Reply to DCPS Middle School problem in the Washington Post

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Reply to "DCPS Middle School problem in the Washington Post"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]One thing that I have not understood with the growth of charters is how DCPS could be so slow to respond.  DCPS has a huge disadvantage -- that they have to take all comers -- relative to the charters, but they also have a huge advantage that they tend not to use.  Although charters have to run a lottery only take the winners, DCPS is not so constrained.  They can select on other criteria.  Have test-in schools.  Create all the immersion schools they want and organize them in a way more oriented towards children with more support in that language or a mixture of different backgrounds.  In short, they have some means of cherry picking the best students, but do not use them.  Maybe that is a good thing.  But since the charters have soft means of doing so, it seems strange that DCPS does not at least try to combat that with better options of their own.[/quote]

Charter schools are most certainly not "cherry picking the best students".  Students of all kinds end up at charter schools in droves. Like almost half of the public school children in our city. That isn't cherry picking. That is something about DCPS driving them elsewhere[/quote]

On one hand you are right, the charters can't cherry pick the students. The lottery should keep everything equal. However, the fact remains that the parents who play the lottery are a self selecting bunch to begin with and obviously already feel invested in their kids education. Think about it.  Just to play lottery, its likely the parents have reviewed the test scores at their IB school and various other schools, visited multiple charters on tours or one on ones, spoken with teachers about what is the best fit for kid, signed up on line, tracked their number and results and are then willing to drive to god knows where in DC to get their kid to the preferred school.   By and large, just having those KINDS OF parents creates more driven kids who know education is serious business in their house.   That describes a lot of charter families regardless of race or income.  So then you do end up with 5th grades that 9 kids and I am betting those kids are some of the ones who are struggling the most.  The most involved and driven parents have bailed for Latin, basis or private.   In that sense, yes, charters are "selective" just not in an obvious way.[/quote]

Actually, some of the 5th graders who remain at Ross or Brent are the ones who will go private for 6th.  One more year of public education.  It is only those who need a slot at a public charter school who are compelled to leave after 4th[/quote]

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