Posts tagged SchoolsRSS
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Are bad boundaries spurring inequality in Montgomery schools?
Montgomery County public schools have been growing at an incredible rate and show no sign of abating. Instead of adjusting boundaries to allow a more equal distribution of students, the county is building additions in its over-capacity and less-wealthy schools. Keep reading…
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School choice can mean trade-offs for families, like an early trek across the city
DC is one of many cities that have expanded school choice options in recent years, through policies such as inter- and intradistrict choice, the growth of charter schools, and tax credit scholarships or vouchers for private schools. But new choices can also mean trade-offs for families, and the school that best meets a family's needs might be on the other side of town. Keep reading…
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DC’s old school and church buildings are getting a new life
We should applaud projects that aim to repurpose closed churches and schools for the benefit of the larger community, and recognize that such efforts can take many forms. Keep reading…
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This video shows you how to pick a good school
Websites and rankings can only tell you so much. If you're curious about a school, schedule a visit, meet with the principal, or talk to neighbors whose kids attend. Keep reading…
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Why trade play space for parking when both are possible?
Many of DC’s elementary and middle schools have both fewer parking spaces than a work site of their size would often have, and less play space per student than experts recommend. However, there is a mutually beneficial solution. Keep reading…
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DC’s charter schools are sharply segregated. Here’s what we should we do about the racial and economic divide.
In order to build a more diverse student body, successful local schools have focused on the deeper issues driving segregation. They've also created a space for parents to have honest and uncomfortable discussions about identity and race. Keep reading…
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How can we close our persistent education achievement gaps in DC?
Despite overall college-readiness gains, race and income-level gaps have actually grown in the most DC student test scores. What should the city do to address this problem? Keep reading…
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To find top DC public schools look beyond demographics, new analysis says
Results on last spring’s tests challenge common notions about demographics and school quality. Keep reading…
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No longer a rookie to extended class time, H.D. Cooke takes on another extended school year
This year, summer break at eleven DC public schools started a month later than the rest of the public schools in the city. Teachers say the extended school year experiment is working, helping students remember what they've learned in the past year and permitting educators to better reflect and plan. Keep reading…
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DC has over 200 public schools named for people. Here’s how they got their names.
Since the first "modern" DC public school was built in 1864, and promptly named for the mayor who built it, the public school and charter school systems have named 255 schools for individual people. Among them are 32 known slave owners, 10 former slaves, 10 abolitionists, 2 people who joined the Confederacy, 17 civil rights leaders, 26 presidents and 32 mayors or other city officials. Keep reading…
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This school year, let’s teach kids to think critically about their city
With the new school year soon to start, it’s a good time to consider how we are or aren’t, teaching our students to think critically about their city. I teach high schoolers in Northern Virginia, and listening to them, I see how they’re primed to think about driving as “normal” and all other transportation choices as undesirable. Keep reading…
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In Petworth, students learn about street design in a “traffic garden”
Students in Petworth are learning about transportation with a “traffic garden,” a miniature city that demonstrates how our streets work. It’s part of a transportation-themed camp that Briya Public Charter School and The Bureau of Good Roads, a company that teaches people about street design, have hosted for the last three summers. Keep reading…
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Chat: How should reporters write about “up and coming” neighborhoods?
Last week, an article called “River Terrace is a modest jewel tucked away in NE Washington” ran in the Washington Post’s Real Estate section. The next day, DCist staff writer Christina Sturdivant, who grew up in River Terrace, wrote that article’s author left out a lot of important detail about the neighborhood. Christina, some GGWash editorial board members, and I recently talked about the matter. Keep reading…
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Arlington needs a new high school. Where should it go?
Arlington County is looking for a location to build a new public high school, and the search is now down to three sites. But if an effort to grant historic status to a complex of buildings near Washington-Lee High School succeeds, the plans might come off the rails. Keep reading…
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“What’s a white bitch like you doing in a school like this?”
That was the first interview question I remember being asked for the first job I would accept as a high school teacher. Ten years after that interview, my willingness to put up with the indignities of being a teacher in some of DC’s toughest schools has worn me down and pushed me away from the profession. I would never exchange the ten years I have spent in the classroom for anything else, but I must admit that, for me, the burden of teaching has finally caught up with me. Keep reading…
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School drop-off zones can be total madhouses. How do we solve that problem?
Dropping off and picking up kids from school can entail navigating a messy labyrinth of parked and moving cars, running kids, bicyclists, and opening car doors. To alleviate the chaos, some schools have implemented strict drop-off policies or worked to promote walking and bicycling. Not all of those solutions works everywhere, though, and as schools work to find solutions, many are dealing with increasing numbers of parents who drive their children to school. Keep reading…
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Building apartments near transit brings in more money for cities and counties
In the Washington region, apartments near train stops and bus routes bring in more tax money for cities and counties than apartments farther away from the same resources. That’s according to a new report that shows that cities and counties have a lot to gain from building apartments near public transportation Keep reading…
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Breakfast Links: Glitches stop switches and cause transit hitches
Metro's entire system faced delays Thursday morning due to an IT glitch that caused the Rail Operations Control Center to lose contact with track switches. Will a new middle school entice more Ward 4 residents to stay in the District? A new study examines whether mayors actually back up public statements about addressing inequality with programs. Keep reading…
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The economics of school performance in the Washington region
In the US, it’s typically the case that high schools with higher percentages of economically disadvantaged students have lower rankings, and fewer kids who attend them come out ready for college. Our region's schools in Virginia and Maryland largely follow this trend, but in DC, the numbers look a little different. Keep reading…
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How exclusionary zoning limits poor families’ access to good schools
It’s a pattern so common we take it for granted: Good schools and expensive neighborhoods go together. If you want to send your child to a good public school, you’ll need to “buy into the school district.” But it’s not like this is a law of nature. It’s a byproduct of zoning laws we choose to put in place even though they systematically and needlessly harm low-income students. Keep reading…
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