DC's School Report Cards are up. Any surprises?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does DC even pay for the renovation of charter schools like BASIS? I don’t think so. This whole thread seems pointless.

Obviously not. And BASIS likely wouldn't renovate, they'd just move. Since charters are not required to be within certain geographic boundaries, they are much more likely to just look for a new facility and retrofit it, and sell the old one (if they even own it) rather than renovate in place, as DCPS schools are often required to do.

There are a bunch of weird posts in this thread including people who keep referring to "public v. charter" which is weird because charters are public schools, they just aren't run by the district.

I increasingly don't think people understand the charter system in DC. It's not even that hard, it takes 2-3 minutes to understand how it works.

Charters do sometimes renovate. ITDS spent several million last year on making its basement much more usable, even though it doesn't own the building-- it's a long-term lease from DCPS. Latin Cooper moved from a temporary space to a heavily renovated building recently too. But it's rare for a charter to move out, undertake a full gut reno, and move back in. Especially if it's a fully mature charter rather than a start-up with only a few of its planned grades currently enrolled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS should close every chronically underenrolled school, full stop. Baillou should have been closed, not renovated. Or, they should have merged another high school into Baillou. Renovating a school hoping more than 200 kids show up is a massive waste of money.

Nobody cares what you think because you can't even spell it right.

For those who don’t know, baillou has a 500 enrollment, of whom 94% are chronically truant. 200 students on a given day is not an exaggeration.

Ballou. Not Baillou. Ballou. Get it right before you start spewing your opinions.

Bulloo probably should have been closed and merged with Anacostia over a decade ago (enrollment <300).

It’s a fair question to ask why they’re spending hundreds of millions on schools that have less than 100 kids show up in a given day. That’s a misallocation of resources.

Now you are just being obnoxious.

Ballou stays open because DCPS provides a by right high school within a certain distance of every address in the city. Merging with Anacostia would not achieve that.

This. I know a lot of DCUM folks don’t know much about these neighborhoods or geography at all in the east side of the city, but these two high school boundaries cover a lot of area and are not that close to each other. Not to mention they way over did the ‘close that school’ thing 20 years ago ago so we are stuck with tons of converted condo buildings blocks away from overcrowded schools. School population has increased dramatically since the 90s and early 2000s, not intelligent long-term planning to close schools today that are the only public school in a neighborhood.

If you actually lake time to research the topic, you would see that the city is trying to bring different programs (CTE etc) to different schools, in hopes of getting kids options without making them travel across the city

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does DC even pay for the renovation of charter schools like BASIS? I don’t think so. This whole thread seems pointless.

Obviously not. And BASIS likely wouldn't renovate, they'd just move. Since charters are not required to be within certain geographic boundaries, they are much more likely to just look for a new facility and retrofit it, and sell the old one (if they even own it) rather than renovate in place, as DCPS schools are often required to do.

There are a bunch of weird posts in this thread including people who keep referring to "public v. charter" which is weird because charters are public schools, they just aren't run by the district.

I increasingly don't think people understand the charter system in DC. It's not even that hard, it takes 2-3 minutes to understand how it works.

Charters do sometimes renovate. ITDS spent several million last year on making its basement much more usable, even though it doesn't own the building-- it's a long-term lease from DCPS. Latin Cooper moved from a temporary space to a heavily renovated building recently too. But it's rare for a charter to move out, undertake a full gut reno, and move back in. Especially if it's a fully mature charter rather than a start-up with only a few of its planned grades currently enrolled.

ITDS also renovated the building before it moved in. Its building and location next to DPR sports fields is a huge plus for ITDS at this point. They are fortunate as few other schools have locations so well suited for a school. Bridges' location and building are excellent as well, though their academic standing has declined over the years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS should close every chronically underenrolled school, full stop. Baillou should have been closed, not renovated. Or, they should have merged another high school into Baillou. Renovating a school hoping more than 200 kids show up is a massive waste of money.

Nobody cares what you think because you can't even spell it right.

For those who don’t know, baillou has a 500 enrollment, of whom 94% are chronically truant. 200 students on a given day is not an exaggeration.

Public schools are not restaurants. You cannot close one because people aren't showing up. DCPS is required by law to provide a HS for kids in Ballou's boundary, whether they show up or not. You can't just eliminate seats because if truancy -- if those kids show up for school tomorrow, they need a place to sit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS should close every chronically underenrolled school, full stop. Baillou should have been closed, not renovated. Or, they should have merged another high school into Baillou. Renovating a school hoping more than 200 kids show up is a massive waste of money.

Nobody cares what you think because you can't even spell it right.

For those who don’t know, baillou has a 500 enrollment, of whom 94% are chronically truant. 200 students on a given day is not an exaggeration.

Public schools are not restaurants. You cannot close one because people aren't showing up. DCPS is required by law to provide a HS for kids in Ballou's boundary, whether they show up or not. You can't just eliminate seats because if truancy -- if those kids show up for school tomorrow, they need a place to sit.

Closing down underperforming/underenrolled schools and reassigning students is a normal function of school districts. Every student needs to be assigned a school, but it doesn't need to be their currently-zoned one. A lot of schools were closed in 2013 for this reason. But it's Anacostia HS that's below 30% of capacity and ~250 enrollment, if a high school were to get closed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS should close every chronically underenrolled school, full stop. Baillou should have been closed, not renovated. Or, they should have merged another high school into Baillou. Renovating a school hoping more than 200 kids show up is a massive waste of money.

Nobody cares what you think because you can't even spell it right.

For those who don’t know, baillou has a 500 enrollment, of whom 94% are chronically truant. 200 students on a given day is not an exaggeration.

Public schools are not restaurants. You cannot close one because people aren't showing up. DCPS is required by law to provide a HS for kids in Ballou's boundary, whether they show up or not. You can't just eliminate seats because if truancy -- if those kids show up for school tomorrow, they need a place to sit.

Closing down underperforming/underenrolled schools and reassigning students is a normal function of school districts. Every student needs to be assigned a school, but it doesn't need to be their currently-zoned one. A lot of schools were closed in 2013 for this reason. But it's Anacostia HS that's below 30% of capacity and ~250 enrollment, if a high school were to get closed.

The solution to this, btw, is busing but that proposal is DOA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A quick year over year comparison of percentile ranks shows there has been a lot of change. These are percentage points.

Achievement Prep +35.
Burroughs +33.
Burrville +20.
Chavez down 30.
Cleveland down 57.
CMI up 14.
DCB down 43.
DC Prep had a rough year.
Haynes elementary down 32.
Stokes EE down 24.
Excel down 20.
Friendship mixed.
Garfield up 51, wow.
Woodson up 38.
Hearst up 29.
Howard up 35.
JOW down 37.
Kelly Miller down 30.
Ketcham up 29.
Kimball up 42.
King down 40.
KIPP had a rough year
Langdon up 22.
Boone down 29.
Lee Brookland up 23.
MacFarland up 21.
Marie Reed down 34.
Bethune down a lot.
Meridian down a lot.
Mundo up a bit
Murch down 34!
Noyes up 31
Oyster up 30-34.
Paul Middle down 29
Payne down 21
Randle Highlands down 40
Rocketship improved but still quite bad
Seaton up 22
Sela up 41
Shepherd down 27
SSMA up 42 so out of the danger zone
Chisholm up 30
Social Justice up 71!
Stanton up 39
Statesman up a lot
Stuart-Hobson up 23
Truth up 18-26
Thomas up 57
TMA up 22
Truesdell down 23
Tr4 up 25, TRY El up 16, TR Middle down 12
Van Ness down 22
Wash Global down 18
WLA up 17
Yy down 14
Watkins up 45
Whittier down 37

How is DC Bilingual DOWN 40%? These numbers, up and down, all seem kind of fishy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A quick year over year comparison of percentile ranks shows there has been a lot of change. These are percentage points.

Achievement Prep +35.
Burroughs +33.
Burrville +20.
Chavez down 30.
Cleveland down 57.
CMI up 14.
DCB down 43.
DC Prep had a rough year.
Haynes elementary down 32.
Stokes EE down 24.
Excel down 20.
Friendship mixed.
Garfield up 51, wow.
Woodson up 38.
Hearst up 29.
Howard up 35.
JOW down 37.
Kelly Miller down 30.
Ketcham up 29.
Kimball up 42.
King down 40.
KIPP had a rough year
Langdon up 22.
Boone down 29.
Lee Brookland up 23.
MacFarland up 21.
Marie Reed down 34.
Bethune down a lot.
Meridian down a lot.
Mundo up a bit
Murch down 34!
Noyes up 31
Oyster up 30-34.
Paul Middle down 29
Payne down 21
Randle Highlands down 40
Rocketship improved but still quite bad
Seaton up 22
Sela up 41
Shepherd down 27
SSMA up 42 so out of the danger zone
Chisholm up 30
Social Justice up 71!
Stanton up 39
Statesman up a lot
Stuart-Hobson up 23
Truth up 18-26
Thomas up 57
TMA up 22
Truesdell down 23
Tr4 up 25, TRY El up 16, TR Middle down 12
Van Ness down 22
Wash Global down 18
WLA up 17
Yy down 14
Watkins up 45
Whittier down 37

How is DC Bilingual DOWN 40%? These numbers, up and down, all seem kind of fishy.

These numbers tend to hop around a lot, I wouldn't read too much into a one-year change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't like how even for educational achievement, there is no weight given to 4s vs 5s. There absolutely should be. Most UMC kids could score 4 irrespective of the school.

Also, at the lower end, 1 v 2 matters and also isn't distinguished.

5s are going to disappear when DC joins the multi-state test anyway, aren’t they?

Agree, they seem to put “approaching expectations” in with “exceeding” which falsely improves the overall ranking

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS should close every chronically underenrolled school, full stop. Baillou should have been closed, not renovated. Or, they should have merged another high school into Baillou. Renovating a school hoping more than 200 kids show up is a massive waste of money.

Nobody cares what you think because you can't even spell it right.

For those who don’t know, baillou has a 500 enrollment, of whom 94% are chronically truant. 200 students on a given day is not an exaggeration.

Public schools are not restaurants. You cannot close one because people aren't showing up. DCPS is required by law to provide a HS for kids in Ballou's boundary, whether they show up or not. You can't just eliminate seats because if truancy -- if those kids show up for school tomorrow, they need a place to sit.

Closing down underperforming/underenrolled schools and reassigning students is a normal function of school districts. Every student needs to be assigned a school, but it doesn't need to be their currently-zoned one. A lot of schools were closed in 2013 for this reason. But it's Anacostia HS that's below 30% of capacity and ~250 enrollment, if a high school were to get closed.

Back in mid 2000s, DCPS permanently closed over 30 schools.any were leased to charters, some consolidated (eg parkview and Bruce Monroe), some rebuilt.
The problem isn’t the buildings, so closing or rebuilding is always DCPS’ blind spot. The kids who can’t read at Ballou still won’t be any better if you put in JR? That’s a clientele performance issue. Not teacher and building.
DCPS thinks they can build their way out of low performance. Dunbar is like 60%capacity. Same for newish Brookland Middle school. Parents follow like minded parents and want a solid performing cohort.
The empty space at Dunbar might as well be leased to Basis, two schools in one building. No mixing of academics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS should close every chronically underenrolled school, full stop. Baillou should have been closed, not renovated. Or, they should have merged another high school into Baillou. Renovating a school hoping more than 200 kids show up is a massive waste of money.

Nobody cares what you think because you can't even spell it right.

For those who don’t know, baillou has a 500 enrollment, of whom 94% are chronically truant. 200 students on a given day is not an exaggeration.

Public schools are not restaurants. You cannot close one because people aren't showing up. DCPS is required by law to provide a HS for kids in Ballou's boundary, whether they show up or not. You can't just eliminate seats because if truancy -- if those kids show up for school tomorrow, they need a place to sit.

Closing down underperforming/underenrolled schools and reassigning students is a normal function of school districts. Every student needs to be assigned a school, but it doesn't need to be their currently-zoned one. A lot of schools were closed in 2013 for this reason. But it's Anacostia HS that's below 30% of capacity and ~250 enrollment, if a high school were to get closed.

Back in mid 2000s, DCPS permanently closed over 30 schools.any were leased to charters, some consolidated (eg parkview and Bruce Monroe), some rebuilt.
The problem isn’t the buildings, so closing or rebuilding is always DCPS’ blind spot. The kids who can’t read at Ballou still won’t be any better if you put in JR? That’s a clientele performance issue. Not teacher and building.
DCPS thinks they can build their way out of low performance. Dunbar is like 60%capacity. Same for newish Brookland Middle school. Parents follow like minded parents and want a solid performing cohort.
The empty space at Dunbar might as well be leased to Basis, two schools in one building. No mixing of academics.

I agree about student performance. But I think DCPS should look at school closures primarily as a way of saving money while disrupting as few families as possible.

[Anonymous]

This thread has taken a bit of a gross turn, Ballou does not need to close because you think a charter that would kick those kids out could use the facilities.

The solution is not to close by make these kids go to school and hold parents accountable. These kids were once in elementary school and were doing poorly then and missing plenty of school. It starts in PK and never ends.

Basis would be allowed to kick kids out for missing as much school as many low-performing kids miss in DCPS, yet there are no consequences for parents or older students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread has taken a bit of a gross turn, Ballou does not need to close because you think a charter that would kick those kids out could use the facilities.

The solution is not to close by make these kids go to school and hold parents accountable. These kids were once in elementary school and were doing poorly then and missing plenty of school. It starts in PK and never ends.

Basis would be allowed to kick kids out for missing as much school as many low-performing kids miss in DCPS, yet there are no consequences for parents or older students.

That's one person. But DCPS closing schools is more likely than DCPS enforcing attendance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS should close every chronically underenrolled school, full stop. Baillou should have been closed, not renovated. Or, they should have merged another high school into Baillou. Renovating a school hoping more than 200 kids show up is a massive waste of money.

Nobody cares what you think because you can't even spell it right.

For those who don’t know, baillou has a 500 enrollment, of whom 94% are chronically truant. 200 students on a given day is not an exaggeration.

Public schools are not restaurants. You cannot close one because people aren't showing up. DCPS is required by law to provide a HS for kids in Ballou's boundary, whether they show up or not. You can't just eliminate seats because if truancy -- if those kids show up for school tomorrow, they need a place to sit.

Closing down underperforming/underenrolled schools and reassigning students is a normal function of school districts. Every student needs to be assigned a school, but it doesn't need to be their currently-zoned one. A lot of schools were closed in 2013 for this reason. But it's Anacostia HS that's below 30% of capacity and ~250 enrollment, if a high school were to get closed.

The solution to this, btw, is busing but that proposal is DOA.

With traffic the way it already is please don’t suggest more buses on the road!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread has taken a bit of a gross turn, Ballou does not need to close because you think a charter that would kick those kids out could use the facilities.

The solution is not to close by make these kids go to school and hold parents accountable. These kids were once in elementary school and were doing poorly then and missing plenty of school. It starts in PK and never ends.

Basis would be allowed to kick kids out for missing as much school as many low-performing kids miss in DCPS, yet there are no consequences for parents or older students.

That's one person. But DCPS closing schools is more likely than DCPS enforcing attendance.

+1

DCPS doesn’t actually do anything about attendance. They will not hold families accountable.