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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]to be clear, dc has a very very large number of charter schools that are not just basis and latin.  those schools and the system of school choice more generally arguably siphon off public education funds too.[/quote]

Neither the system nor the schools "siphon off" anything. Those schools can't get a dime if [u]parents in DC[/u] don't decide with free will and based on available information to send their kids there. That's the part you and others seem to be missing. 50k kids' parents have decided that a charter school is a better option for their kids. And yet the answer from people like you is not that DCPS needs to do a better job. Not that an absence of true AP or advanced classes is causing an issue. Not that a bloated Central that wastes money and resources needs to be truly overhauled. Not that DCPS decided in their infinite wisdom to renovate the HS buildings before the ES buildings. No, apparently the problem is that, faced with available information, parents are choosing charters. The subtext from people like you is that somehow 50k kids are getting fooled and that charters aren't a better choice. OK, stick with that and see where it gets you. Howl at the moon and blame the customer for making the "wrong choice" without bothering to look inward for even a moment.  [/quote]

It's both.

I live on the Hill and known plenty of parents who are IB for fantastic schools like Maury and L-T but still choose to send their kids to charters like Two Rivers for some reason. We also know parents who drive 40 minutes round trip every day to charters like Lee and CMI rather than send their kids to their IB DCPS like Watkins or JO Wilson, which are not as good as Maury or L-T but also not failing schools.

I think often UMC parents get enamored with charters when they are doing the PK lottery and convince themselves that charters are de facto better than their IB school before they really even know much about the schools. They are often persuaded by brand new facilities or certain programming that is targeted specifically at things UMC parents value but do not actually make these schools better. There is sometimes a glow of elitism on many charters because you can only attend by doing well in the lottery, and I think this skews many parents thinking.

I don't mean to dismiss the very real and valid reasons many families choose charters. These boards have gone into great detail to explain why many families EOTP adopt a "charters or bust" approach for MS and HS, and if you know anything about the EOTP MS/HS situation, you wouldn't judge them for it. There also are truly failing elementary schools in this city and charters give families at those schools a fighting chance. But again, that's why it's both. Charters offer a vital alternative to many families with terrible IB options. They also absolutely siphon off kids who would do well in DCPS schools and whose seat dollars and parental contributions/involvement would be a major benefit to DCPS schools.

Charters in DC are necessary and also likely make it harder to improve DCPS. It's a frustrating situation.[/quote]

You are wrong.  If there were no viable charters, families would move out of the city or go private, just like they did pre-charter establishment.

You also don’t seem to get that some DCPS schools might look maybe OK and not failing but they spend most of their time teaching to the test.  It’’s terrible and no way to learn.  [/quote]

I actually thought this poster was pretty even-handed.  [b]"Charter in DC are necessary and also likely make it harder to improve DCPS." pretty much spot-on[/b]. [/quote]

I'm just not sure that's true. It feels that way on a micro level, but overall the data suggests that charter competition has improved all scores. People argue that its just demographics that have shaped school improvment, but those demographics are directly related to how parents feel about schools. Even if all charters have done is to help retain UMC families, that's a big improvement for everyone.

Also, even WOTP schools were considered unappealing 20+ years ago. They have also improved and become more popular. [/quote]

No, JKLMM were well attended 20 years ago. Especially janney and lafayette. Tons of neighborhood buy in. Murch had some OOB opportunities. Mann had more IB kids at private than the others.

Actually janney and lafayette have been beloved, at capacity neighborhood schools since the 1990s.

Deal, not the case until Melissa Kim showed up.  The crash of 2008 really led the neighborhoods to reconsider public MS in light of the economy. The assumption of going private after JKLMM began to change significantly around this time. [/quote]

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