Reply to Are charters keeping you in DC - or are they holding back your neighborhood DCPS?

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Reply to "Are charters keeping you in DC - or are they holding back your neighborhood DCPS?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I don't think the two alternatives presented by the OP present a fair picture of what's going on.

I think it's more accurate to say (for our family) that charters are keeping us in DC AND they are holding back our DCPS.

The charters are also (1) adding to the variety of academic programs that are available to us; (2) creating an incentive for DCPS to do better; and (3) illustrating for DCPS what parents want.  Considering all of the above, I think they are good for the system as a whole, even though they are holding back our in boundary DCPS elementary school.

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on 2) -- the overall results are largely comparable between DCPS and charters.  if charters are pushing DCPS to improve academically one would assume a larger differential on outcomes[/quote]

hmm.  I don't agree with that assumption.  There only needs to be a perceived difference in quality to motivate parents to switch, and as a parent I don't think a statistic showing overall results would be very persuasive.  I'm interested in what I think is best for my kids, and I thought the charter option was better than in boundary DCPS, so that's the decision I made.  I think DCPS is definitely pushed to improved by the fact that so many (including myself) are voting with their feet and enrolling their kids in charters.[/quote]

so evidence and data don't carry much weight.  got it.[/quote]

Correct.  Perception wins the day for the most part.  That's why marketing makes such a huge difference.  Not that there aren't differences, just not such a chasm as some partisans on here would have you think.[/quote]

there are genuine differences. pedagogy, discipline, etc. There isn't a gold standard for measuring quality.  scores are over-emphasized because that's the closest you'll get to a baseline measurement, but scores rarely provide a complete or definitive picture.

DCPS is doing a lot better attracting and retaining families than it did 5-10 years ago, but it depends on the level.  MS is a weak spot (Deal notwithstanding), but the HS landscape is superior for DCPS compared to charters (and graduation rates are better)
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Hah!  That is a flat out lie.  Charter school graduation rates are better, and it's quite stark at the HS level.[/quote]

DCPS 64% Charters 71%
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71% obviously better than 64%, and charters are improving faster as well - [b]and doing a better job with more challenging groups of students[/b].

Anyone who tried to yank those students out of their charters into neighborhood schools is a moron who can't do math.[/quote]

I'm the one who posted the data, but I have to dispute what I've bolded above.  When it comes to trying to graduate 19 & 20-year-olds that is all on DCPS, and that's a big part of what's dragging them down.  Charters have tough populations, but the hardest casts get pushed back to DCPS where they end up at Metropolitan or STAY (if they stay in school at all).
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