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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Looking at what's happening with pubic education in the city, it seems like DC is careening toward a three-tier system of education, where what you get depends on where you live and what resources are available to you.

Tier I -- DCPS schools that are almost exclusively in-boundary. A few lucky lottery winners each year get to caucus with the Tier-1'ers. Overcrowded, but well-resourced. Limited almost exclusively to Capitol Hill and west of Rock Creek.

Tier II -- Charters. Assigned by lottery. Quality varies markedly. Transportation is an issue for almost all families.

Tier III -- DCPS schools of last resort. For families who for whatever reason can't or don't go charter or OOB. Schools are under-enrolled and under-resourced. High concentration of special needs kids and at-risk kids.

Is this too bleak a prognostication? [b]It seems like DCPS is capitulating to charters a big chunk of the student population. The city is growing, the school-age population is growing, charters are adding thousands of seats, and DCPS isn't planning for growth at all.[/b] Is there an end-game in all of this?[/quote]

I think it's very different if you look on a micro level than just averages.
WOTP charters can't get a foot in the door.
EOTP DCPS tend to be getting more popular and growing.  Charters are growing there as well, but it's a more balanced split.
EOTR Charters are growing much larger and DCPS is shrinking with only a few neighborhood schools keeping up.[/quote]

+1 This is a much more accurate take than the OPs.[/quote]

Yes. DCPS is not capitulating -- every year, more DCPS schools are attracting high SES residents, showing higher scores, and increasing their in-bounds enrollment. I was just thinking how outdated JLKM is as a shorthand for "good school" -- there are so many (Ross, Eaton, Stoddert, and looking to the near future, Seaton, and on and on) that could now be on that list. 
[/quote]

DCPS' enrollment decreased this year, despite several WOTP schools accepting OOB students in late summer. https://osse.dc.gov/release/public-school-enrollment-district-columbia-increases-ninth-consecutive-year[/quote]

In SY 2010-2011, total public school enrollment was 74,986, with 45,630 in DCPS and 29,356 in charters.

This year, total public school enrollment is 91,598, with 48,169 in DCPS and 43,429 in charters. So over the past seven years, charters have added 14,073 students and DCPS has added 2,539.

However, in 2010 DCPS had about 2200 special ed kids in private placement. This year it has 708. So about 1500 of the students DCPS has added are simply the result of reducing private placements. If you take out private placements DCP has added about 1,000 students -- which is about what have been added to Deal and Wilson in the past 7 years. The entire rest of the system is flat. This is in a time when 17,500 kids have been added to public schools, a growth of 22%. The charter school population has grown by 48% in that same time period.

DCPS is not effectively competing for students. [/quote]

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