|
Welcome! The year 2014 has been another good one for D.C. charter school reform. Four more highly promising schools opened their doors for the first time. An additional 1,737 D.C. students found places in charter schools, bringing total enrollment to more than 38,000—45% of all public school students in D.C. Enrollment in the top-performing charters grew by 9%, while enrollment in the lowest performing schools dropped again this year. And charter students continued to outperform their school system counterparts, greatly so in the District’s poorest wards. It’s been a good year for FOCUS, too. Our advocacy team parlayed a strong working relationship with education committee chair David Catania into significant benefits for the charter schools. The chairman improved a number of bills affecting the charters and blocked a number of others whose effects would have been harmful to these schools. We also made some progress with the Gray administration, which made some additional school buildings available for charter school acquisition and somewhat reduced the DCPS-charter school funding inequities that are the subject of the lawsuit the charters filed in July. Our school quality and program staff were busy, too, pulling off another well-attended school data summit, shepherding all three of this year’s successful charter school applicants through the application process, more than doubling the number of schools that get FOCUS performance management help, and expanding the membership and reach of the FOCUS Real Estate Council. On the downside, the continued growth and academic success of the charter schools has led some in the community to propose that the government limit charter access to school buildings and erect other barriers to parental choice so as to protect the school system from charter school competition. We’ll be watching this closely in 2015 and will keep you informed about our progress in preventing the opponents of parental choice from derailing the charters’ efforts to bring hope and opportunity to DCPS students and their families. Happy Holidays,
School Feature - Lee Montessori PCS! Lee Montessori PCS opened its doors for the first time this fall. The school, located in Ward 5, currently serves students from pre-school through 2nd grade and and will eventually grow to 6th grade. The school uses the student-centered Montessori Method to foster a lifetime love of learning and cultivate independence among D.C. schoolchildren. FOCUS worked with the Lee Montessori founding group on their charter application, and has continued to support the school leaders as they planned for opening and throughout its first few months of operation.
Photo courtesy of Lee Montessori PCS Head of School Chris Pencikowski had this to say about working with FOCUS: "Our partnership with FOCUS dramatically reduced the learning curve for starting a new charter school. In particular, they helped us to make good choices (and avoid bad ones!), all with the end goal of better serving the schoolchildren in Washington, DC. Overall, it's a game changer to have a group out there to call when you have a question, when something goes wrong, or when you just need support." EdFEST / Common Lottery Monday, Dec. 15th, 2014 On Saturday, November 22nd, 2014, more than 4,500 people attended the the first city-wide public schools fair. This was a great opportunity for parents and others to explore more than 150 DCPS and public charter school options and to learn more about the common lottery. The application period for school year 2015–16 opens on Monday, December 15th, 2014.
Did you attend EdFEST on Saturday, November 22? If so, they would love your feedback! What went well? What can be improved upon? Ultimately, they want to provide families with a great platform for researching their public school options. Click HERE to take a quick 10-minute survey. Thank you!
Capital City PCS Visit First Fridays wrapped up the year at Capital City PCS on December 5. Founded by parents in 2000, Capital City features an innovative expeditionary learning model that challenges students to engage in critical thinking, gain valuable problem-solving skills, and acquire a love of learning. Capital City students learn through these expeditions, which include fieldwork and community service, as well as collaboration with experts on in-depth studies across various subjects.
Cultivating curiosity at Capital City PCS
DC Prep - Benning Campus Visit On Friday, November 7, 2014, the First Fridays team and tour participants had a great visit at the DC Prep PCS - Benning Campus. During the tour of both the elementary middle schools, our guests had a chance to meet the highly engaged DC “Preppies” and the inspiring and engaging teachers. Afterwards, founder and CEO Emily Lawson and her energetic team talked about their palpable "warm and strict" culture at DC Prep PCS.
FOCUS's own Alison Collier presenting to a packed house at DC Prep - Benning Campus We hope to see you next year at Achievement Prep on February 6th! Sign up to receive invitations to First Fridays tours by emailing info@firstfridaysdc.org.
FOCUS Data Interns: Year Two has Begun! Running a school is a lot of work, and involves much more than just teaching. FOCUS aims to remove some of this extra stress so that schools can get back to what schools are really about: helping students learn! FOCUS trained and placed 18 interns at public charter schools across D.C. to help them use data for the 2014-2015 school year. The systems and databases FOCUS’s interns put in place will make it easier for teachers and school leaders to see which of their students are struggling. This will help them know exactly what is going on in their school and make the changes needed to improve overall performance. Victoria Marcavage is the 2014-2015 Data Intern at Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom PCS.
FOCUS Data Intern Victoria Marcavage looking at assesment data. Click here to learn more about her work. FOCUS's Lindsay templeton sat down with Julia Senerchia, Data Manager and Assessment Coordinator at Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School, to ask her about the FOCUS data intern program: FOCUS: How has your FOCUS data intern helped your school? FOCUS: How has the intern assisted with data processes? Click here to read Victoria's perspective on her experience at Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom PCS.
|
FOCUS December Matching Gift Challenge
AmazonSmile The holidays are here! Support FOCUS and all 63 of D.C.'s public charter schools while you shop.
If you select Friends of Choice in Urban Schools as your charitable organization of choice, Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to us.
Thank you!
FOCUS Media Page Our new media page is LIVE! Check it out to see our daily compilation of published news about D.C. charter schools and the D.C. education policy environment, fair funding lawsuit updates, and more!
Upcoming Events
 
FOCUS School Data Users Group Kick-off Happy Hour - Tuesday, December 9, 2014, 5.30 - 7.30pm
My School DC Common Lottery - Monday, December 15, 2014
First Fridays Tours - Spring 2014 Friday, February 6, 2014 Friday, March 6, 2014 Friday, May 1, 2014
As many of you know, the D.C. Association of Chartered Public Schools, Washington Latin Public Charter School, and Eagle Academy Public Charter School filed suit in federal court in July, asking that the District government be directed to obey the law and provide public charter school students with the same amount of funding as their school system counterparts. For more information on the Fair Funding Lawsuit, funded by FOCUS, visit dcschoolfundingequity.org.
Data Corner
|
