top charter v. top dcps

[Anonymous]

hi folks:

i am wondering, and this is an honest question as i am fairly new to DC schools, if the top performing charter schools are considered to be equivalent to the top performing DCPS schools. i imagine that the top performing DCPS schools might have a bit more going for them in terms of funding/history/instiutional knowledge, but that is just a supposition. anybody have any insight into whether the "best" schools in both systems are comparable?

thanks in advance for the info.

[Anonymous]

How to you measure 'top'. It is all child / family dependent.
What are your values, in what environment does your child thrive.

Go visit schools - at all levels. Step back and try and see how your child would fit. Maybe try and look around and see a little girl or boy who reminds you of your child and see how they work within the classroom environment.

An example - KEY Academy is the highest performing middle school in the District of Columbia. My child would not do well in this environment - but for some children (obviously) it is fantastic!

[Anonymous]

DC has had charters for a lot longer than other places and we have a lot more of them. So some charters are more stable than DCPS, but the reverse is also true. ITA with pp that it's best to see schools for yourself.

[Anonymous]

It really depends on the schools. There are a handful of top DCPS schools. Most people who are inbounds for them choose to attend them. Lately even those schools are losing some students to charters, but only to fewer charters than you can count on one hand.

[Anonymous]

Charter School Parents are NOT worried about early year staffing cuts based on Rhee's mismanagement of DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Charter School Parents are NOT worried about early year staffing cuts based on Rhee's mismanagement of DCPS.

I agree that charter school parents are not worried about staffing cuts which affect DCPS. The rest is editorializing.

[Anonymous]

Boards can be used for editorializing.

[Anonymous]

Whether or not Michelle Rhee is managing or mismanaging DCPS was not substantiated by anything in the body of PP 08:32's post. It's just stone-throwing. It's also not particularly germane to the OP's question.

[Anonymous]

Charter schools are independent of the DCPS bureaucracy. That leads to not being subject ot Rhee staff cuts, union negotiations, waiting for text book deliveries, sending qualified candidates to downtown HR office and having their paperwork get lost. Four years ago, when I started my tours of potential DCPS / charter schools, an Eaton parent told me when I asked what was wrong with the school, my paraphrasing years later, "we're connected to DCPS downtown. Subject to their decision making. Almost everything wrong with the school happens beyond this building."

A very specific thing that charters can control is class size. Charters set a class size, enroll students via lottery until the established class size is reached, and stop admitting students. With DCPS schools, every inboundary student has a right to attend. That can lead to very large classes. I've heard of 27 in K with teacher and aide, 30 in 5th with only one teacher. The charters that I've toured, generally have class size limits of 20 or 25, and frequently have teacher + aide for that class. In DCPS, aides are only provided for preK and K, after that sometimes if hired directly by parents via PTA.

Another thing charters can do is establish behavior norms, and expell kids who don't meet the standards. Not easy to kick kids out, but possible. Not possible in DCPS schools.

Charters can decide how to spend budget, and frequently have more "specials." My K daughter now in charter has art 2x a week, PE 2x a week, vs. the former DCPS school once every other week. That is four times as much. Another charter I considered had art and music every day. . . . some DCPS schools do have more specials when the PTA hires teachers.

Charters can decide how much to teach to the test. My pre-DCCAS level son had DIBELS scores posted on a graph outside his room at DCPS school. Every classroom had scores posted outside of it, per Rhee's request.

The whole school went into "whisper in the halls" "no specials, alll extra teachers needed to procture exams" for 3 weeks of DC-Bas testing and 2 weeks of DC-CAS. DCPS schools must do that testing. Charters must do the DC-CAS, but can decide how much DC-BAS if any to do.

Ultimately, what matters most is the teacher in the classroom with your kids. Followed closely by how many kids are in that classroom, and what their behavior is like. If you live in boundary for Mann, Key, Janney, Murch, probably fine. If not, probably better off charter.

I'm done with DCPS, trying charter, next stop MoCo.

[Anonymous]

Thank you 21:33. I am the PP that pushed back on editorializing. You cleared the bar. Hat tip to you.