Charters Stating at 5th sucks. Can we change that already?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The charters would never change. The whole idea is that they are serving kids and families who are poorly served by DCPS. If DCPS would face reality and do what needs to be done, it wouldn't have such a problem with charters.

+1. DCPS needs to run its own race. Let the charters do their thing; DCPS can look at what is working in charters and try to emulate it. But trying to change rules to disadvantage the other sector is unlikely to work and an unnecessary diversion.

Are you saying DCPS middle schools should start at 5th grade?

I do not think that's a terrible idea. It would shift some kids from generally crowded elementaries to generally uncrowded middles, and would help middles have enough kids to offer more stuff. Of course, that just makes it harder for elemtary schools to offer big-kid activities to 3rd and 4th graders.

But really, the problem is lack of quality for grases 6-8. Moving grades from one building to another may help with physical crowding and would not necessarily be harmful, but it doesn't address the real problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The charters would never change. The whole idea is that they are serving kids and families who are poorly served by DCPS. If DCPS would face reality and do what needs to be done, it wouldn't have such a problem with charters.

+1. DCPS needs to run its own race. Let the charters do their thing; DCPS can look at what is working in charters and try to emulate it. But trying to change rules to disadvantage the other sector is unlikely to work and an unnecessary diversion.

Are you saying DCPS middle schools should start at 5th grade?

I'm the PP you were responding to.

i don't know if DCPS should start middle at 5th or 6th. There are still more than a dozen PK3-8 campuses. I think fixing those should come first.

DCPS has a clear advantage in terms of facilities and staffing and economies of scale. Every charter school is lacking something on that score. So DCPS would do well to keep doing what they are doing and focus on qualiyy.