For the last few weeks, DCPS has been slowly rolling out its new ed specs for public review to various ward education councils. The public has until February 12 to provide feedback. Here is more information, and here is the feedback form to submit your thoughts. These ed specs are not merely an updated guide … Continue reading Shouting Into The Hurricane: DCPS Ed Specs Edition

It's almost spring--and whether you are waiting for daffodils to bloom or our DC bald eagles to lay an egg (or two!), there is always a city council education hearing to attend, listen to online, or testify at. Sign up here to testify or call 202-724-8061 (be sure to do both at least TWO business days … Continue reading Hearings–And More Hearings!

Starting next week, on February 7, our DC superintendent of education (OSSE) is holding public meetings around the city to get feedback on how to implement the federal law known as ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act), which is to replace No Child Left Behind. OSSE's proposal is here, and the OSSE website contains more information on … Continue reading Public Meetings and Hearings on ESSA

[Ed. Note: The following is by DC public schools advocate Peter MacPherson] What I write here appears to be a success story: right now, the District of Columbia Public Schools has a credentialed librarian in almost every school. The system as a whole has more books that meet national standards in terms of currency than … Continue reading DCPS School Libraries: The Continuing Saga of the Inequitable and Underfunded

[Ed. Note: The following is a message drafted by a group of school advocates, including me and Caryn Ernst, a fellow DCPS parent. Please pass it on.] The Every Student Succeeds Act of 2016 (ESSA) gives states the opportunity to reduce the extreme weight on test scores to rank schools, which was the cornerstone of … Continue reading This May Be Your LAST CHANCE to Give Input on DC Public School Accountability Measures

Former mayor Anthony Williams, co-chair of our city's cross sector collaboration task force, recently recorded a video in support of President Trump's nominee for education secretary, Betsy DeVos. The video was made on behalf of charter, private school voucher and school choice interest group American Federation for Children. Although she has never been educated in public schools, … Continue reading Call The Mayor If You Think Our Public School Task Force Co-Chair Should Not Shill For Private School Vouchers

As you may know, the cross sector task force has formulated a policy proposal to address student mobility (access the policy proposal here). The task force held several public meetings to get feedback. Total attendance was about 60 people. Given that 60 people doesn't exactly denote a popular landslide, you may want to weigh in--and now … Continue reading Survey On Student Mobility Proposal

On Thursday January 19, at 3 pm, come join hundreds of your fellow DC citizens, including teachers, parents, and students, at rallies around DC public schools to ensure our public schools remain places of learning and freedom as a new presidential administration gets underway. Here is a a flyer with more information. Rallies will be … Continue reading January 19: Defending Public Education

On January 10, the chair of the council education committee, David Grosso, introduced legislation to ensure that the minimum staffing level for nurses at each public school in DC would be 40 hours per week. Suffice it to say that this would be a sea change in our city. Hopefully, the new legislation will include … Continue reading School Nurses: Three Years (And Counting!) of Short Staffing

The Post recently ran a story about the opening of a new Ward 4 DCPS middle school in 2019 to feed into Coolidge high school. Titled “Can gentrifying Ward 4 support two new middle schools?,” the story took on the current real estate/gentrification boom in the ward, along with the fact that DCPS’s MacFarland middle … Continue reading Hmm: About Those New Ward 4 DCPS Schools . . .