DC Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson has defended her plan to cut Wilson High School's budget by over 10% per student next year, citing a DC law that requires DCPS to redirect funds to at-risk students. But most of the cut isn't required by that law. DCPS plans to spend $8,300 on each student at Wilson, the lowest amount it has allocated to any school on a per-pupil basis for next year. Designed to accommodate 1550 students, Wilson will serve almost 1800 next year, according to DCPS … [Read more...]
What DC’s two most sought-after schools have in common
A recent post analyzed the waitlist numbers for DC's traditional public schools and charter schools. Jessica Wodatch, executive director and one of the founders of Two Rivers Public Charter School, sent this response. I agree with Natalie Wexler that "school waitlist data can tell us what families want." But Wexler didn't point out what the two schools with waiting lists of over 1,000 students, Two Rivers and Mundo Verde public charter schools, have in common: Both are Expeditionary Learning … [Read more...]
More families are waitlisted at neighborhood preschools
In some parts of DC, it's getting harder to snare a seat at your neighborhood preschool. The map below shows how the number of preschool applicants at many DC Public Schools has been increasing in recent years. DC residents are guaranteed a slot at their neighborhood DC Public School beginning in kindergarten, but only a few schools guarantee admission to preschool. All DCPS elementary schools offer preschool for four-year-olds, and most also offer it for three-year-olds. Eventually, … [Read more...]
School waitlist data can tell us what families want
Charter and traditional public schools with the longest waitlists for the coming school year are clustered west of the Anacostia River, with bilingual programs generally leading the pack. But there's also a marked difference in demand for some schools that have similar test scores. Earlier this month the District announced the results of the lottery that determines admission to many public schools, along with waitlists for each participating school. Families need to enter the lottery in order … [Read more...]
Struggling readers in DC’s high schools need help from professional tutors
This is a guest post by Paul Penniman, executive director of Resources for Inner City Children, a nonprofit organization that provides professional tutoring free of charge to students in high-needs high schools in DC. Many students in DC's high-poverty middle and high schools have reading skills far below their grade level, and they've become disengaged from school as a result. We can get them back on track if we're willing to invest in paid, professional tutors who will work with them … [Read more...]
Volunteer tutors aren’t the answer to DC’s reading crisis
Some observers are pinning their hopes on volunteer tutors as a low-cost way of narrowing the achievement gap between low-income students and their more affluent peers. But there are limits to what volunteer tutors can do. A leading nonprofit tutoring organization deploys minimally trained volunteers to teach reading comprehension as a set of skills. The problem is that to understand what they're reading, kids need background knowledge, not just skills. A study released last month … [Read more...]