Posts by Natalie Wexler — Contributor
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Volunteer tutors aren’t the answer to DC’s reading crisis
Some observers are pinning their hopes on volunteer tutors as a low-cost way of narrowing the achievement gap between low-income students and their more affluent peers. But there are limits to what volunteer tutors can do. A leading nonprofit tutoring organization deploys minimally trained volunteers to teach reading comprehension as a set of skills. The problem is that to… Keep reading…
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DC is giving low-income babies and toddlers the kind of childcare they need
The District has led the nation in making public preschool available to all children from the age of three. Now it’s beginning to focus on improving child care for low-income children during the crucial years before three. Last month, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced an initiative that promises to boost the quality of child care for some of the District’s youngest,… Keep reading…
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DC’s attorney general has okayed DCPS’s plan to help males of color. But that may not be the end of the story.
DC’s attorney general has decided that a District initiative to help boys and young men “of color” doesn’t violate laws against sex discrimination. But there are large holes in his argument. In January, Mayor Muriel Bowser and DC Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson unveiled a $20 million initiative called Empowering Males of Color (EMOC). Keep reading…
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DCPS plans to give Wilson High School less money to serve more students
DC Public Schools plans to cut Wilson High School’s budget next year by 10%, even though the student body is expected to grow by 10%. Parent groups and the school’s principal are protesting, arguing that the cuts will hurt the most vulnerable students at the relatively affluent school. Next year’s proposed budget will effectively reduce the school’s… Keep reading…
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DC’s charter schools boost learning for poor and minority students
DC’s charter schools do a better job than its traditional public schools when it comes to educating low-income and minority students, according to a recent national study. But the study indicates that white and Asian students fare better in the traditional sector. The study ranked DC’s charter sector sixth in the nation among 41 urban school districts for… Keep reading…
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Here’s a school-by-school look at DC’s high school graduation rates
Graduation rates vary a lot among DC’s high schools. A series of graphics from the DC government shows just how different they can be. DC Public Schools had an overall four-year graduation rate of about 58% last year, up by only two percentage points from 2013. And the overall rate for the charter sector fell almost seven points, to 69%. To calculate the rate, statisticians… Keep reading…
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Anxiety abounds as DC schools roll out new, harder tests
DC’s public school students, like those around the country, are taking new, more rigorous standardized tests this month. And teachers are anxious about whether students are prepared to do the kind of reading and writing the tests require. Students in both DC Public Schools and charter schools are taking new tests designed to align with the Common Core State Standards. Keep reading…
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DCPS schools are more likely than charters to have high concentrations of at-risk kids
Students who are homeless, in foster care, or otherwise “at risk” are more likely to be in the DC Public School system than in charter schools are concentrated in a few DC Public Schools but are more spread-out in the charter sector. And the more at-risk kids a school has, the lower its standardized test scores. Keep reading…
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DCPS wants to focus on boys of color, but some say that’s unfair and illegal
DC Public Schools is launching a new initiative that will focus on males of color, but some critics say the plan is unfair to black and Latino girls, and possibly illegal. As part of its Empowering Males of Color initiative, DCPS plans to recruit 500 volunteer tutors for black and Latino males. It will also award grants to schools that devise their own programs to help those students. Keep reading…
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For one group of kids from Anacostia, a dream deferred is turning into reality
In 1988, a DC philanthropist promised a group of low-income 7th-graders in the Anacostia neighborhood that he would pay for their college educations. What’s happened to the kids since then shows that the presence of a caring adult can alter a child’s life trajectory. A thought-provoking new documentary called Southeast 67 will be screened at the DC Independent… Keep reading…