- D.C. Council Passes Stack of Education Bills That Start Small But Aim High
- D.C. Council Approves Huge Education Overhaul
- Cheh Proposes School Boundary Studies for D.C.
The Washington Post
By Bill Turque
March 20, 2012
The D.C. Council approved a package of education reforms on Tuesday intended to bolster the school system on some of its most challenging fronts, including more help for at-risk students and getting more high-schoolers to take college entrance exams.
Portions of the “Raising Expectations for Education Outcomes Act of 2012,” sponsored by D.C. Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown, address problems that DCPS and Mayor Vincent C. Gray are already working on. Three of the five provisions are small pilot programs unlikely to make a big impact anytime soon. Funds for the projected $2.7 million pricetag will have to be identified.
But no one questioned the worthiness of the goals the bill sets.
“This is not just a bill about aspiration or expectations,” said Council member Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3). “Beyond aspiration this is also a bill that provides support. We have to give our students the resources and possibility and dream that they will succeed.”
The provisions:
--An early warning and support pilot program to track how students in grades four through nine are progressing toward high school and college. The measure would identify those at risk of dropping out and give them more individual help. It requires the mayor to devise a plan to take the program citywide in three years.
--A requirement that the mayor establish a plan that ensures all high school students take the SAT or ACT and apply to a college or other post-secondary institution before graduating. Brown had originally pitched this as a graduation requirement. But DCPS pushed back on the idea of new graduation requirements and the exam and admissions fees students might face. The DC Public Charter School Board saw it as a drag on its autonomy.
--A series of financial incentives to get highly effective teachers--as identified by the IMPACT evaluation system--to work at high-need schools. The inducements include a $10,000 “transfer bonus,” housing assistance and possible income tax credits. The effort would involve no more than 20 teachers at first and would not begin until the 2013-14 school year.
--A pilot establishing five “community schools” similar to J.C. Nalle Elementary in Southeast. This measure, sponsored by Council member Michael A. Brown (I-At Large), would turn the schools into centers for health services, job training, adult education and other social programs.
The bill was amended Tuesday to add a fifth provision, an early childhood measure sponsored by Council member Vincent Orange (D-At Large). It requires Chancellor Kaya Henderson to ensure that 3- and 4-year-olds are ready for kindergarten and that students entering fourth grade be able to read and do basic math.
The Washington Examiner
By Lisa Gartner
March 20, 2012
D.C. students would be required to apply to college or trade school and take the SAT or ACT under the most sweeping education legislation passed by the D.C. Council since a 2007 law set the stage for former Chancellor Michelle Rhee's aggressive reforms.
Under the Raising the Expectations for Education Outcomes Omnibus Act of 2012, the District is set to become the first "state" in the nation to require students to apply to a postsecondary institution, according to council staff.
Top teachers would be given $10,000 annual bonuses to relocate to poor, struggling schools; several campuses would be turned into community hubs; and the District would amp up efforts to identify and provide interventions for at-risk students as early as elementary school.
Sharpen your #2 pencils
The following states require or have plans to require all 11th graders to take the ACT or SAT:
State Required test
Alabama- ACT - starting 2013-14 school year
Colorado- ACT
Delaware- SAT - at least for duration of 4-year contract that continues through 2013-14 school year
Idaho- ACT, SAT, COMPASS or ACCUPLACER
Illinois- ACT
Kentucky- ACT
Maine- SAT
Michigan- ACT
North Carolina- ACT
North Dakota- ACT or WorkKeys
Tennessee- ACT
Wyoming- ACT or WorkKeys
Source: D.C. Council
"This is a historic moment," said Council Chairman Kwame Brown, who introduced most of the bill's components. "It probably won't be felt for another two or three years, but we'll look back on this moment."
The council voted 10-1, with At-large Councilman Phil Mendelson dissenting and Ward 6 Councilman Tommy Wells abstaining. Mayor Vincent Gray is expected to sign it into law.
D.C. Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi told Brown in a March 5 memo that the city doesn't have enough money to fully fund the measure, which would cost about $2.8 million through fiscal 2015. Brown has committed to finding outside funding, but had not identified any sources when the bill passed Tuesday.
The measure combines several bills introduced this session: One ensures that children enter kindergarten prepared and can read independently and compute before being promoted to the fourth grade; another requires school officials to track data as early as elementary school on students who are at risk of dropping out and provide interventions as they transition to middle and high school.
The bill also creates five "community schools" providing tutoring and medical services to students and adult-education classes during evenings, weekends and summer vacation.
Critics of the bill have said the college exam and application requirement fails to address testing fees and college affordability.
Scott Pearson, executive director of the D.C. Public Charter School Board, testified last month that the idea was "overreaching" and that Brown did not have the support of the charter community, which enrolls 40 percent of D.C. public-school students. A spokeswoman said Pearson was unavailable Tuesday.
Wells said he agrees with the measure's goals, "but I don't believe that the city council should be taking on the role of the school board."
"I think that it's too possible to politicize school policy, and so in general, I believe there should be a very bright line," added the former D.C. State Board of Education representative.
Ward 8 Councilman Marion Barry called the bill "landmark" and "trailblazing."
"The problem we have is so massive," he said. "It is so massive."
The Washington Examiner
By Lisa Gartner
March 20, 2012
D.C. Councilwoman Mary Cheh introduced legislation Tuesday that would require the city to study public school boundaries, which haven't been touched in decades.
The School Boundary Review Act, co-sponsored by Council Chairman Kwame Brown, would establish a commission to examine the boundaries and feeder-school patterns every 10 years. It provides protections for students already enrolled in school from being re-zoned to another, and grandfathers in students' siblings.
Uneven enrollment is well-documented in the city and follows school performance and community wealth. In Cheh's Ward 3, virtually every school is over-capacity; Alice Deal Middle School is expected to soon serve 1,200 students in a building intended for 900.
Meanwhile, most Ward 7 schools are at 60-percent capacity or less, and half of Ward 8 schools have similarly low enrollment. Many enroll in charter schools or use the out-of-boundary lottery to attend better schools. But as Deal and Woodrow Wilson Senior High School have become too crowded to accept students from the lottery, that option narrows.
New boundary lines would not address underlying causes, Cheh acknowledged. But she told The Washington Examiner that it's a short-term fix that her overflowing ward, and possibly other areas, needs.
"There are students [zoned for] Wilson who are a mile or two away from Eastern High School -- which has been completely modernized -- but six miles away from Wilson," Cheh said. "In other areas they have closings, schools too big for what they have, and another way to right-size the schools is to think about the boundary lines."
Cheh said she repeatedly has asked school officials to conduct boundary studies, but they have not -- either because it's so contentious or because the school system has been absorbed with so many reforms. "They say, 'Yeah sure, we're going to take a look at that,' and they don't do it."
The Examiner first reported that Cheh had proposed a new middle school for Ward 3, but she says it received a "chilly reception" from D.C. Public Schools officials, who deemed it "inappropriate" when other wards lacked any sufficient middle-school options.
A DCPS spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment.
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