More DCPS closing permanently?

[Anonymous]

A friend told me that they heard up to 13 more DCPS were closing. I assume it's none of the schools commonly mentioned on this board. What schools are they, & where will those students go? Will they be given entrance to some of the better schools, & will that affect inbound & out of bound applicants? Just curious....

[Anonymous]

If you're concerned about a specific school, check the NCLB AYP results and enrollment trends (hint, lottery = school stays open). Each school closing contingency is different, but kids aren't given automatic preference to get into "better schools". Oyster-Adams is case in point. Not sure where OP's question is really going. But even if 20 more schools were closed for this upcoming school year, the bigger enrollment issue facing DCPS is that many of those children would end up in charter schools like KIPP versus applying to lottery at Janney.

[Anonymous]

This shouldn't come as a surprise. There's now sufficient data to prove that charter schools are doing a better job than DCPS of educating poor and otherwise socioeconomically disadvantaged students. The proof is in the test scores and parents are voting with their feet.

What's more interesting now is that middle and upper middle class parents are starting to consider the newest charter offerings. Whereas the original charter schools were drawing from mostly lower income strata, now schools like Lafayette and Janney (and even a few elite private schools) are starting to lose students to select charters.

Considering that the president has expressed support (both vocally and financially) for charter schools in general and DC's charter schools in particular, you can expect this trend to continue.