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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Of course everyone should have a good school nearby. But if you remove the students, each DCPS elementary school is pretty similar in terms of teacher training and curriculum.

What varies are the kids. How stable are their home lives, how prepared are they to learn, what obstacles do they have to just get to school every day. Those factors matter at least as much as what is happening in the school building, and it isn't really fair to expect DCPS to address all of that. [/quote]

We're not talking about DCPS, this thread is about charters and DCPS. I have enough teacher friends in DCPS and charters to know that teacher training and curriculum are absolutely not the same across the board. DCPS all has common standards, but how it's implemented varies WIDELY across schools. Any DCPS that tells you "we don't have control, we have to follow the curriculum" is making an excuse. Plus charters have MUCH more flexibility in curriculum and that's a big part of the reason why (some) parents choose charters over in bounds. Plus the amount of continuing ed varies widely across schools. I want to know if a school says they use responsive classroom and positive discipline, just as an example, has every teacher been trained on those? If not, then those are just words and I bet your teacher with 20 years of experience is using the same approach they've been using for years and are comfortable with.

So no, the difference isn't just the kids. If my charter has 3 blocks a week for science and my DCPS has zero, that's a difference. If our charter has a policy for 100% continuing ed for it's teachers and DCPS doesn't, that's a difference. And BTW, we're at a charter with more at risk students than our in-bounds DCPS. [/quote]

I have to defend DCPS a bit, bc this comment is a little misleading. Our EOTP Title 1 DCPS has a full-time science teacher, and my K student goes several times a week. As for teacher training, please check the credentials of the teachers at your charter vs those as a DCPS --- all of our teachers have masters degreees, which is much more rare at most charters.[/quote]

PP here. That's fair, I have not done open houses at every DCPS. I'm glad to hear your school has a science teacher and science blocks. Not all DCPS (or charters) do. That is why I said you can't make the blanket statement that PP did, "if you remove the students, each DCPS elementary school is pretty similar in terms of teacher training and curriculum." The fact that your DCPS has science teachers and science blocks and the most recent open house I went to does not and said, "we have to follow DCPS curriculum" means that they are NOT pretty similar at all.

And I did not mean master's degrees, I meant continuing ed. I have questions I ask at every open house and when I hear: "our school uses restorative justice", but then says that there has been no continuing ed on restorative justice and there are old school behavior charts in the classroom, then what conclusions should be drawn? [/quote]

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