- Empower DC plans to sue over D.C. school closures
- New DCPS closure plan released
- D.C. schools' rate of expulsion raises questions
- Barras: Creating a permanent underclass in D.C.
- National public high school graduation rate at a four-decade high
- The Two Rivers Public Charter School Winter Expedition [Two Rivers PCS mentioned]
Empower DC plans to sue over D.C. school closures
The Washington Post
By Emma Brown
January 18, 2013
Grassroots community organization Empower DC plans to sue the District over Chancellor Kaya Henderson’s school-closure plan, saying that the closures disproportionately affect black students.
“The Constitution is colorblind. The proposed school closings are not,” lawyer Johnny Barnes, who will lead the litigation, said in a statement Friday. “Citizens who live in Anacostia are entitled by law to be treated the same as those who live on Albemarle.”
Henderson’s plan calls for closing 15 under-enrolled schools, all of them east of Rock Creek Park and many of them east of the Anacostia River. Those are areas where public charter schools have grown quickly — in some neighborhoods enrolling more than half of public school students, the chancellor said — and leaving DCPS with half-empty buildings.
“Ultimately we’re paying too much and offering too little,” Henderson told reporters Thursday morning. “There are too many schools, and too many small schools, to allow our students to get the full benefit of the resources that we have.”
Empower DC and other opponents of Henderson’s plan, including Council Member Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7), said many families have left DCPS in poor neighborhoods because the city failed to invest enough in improving those schools.
No suit has yet been filed. Empower DC organizer Daniel del Pielago said the group will describe its legal strategy in a press conference Wednesday at the John A. Wilson Building, shortly before the first meeting of the D.C. Council’s new education committee.
“Residents from every Ward have joined our campaign to stop the proposed school closures. We are ready for battle,” del Pielago said in a statement.
Barnes and Empower DC have led the legal effort to stop the city from building a tour-bus parking lot at the old Alexander Crummell School in Ivy City. In December, they succeeded in winning a preliminary injunction, temporarily blocking construction of that parking lot.
I’ve reached out to D.C. Public Schools for a response and will update this post if I receive one.
New DCPS closure plan released
The Examiner
By Jane Kreisman
January 19, 2013
On January 17, District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) Chancellor Kaya Henderson announced her new school consolidation and reorganization plan for 2013-2014, a modified version of her massively unpopular school closure plan from last year, the 'DCPS School Closings and the Displacement Equation, Feb, 2012.'
After considerable outcry from DC communities and an awesome display of solidarity from local neighborhoods, the embattled Chancellor relented on closing 5 of her 20 doomed historic city schools, but only for now.
The confusing and convoluted new 12-page school closure and consolidation plan will close 15 neighborhood schools, 13 at the end of the 2012-2013 school year and two at the end of the 2013-2014 school year.
Four schools saved for now from the Chancellor's chopping block are: Garrison Elementary School, Smothers Elementary School, Malcolm X Elementary School and Johnson Middle School. Frances-Stevens Elementary has been cited as a fifth 'saved' school, but that is deceiving.
Frances-Stevens will merge with the School Without Walls, as outlined in the first school closure plan, and the former Frances-Stevens pre-school and elementary school students, many of them in Special Education, will find themselves attending a school incorporating middle and high school students.
Washington Teachers Union (WTU) President, Nathan Saunders issued this reaction to the new plan on Friday:
'I have been fervently advocating for teachers, students and families who will ultimately be displaced. We will minimize the plan's impact, while stabilizing teachers, students and schools.
'Through a positive working relationship with DCPS, the Washington Teachers' Union (WTU) has influenced education stakeholders to ensure teachers with effective or higher evaluation ratings continue to have positions within the school system.
'As a result of attrition from retirement, licensure adjustments and resignations, we will protect our interests.
'WTU has also created new opportunities--such as the voluntary employee benefits association (VEBA) and the D.C. Teachers' Retirement Amendment Act of 2013--for teachers who may be excessed or affected by school consolidations.
'We are also on the cutting edge of new DCPS partnerships to ensure the viability of public education.
'In the coming weeks, I will be reaching out to affected teachers and support personnel. WTU will also assist in facilitating job fairs for teachers affected by DCPS school consolidation and reorganization. In the meanwhile, please contact me directly with your concerns at president@wtulocal6.net.'
Collin Hill, Garrison Elementary School's popular visionary principal tweeted Thursday:
'Garrison will stay open! The Garrison Community wants to thank the Chancellor for this opportunity!'
Jim Graham, Ward 1 City Council Member tweeted:
'Community Victory on Garrison Elementary School!'
Ann McCleod, President of the Garrison PTA tweeted about a chance encounter with DC Mayor, Vincent Gray:
'Just ran (into) @mayorvincegray at Five Guys! Thanked him for, had a great chat about our future, and will set up a time to talk more.'
Examiner congratulates the citizens of DC for rising up to save their beloved, historic neighborhood schools.
D.C. schools' rate of expulsion raises questions
The Washington Post
January 18, 2013
PUBLIC CHARTER schools in the District expel students at a higher rate than do the city’s traditional schools. Are the charters expelling too many, or the school system too few?
The answer is a bit of both; both the charter and traditional schools should examine their policies and practices. Also important is whether the District provides sufficient learning environments for students who struggle in conventional settings.
A recent report by The Post’s Emma Brown showed dramatic disparities between the number of students expelled by public charter schools and the public school system. According to The Post’s analysis of school data, charter schools, which enroll 41 percent of public school students, expelled 676 students in the past three years, compared to 24 for the public school system. The numbers don’t capture practices employed by the traditional system — including long-term suspensions, involuntary transfers or reassignment of out-of-boundary students to their home schools — that essentially result in separation of a student from a school. Also, there is wide variation among charters; a small percentage of charters account for most of the expulsions.
Nonetheless, the charters have a rate that is more than three times the national average; that’s a matter of concern. Scott Pearson, executive director of the D.C. Public Charter School Board, has rightly opened data about discipline to public examination and challenged schools, when their charters come up for review, to change practices. There’s already been an effect (Mr. Pearson reported a 25 to 30 percent drop this year), which argues against a move to put in place ironclad rules of discipline that would tie the hands of charter school officials. Such a move would, in any case, likely violate the federal law that established D.C. charters.
One reason charters have become so popular in the District is parents’ belief that the schools offer a safer and healthier learning environment, with higher expectations about behavior and more rigor in discipline. That raises the issue of whether the public school system needs more flexibility in handling disruptive students. The District’s rate of expulsions is lower than the national average; the fact that only three students were expelled from the system during the 2011-12 school year raises additional questions. Unlike expelled charter school students, who, by right, can enroll in the public school system, those who are expelled from public schools have few options.
The city needs better alternative schools, development of in-house intensive work and more medical residential settings to serve students who are unable to cope with a traditional setting. New Orleans is doing interesting work in this area; it’s something D.C. charters and traditional schools should collaborate on. It’s also time to eliminate the District’s outmoded method of determining school funding based on head count in the fall, which charter critics say provides little incentive to retain troublesome students throughout the year. Money for the education of a child should follow that child.
Barras: Creating a permanent underclass in D.C.
The Washington Examiner
By Jonetta Rose Barras
January 19, 2013
Education is supposed to be the great equalizer. That adage is losing currency as Mayor Vincent C. Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson announced the closing of 15 facilities over two years -- many in low-income communities.
That action and other questionable policies appear to be creating three separate and unequal systems of public education: quality traditional schools, charters and crummy institutions in low-income neighborhoods. The achievement gap between low-income students and other DCPS students illustrates the problem.
"The gap has widened, in some cases by as much as 50 percent," said education expert Mary Levy, who analyzed National Assessment of Educational Progress test scores from 2003 through 2012.
Levy found, for example, a 29 percent gap in reading scores of low-income fourth-graders and other DCPS students between 2007 and 2012. The gap for math was 74 percent.
"To see that happening is distressing," said Levy.
It isn't what reform advocates envisioned when they lent their support five years ago to mayoral control of the city's public education apparatus.
Education wastelands are developing in some low-income communities as more and more schools are closed. Together with the underfunding of its public university -- University of the District of Columbia -- the city is aiding the expansion of a permanent underclass, populated by the minimally educated and the functionally illiterate.
Melissa Salmanowitz said, "DCPS will reinvest funds from [closed] schools to improve programming and equity across the District. The goal is to use funds and resources in a more efficient and strategic way in our schools."
Councilman David Catania, chairman of the Committee on Education and Libraries, said he is concerned about the achievement gap: "Do we need to go to mandatory summer school? Do we need longer school days? I think yes."
He said parents should be encouraged to have higher expectations for themselves and their children. "There shouldn't be near universal support for a school that has a 36 percent proficiency rate [or lower] in reading," he said.
Catania has identified funding and instructional equity as a priority for his committee. "We are going to get to the bottom of the budget," which is $800 million for 2013. He said he will watch how much savings are generated from closings and where that money goes.
"The dollars have to be tied to academic achievement," he added.
The city should reconsider its current funding formula, said Levy. When Michelle Rhee became chancellor and Henderson became deputy chancellor, they decided to end DCPS' practice of using local funds to provide additional support for low-income students. Instead, the money was spent for "comprehensive staffing." Each school was supposed to receive sufficient staff to satisfy academic needs.
When Henderson released her initial proposal to close 20 schools last year, it was clear several institutions had more administrative staff than instructional staff. One reason she gave for the "consolidations" is that DCPS' budget couldn't support enhanced staffing and academic programs at those schools.
What happened? Sounds like it's time for a forensic audit.
National public high school graduation rate at a four-decade high
The Washington Post
By Lyndsey Layton
January 22, 2013
The percentage of students at public high schools who graduate on time has reached its highest level in nearly 40 years, according to the most recent federal government estimates released Tuesday.
Based on data collected from the states for the Class of 2010, the National Center for Education Statistics estimated that 78 percent of students across the country earned a diploma within four years of starting high school. The graduation rate was last at that level in 1974, officials said.
Students in Maryland and Virginia had higher graduation rates than the national average — 82.2 percent and 81.2 percent, respectively.
The District had a lower graduation rate than all but one state, with 59.9 percent of its students graduating on time. But it is not unusual for major cities to experience a higher dropout rate and lower graduation rate than states. One study found the graduation rate for the Class of 2005 in the nation’s 50 largest cities was 53 percent, compared with 71 percent in the suburbs.
High school graduation rates are one measure of school success, and educators and policymakers have been trying for decades to stem the number of U.S. students who drop out of high school.
Notable in 2010 was the rise in the percentage of Hispanic students who graduate on time, with a 10-point jump over the past five years, to 71.4 percent. Hispanics are the nation’s largest minority group, making up more than 50 million people, or about 16.5 percent of the U.S. population, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. One in four pupils at public elementary schools is Hispanic.
Mark Hugo Lopez, associate director of the Pew center, said the findings confirm trends his organization has been tracking. “We’ve seen a surge in the Hispanic high school completion rate,” he said.
He pointed to the nation’s soft economy as one reason more students are staying in school but added that there is probably a shift in demographics at play, too. As the number of Hispanic immigrants declines, more high school students are likely to have been born in the United States and value education, Lopez said.
Graduation rates improved for every race and ethnicity in 2010, but gaps among racial groups persist. Asian students had the highest graduation rate, with 93 percent of students finishing high school on time. White students followed with an 83 percent graduation rate, American Indians and Alaska Natives with 69.1 percent and African Americans with 66.1 percent.
Jack Buckley, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, agreed with Lopez that the weak economy is one reason for the improvement in graduation rates across the board.
“When the economy turns down or there are poor economic conditions, there’s a lack of available jobs for high school dropouts, fewer jobs that they can actually be qualified for,” Buckley told reporters last week. “Historically, there has been a correlation between the dropout rate going down when the economy is weaker.”
High school graduation rates have a significant effect on the economy, according to a study last year by America’s Promise Alliance, a foundation created by Colin L. Powell. On average, high school graduates earn $130,000 more over their lifetimes than peers who drop out of school, the study said.
In 2010, 38 states had higher graduation rates while rates for the other 12 were flat, the report said. Nevada had the lowest graduation rate, with 57.8 percent of students in the Class of 2010 graduating on time. Vermont had the highest rate, with 91.4 percent of students earning diplomas with their class.
For decades, high school graduation rates were routinely overstated in official statistics, with the Education Department putting the nation’s rate above 80 percent and some states reporting rates above 90 percent. States used dozens of different reporting methods, with some figuring into their rates those dropouts who later earned the equivalency certificate known as a General Educational Development diploma, or GED.
In 2005, the Education Department began publishing an official estimate of graduation rates, and all 50 states agreed to adopt a standard method of calculating those rates by 2013.
Across the country, a total of 514,238 public school students dropped out of high school in the 2009-10 school year. New Hampshire and Idaho had the lowest dropout rates, while Mississippi and Arizona had the highest.
The dropout rate — those who leave school between ninth and 12th grades and do not earn equivalency diplomas — was the lowest for Asian/Pacific Islander students at 1.9 percent and white students at 2.3 percent. American Indians/Alaska Natives had the highest dropout rate, at 6.7 percent. Black and Hispanic students dropped out at rates of 5.5 and 5 percent, respectively.
Boys dropped out of school in higher numbers than girls in every state. The national dropout rate was 3.8 percent for boys and 2.9 percent for girls.
Dropout rates do not combine with graduation rates to total 100 percent because they do not include students who take longer than four years to graduate or those who earn GED certificates.
The Two Rivers Public Charter School Winter Expedition [Two Rivers PCS mentioned]
The Examiner
By Mark Lerner
January 22, 2013
If you want to know how to develop a Performance Management Framework Tier 1 school, follow me to the 2012 Winter Expeditions of Two Rivers Public Charter School. Last Thursday evening I was fortunate enough to spend a couple of hours observing student presentations regarding research projects students and faculty worked on for the past several months. I was absolutely amazed.
I started with an eighth grade class that had studied the use of public spaces going back to the time of ancient Athens, who then applied what they had learned to vacant land in the NoMA section of Washington, D.C. When I entered the room students were reading stories from notebooks they had written based upon reading The Odyssey. The kids were positioned at various stations throughout the room. But these were not one or two page works. These young people had created tales that filled the amount of space you would typically find in a chapter of a serious adult book of fiction. They were uniformly poised, confident, articulate, and proud of what they were sharing with the tightly packed crowd of people. One pupil even read the story of another classmate.
Once this portion of the presentation was completed the visitors to the school came together to learn of a student-led proposal for turning a parcel of land into a public park. The team of pupils had carefully considered various uses for the property from adding basketball courts to playground equipment. During the question and answer period one of the participants explained extemporaneously the valuable role parks play in society. Now it was the audience’s chance to return to the stations to see how other teams had tackled the same assignment.
Then it was off to a sixth grade class that had looked at the food we eat and the way that it was farmed 300 years ago compared to today. It was here that I realized that these expedition presentations share a pattern. The visitors alternate in cycles between learning from groups of students to uniting to hear from the class as a whole. The use of panels of pupils situated at desks reminded me of the sophistication of the elegant dinner my wife and I attended last year celebrating 40 years of service by Carlos Rosario’s Sonia Gutierrez, in which dignitaries spoke at one main stage as well as other sub-stages positioned around the ballroom.
The issue upon which this expedition was focused was the notion that when individuals make food choices they are often unaware of the possible impact of their decisions on themselves or their community. The accompanying 12-page brochure explained the four different food chains: industrial, industrial organic, local sustainable, and hunter-gatherer. The booklet also suggested questions that participants could ask the students, and included inquiries about the audience’s selection of food based upon what was learned today.
It was at this point in the night that I became overwhelmed with emotion. During one period where we were all brought together the discussion was led by a young man and woman. These 11 or 12 years olds sat in front of the class with notes stacked neatly on their laps. They addressed the crowd, not by referring back to the typed pages, but by looking straight ahead at the participants as if to say “I have mastered the material I have studied and I know exactly what I am doing.” To me, it was as if this message referred simultaneously to their school work and their lives.