I'm not sure if our charter, LAMB, is doing anything that much better than other schools but we do have around 40 kids in a CARES type classroom for several weeks now, so that would be something that DCPS isn't able to pull off yet. I would agree in principle that the charters are more nimble, but the fact is they're also scrambling perhaps even more given the lack of major centralized administrative support. They just have to keep the ship sailing on their own. In general this is hard and even harder now. I think they're mostly grappling with a lot of chaos and trying their best, but everyone is stretched very thin. Centralized support of ANY kind must be better for times like this for the teachers, if not the students? Maybe?

I’d like to hear about schools which are doing things better. My child is at CMI and I was glad that they provided each kid with a tablet/device and families who needed one with an Internet hotspot. That said, the school dismissed the idea of any outdoor in person learning, and even told families they cannot use the playground, which I thought was pretty lame. They are not doing any in person education, not even for kids with special needs, and nothing like CARES classes. So, worse than DCPS in that respect, I believe.

I'm sorry that you're having a bad experience at your DCPS. But we've been pretty happy with ours (it's a Title I EOTP). So it may be that it's actually the school, not DCPS broadly, that you're unhappy with.

The current situation does play to charters’ strengths in that they can change gears more quickly

Ours certainly has

That said, this is not a normal situation

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If anything, I'm less satisfied with our HRCS now that I've been able to observe the teachers and really see what kind of work my kids are getting. One of our teachers is very disorganized and has a hard time setting up basic routines, so a lot of time is wasted. She isn't able to provide us a schedule of specials or activities for the day, so I never know what materials to prep. It's not the biggest deal but it seems like something a teacher with an aide and no kids at home ought to be able to handle. For my older child I'm amazed at the lack of math differentiation. This was supposed to be a good school and I'm really disappointed.

Ok but there is a huge difference between these concerns and those of parents at struggling DCPS schools. These are relatively minor complaints, and actually demonstrate that your kids needs are largely being met.

Sure. But our school is also not offering anything like CARES for people who really need it. So our school is under-serving that group, compared to DCPS. DCPS is at least trying to give them something.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, you should know that "charters do more with less" is a contested opinion. DCPS funding is different in a lot of ways, and DCPS has the responsibility of taking kids who arrive mid-year, so their budgets are built for that-- charters can just turn them away. And DCPS has the responsibility of maintaining an adequate education system for all kids for all time so has to be forward-looking and may make financial decisions around future capacity needs. Also, even charters that serve low-income and at-risk kids as a primary demographic are still serving the easier of those kids and have various ways of pushing out the more difficult ones. The "at-risk" category is large-- almost 50% of DC students-- and there is a lot of variation within it that isn't being captured by the study that Jay Mathews cites. I'm no defender of DCPS, and I'm a charter parent myself, but I don't find this article very persuasive. It's the same old Jay Mathews blah blah blah.

Our charter (ITS) has not offered my kids any more than DCPS friends are getting. And they aren't offering anything like CARES for people who really need it. So I would not say ITS is performing any better than DCPS. Maybe the "resources and technology" are the same, but the kids served by the schools are not the same, and that matters a great deal.

OP here. Obviously you don’t have to answer, but given the above, why did you choose a charter?

We specifically chose to stay at our low-performing IB because we wanted to invest in our neighborhood school and contribute to making it better. But it feels like an uphill battle and in the meantime I worry constantly about my kids’ education. This year has been the cherry on the shit sundae.

We spent two years at our IB school and in a lot of ways it was really great. I definitely did believe in investing in our neighborhood school, and I hope that my efforts made a difference. It definitely has improved, though I wouldn't necessarily claim it's the result of my volunteering. I certainly did put in a lot of time. It had some very real advantages for my kids that our HRCS lacks. I don't think I can tell you the specific reasons we left without outing myself. What ITS offers is a cohort of high-performing kids and a middle school that we're willing to attend (though not 100% sold on). There are logistical reasons as well. But I also didn't quite grasp that just because a school has high test scores and high-SES parents doesn't automatically mean that the teaching and differentiation will be good. If anything, our IB school had superior differentiation because the range of ability was so vast, they really had no choice but to set it up that way. I would not say that my children are receiving a superior education in preschool and lower elementary, relative to our IB school. The schools are different programmatically but not in quality. In upper elementary and middle school I think the presence of a higher-performing cohort is important. So after two years of crap lottery numbers, we wanted to lock that in.

The article is about DCPS and charters more generally, as a policy matter, rather than for anyone's individual child. ITS is strong in performing arts, social studies, and ELA, which is what my kids are into. I wish it were stronger in math and science, but honestly my kids aren't into that so it doesn't matter so much to me. I prefer a smaller school, and a school that's near my house. But those things are not a quality difference or a policy argument.

Anonymous wrote:If anything, I'm less satisfied with our HRCS now that I've been able to observe the teachers and really see what kind of work my kids are getting. One of our teachers is very disorganized and has a hard time setting up basic routines, so a lot of time is wasted. She isn't able to provide us a schedule of specials or activities for the day, so I never know what materials to prep. It's not the biggest deal but it seems like something a teacher with an aide and no kids at home ought to be able to handle. For my older child I'm amazed at the lack of math differentiation. This was supposed to be a good school and I'm really disappointed.

Ok but there is a huge difference between these concerns and those of parents at struggling DCPS schools. These are relatively minor complaints, and actually demonstrate that your kids needs are largely being met.

Anonymous wrote:If anything, I'm less satisfied with our HRCS now that I've been able to observe the teachers and really see what kind of work my kids are getting. One of our teachers is very disorganized and has a hard time setting up basic routines, so a lot of time is wasted. She isn't able to provide us a schedule of specials or activities for the day, so I never know what materials to prep. It's not the biggest deal but it seems like something a teacher with an aide and no kids at home ought to be able to handle. For my older child I'm amazed at the lack of math differentiation. This was supposed to be a good school and I'm really disappointed.

same, but at a supposedly “really great” DCPS.

If anything, I'm less satisfied with our HRCS now that I've been able to observe the teachers and really see what kind of work my kids are getting. One of our teachers is very disorganized and has a hard time setting up basic routines, so a lot of time is wasted. She isn't able to provide us a schedule of specials or activities for the day, so I never know what materials to prep. It's not the biggest deal but it seems like something a teacher with an aide and no kids at home ought to be able to handle. For my older child I'm amazed at the lack of math differentiation. This was supposed to be a good school and I'm really disappointed.

Anonymous wrote:Well, you should know that "charters do more with less" is a contested opinion. DCPS funding is different in a lot of ways, and DCPS has the responsibility of taking kids who arrive mid-year, so their budgets are built for that-- charters can just turn them away. And DCPS has the responsibility of maintaining an adequate education system for all kids for all time so has to be forward-looking and may make financial decisions around future capacity needs. Also, even charters that serve low-income and at-risk kids as a primary demographic are still serving the easier of those kids and have various ways of pushing out the more difficult ones. The "at-risk" category is large-- almost 50% of DC students-- and there is a lot of variation within it that isn't being captured by the study that Jay Mathews cites. I'm no defender of DCPS, and I'm a charter parent myself, but I don't find this article very persuasive. It's the same old Jay Mathews blah blah blah.

Our charter (ITS) has not offered my kids any more than DCPS friends are getting. And they aren't offering anything like CARES for people who really need it. So I would not say ITS is performing any better than DCPS. Maybe the "resources and technology" are the same, but the kids served by the schools are not the same, and that matters a great deal.

OP here. Obviously you don’t have to answer, but given the above, why did you choose a charter?

We specifically chose to stay at our low-performing IB because we wanted to invest in our neighborhood school and contribute to making it better. But it feels like an uphill battle and in the meantime I worry constantly about my kids’ education. This year has been the cherry on the shit sundae.

My views on charters have completely changed with COVID. Bring on the charters. Teacher’s unions don’t care about education.

Well, you should know that "charters do more with less" is a contested opinion. DCPS funding is different in a lot of ways, and DCPS has the responsibility of taking kids who arrive mid-year, so their budgets are built for that-- charters can just turn them away. And DCPS has the responsibility of maintaining an adequate education system for all kids for all time so has to be forward-looking and may make financial decisions around future capacity needs. Also, even charters that serve low-income and at-risk kids as a primary demographic are still serving the easier of those kids and have various ways of pushing out the more difficult ones. The "at-risk" category is large-- almost 50% of DC students-- and there is a lot of variation within it that isn't being captured by the study that Jay Mathews cites. I'm no defender of DCPS, and I'm a charter parent myself, but I don't find this article very persuasive. It's the same old Jay Mathews blah blah blah.

Our charter (ITS) has not offered my kids any more than DCPS friends are getting. And they aren't offering anything like CARES for people who really need it. So I would not say ITS is performing any better than DCPS. Maybe the "resources and technology" are the same, but the kids served by the schools are not the same, and that matters a great deal.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/charters-vs-traditional-schools/2020/12/03/47507000-34b3-11eb-a997-1f4c53d2a747_story.html

I am a DCPS parent who is so horrified and frustrated by what has happened this year that we’re entering lottery with the express goal of moving to a charter next year. I know charters are also closed, but even with schools closed, I see how our friend’s charter schools have been more nimble in adjusting to DL and offering kids more using the same resources and technology. I feel like our DCPS has totally failed the kids, across social-economic and racial lines. And the response to concerns has been a brick wall of silence.

Curious about what others think and what your experience has been, with both DCPS and charters, this year.