DC CAS popular schools summary
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Anonymous
Thank you! So it appears that comparing Oyster to other immersion charters, at least based on funding, is an apples to apples comparison after all. As a matter of fact, Oyster appears to be doing more with less (as far as DCPS funding goes) than its charter peers. However, Oyster does get a lot of additional funding from parents. So I guess if the principal were to get her way (when hell freezes) and the school moves to Petworth or some such neighborhood, we can expect the scores to sink according. |
Anonymous
+1 Oyster-Adams is the school our former school chancellor chose to send her kids which says it all. |
Anonymous
Missing a HUGE discrepancy. Facilities funding. Charters have less $ to spend per kid as that have to allocate funds to facilities. Also Oyster is a lot more established. What's the friggin point about comparing anyway? It's not like Oystr is accepting all students. LAMB is bilingual and Montessori and their scores are nothing to look down at. |
Anonymous
This # does not appear to include facilities funding. |
Anonymous
No it does not and only Yu Ying and Stokes have permanent locations. LAMB has moved nearly every yr or every other year. MV will be moving to a permanent location in NoMa next yr. DC bilingual has a budget deficit of 600k and pays rent: their landlord is trying to make them move but they are resisting due to lack of alternatives. If a charter wants to buy a facility, they have to arrange their own financing. The financial disparity is most stark in facilities between DCPS and charters. A shame really considering charters educate 43% of DC kids and that number rises every year. Not that far off when charters educate the majority of kids in DC. |
Anonymous
That factsheet appears to only list key staff funding. Note the absence of all of the other things that Oyster Adams is provided via DCPS, such things like textbooks and materials, the building, utilities and other infrastructure (huge expenses). Charters have to provide and pay for all those things on their own. The cost shown in the factsheet is just a small percentage of the overall cost of Oyster Adams. |
Anonymous
It would indeed be a great exercise in transparency if DCPS shared, together with test scores, the total direct costs per pupil at each school. It would lead to many surprises. Didn't Ballou just got a $120 million new building, while it seems to be rock bottom in the performance list? |
Anonymous
| the money would be better spent on job training and rehab for some of the parents to break the cycle of generational poverty -- an expensive shiny new school filled with remediation teachers is not really the ideal |
Anonymous
Don't forget the 100 million spent on Dunbar's new campus. It's gorgeous! Too bad fewer than 1 in 5 students there are at grade level for reading and math in high school  Would anyone who has a choice send their kid to Dunbar no matter how gorgeous the facilities. Doubt it.
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Anonymous
Many of you are laboring under the wrong impression that Oyster is the recipient of endless DCPS cash. The school has to maintain two buildings with the funding it receives for only one building. The two teachers per class? Gone for most grades due to budget cuts. Oyster has to do a lot with a little, just like many other urban schools. Although there is always room for improvement, Oyster does a fantastic job, and that should be applauded. I'm not trying to dump on charters, but many of you never miss an opportunity to denigrate DCPS when it's in the charters' favor. Oyster is a shining example of a DCPS success, despite the many people who have tried to destroy it (both within and without) over the years. Just acknowledge its accomplishments without trying to explain it away with false statements (I.e., ...but it receives more funding...but it has complete control over admissions...but its been around longer and you know older means better...but, but, but). |
Anonymous
The question is...Why haven't they renovated Banneker? I would bet that if, and when they do, gentrifiers will flock there. You can't beat top scores AND shiney new in a neighborhood that-- by that time-- will have very different demographics. |
Anonymous
What is your point? Do you want to provide less opportunity for low SES smart AA kids to get a quality education? Banneker is not a neighborhood school; so neighborhood demographics has nothing to do with it. |
Anonymous
The point is that Oyster gets much more funding and has more resources than any of the immersion charters. Plus they are allowed to give preferences (for Spanish speakers) and are in-bounds in a high SES area. It's the only EoP equivalent to the JKLMM schools. Oyster has higher DC CAS scores than any of the immersion charters. So.... Oyster should have high scores considering all the advantages they have. |
Anonymous
No Oyster doesn't get much more funding (read the link above). It just produces better results with it's resources. Oyster has no control over the large influx of English speakers in k, which throws its balance off and makes it harder to teach the target language. Plus, Oyster isn't full immersion in PK and k like most charters. Btw, LAMB is notorious for providing an admissions preference for Spanish speakers--they just do it from the waitlist. And one more thing, Oyster is WoP, Adams is east--get your geography straight. |
Anonymous
My kid's immersion charter has received at least two grants from the Walton foundation. The school has also received funds from other outside sources. I don't know if Oyster is allowed to lobby and apply for outside grants from private foundations. So, don't be fooled that these charters are only limited to the funds received from the public budget. |