Posts by Natalie Wexler — Contributor
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Can Paul PCS and other charters thrive without private funds?
Paul Public Charter School has achieved excellent results with much less private money than other high-performing charter schools in DC. Can it serve as a model for other charters that don’t want to rely on philanthropy? Apparently not. Keep reading…
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Plan to rank charter preschools is a good first step
The Public Charter School Board has proposed a new system for evaluating charter preschools, and some parents are up in arms. The system may not be perfect, but when the Board takes up the proposal on Monday it should vote to approve it. Last month the Public Charter School Board (PCSB) unveiled a plan to rank charter schools serving young children according to a formula that includes… Keep reading…
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Do DC’s standardized writing scores mean anything?
There’s been a lot of talk about the most recent DC CAS reading and math scores and what they mean. But another set of test scores, assessing students’ writing skills, hasn’t gotten much attention. What do they mean, if anything? The DC CAS has included a composition section since 2011, but the 2012-13 school year is the first time the scores have been factored… Keep reading…
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We’re looking for a few good contributors
We started Greater Greater Education about 6 months ago with the goal of providing more coverage of education issues in the DC area and, ultimately, helping to improve the quality of public education. If you have something to say on the subject, we’d like to hear from you. We’re looking both for people who would like to write a one-time guest blog post and also those… Keep reading…
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DCPS tries to bring a writing revolution to the District
It’s been clear for a while that students’ writing skills in DC, as in many other school districts, are seriously lacking. Now DCPS is beginning to do something about the situation. For years, DCPS teachers haven’t focused on teaching writing. It’s a hard skill to teach when you have a class of 25 or 30 kids, and teachers haven’t been trained to… Keep reading…
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Charter school resources don’t always correlate with ranking
In charter schools, as in traditional public schools, money doesn’t always guarantee results. One school, Paul Public Charter School, manages to do a lot with a little. The DC Public Charter School Board (PCSB) has recently released data detailing the amount of private money contributed to each charter school over the past three years. The amounts vary widely, as reported… Keep reading…
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Program uses peer influence to help steer kids to college
Who has the most influence over a 17-year-old? Another 17-year-old. That’s the theory behind a program called College Summit that seeks to boost college attendance among low-income students. Twenty years ago, a Yale grad named J.B. Schramm began working with 4 high school students at a low-income DC housing project where he was director of a youth center, trying to… Keep reading…
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Henderson says higher scores show extended day works
Recently released test scores show that extended school day programs work, says Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson. Whether she’ll be able to expand them to more schools may depend on the newly elected president of the Washington Teachers Union. Last year 8 DCPS schools experimented with an extended school day, and 7 of them showed gains on the 2013 DC CAS in both reading… Keep reading…
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DC CAS results show progress
The DC CAS results have been delivered with as much fanfare as the royal baby. The news is indeed good, but there’s still a long way to go. Tweets have been flying and school officials crowing: this year’s DC CAS results show undeniable progress. DCPS students have reached their highest proficiency levels since testing began in 2007. And DC charter schools made their… Keep reading…
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DCPS summer school enrollment is up, but attrition is high
Summer isn’t just for lounging around anymore. DCPS’s kindergarten-through-8th-grade summer school program enrolled and retained more students this year than last. But many still don’t make it all the way through. On the first day of its K-8 summer school program this year, DCPS had almost 2500 students signed up, about 60 more than last year. Attendance… Keep reading…