers to make changes that will encourage more stability in schools. It also suggested further research, including learning more about where students go when they leave the D.C. schools, by sharing data with neighboring states. Currently, it’s often unclear whether those students re-enroll in another public or private school in another state or country or drop out completely.
Source: The Office of the State Superintendent of Education
Student enrollment in D.C. public schools remarkably stable throughout the year
The Examiner
By Mark Lerner
July 24, 2015
Right around the July 4th holiday many of us were jolted by an article by the Washington Post’s Michael Allison Chandler describing significant churn in student enrollment in our public schools, particularly for DCPS. She wrote:
“More than 10,000 students transferred into or out of the District’s public schools during the 2013-2014 school year, a massive ebb and flow that experts say is linked to lower achievement and faltering graduation rates.”
However, a follow-up report issued yesterday by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education painted a much different picture, one that is not nearly so dire. Among the findings:
- Between October and June of each school year analyzed, more than 90 percent of students in the District started and ended the school year at the same school.
- Of the students who moved schools during the 2013-14 school year, 75 percent were due to entry into or exit from the District, rather than movement within or between DCPS and public charter schools.
- The District lost more students than it gained during the course of the 2013-14 school year, but the rate of loss narrowed from prior years. The number of students exiting the state is similar in both sectors, whether exiting DCPS or public charter schools.
For an area such as Washington, D.C., which is highly transient, these statistics are truly remarkable. Here are some more striking observations: For the 2013 to 2014 school year the traditional schools gained only 890 net students (1.9%) while charter schools saw a net 1,330 kids leave the sector (-4.1%). Moreover, in the same term only 49 kids moved from DCPS to charters (0.1%) while 620 children went from attending a charter to enrolling in a DCPS facility (1.9%).
In other words it appears another myth has bit the dust. Students are not leaving charters in droves to enter the regular schools midyear. In fact, the entire ecosystem is remarkably stable. With this environment just imagine the academic achievement we can obtain once the funding equity issues between the two sectors is resolved and DCPS establishes the same high standards for its pupils that charters have adopted. The sky will truly become the limit for our children.
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