On Monday July 11, the council's education committee will hold a hearing on legislation proposed by the committee chair, David Grosso, on amending existing laws governing the master facilities plan for public schools in DC. The new legislation (called the Planning Actively for Comprehensive Education Facilities act, B21-777) would require a 10-year (not 5-year, as … Continue reading Changing Up Strategic Planning for School Buildings–or Same Old, Same Old?

Given the number of parents who have looked at me, stunned, when I uttered those words above to them in the last month, it seems a given that this statement--different DC public middle schools use different PARCC math tests--is not common knowledge. Nonetheless, it is true: starting at the 6th grade, different DC public schools … Continue reading Different DC Public Middle Schools Use Different PARCC Math Tests

This Friday, June 17, marks the last day of my 9-year run as a Watkins Elementary parent. My first child started there in the fall of 2007, and my second will have her last day on Friday. At the time I became a Watkins parent, the school had all its original windows, which leaked such … Continue reading The Unbearable Lightness of Being [a Public School Family in DC]: Part 3

Between graduations, moving-up ceremonies, and the rush toward the end of the school year, June is a busy time. But after reading this article, titled "Worlds Apart," published this past weekend in the New York Times Magazine, I hope you can find some spare time to read it--and then to share it with others in DC. … Continue reading Must Read, Public School Edition

[The following is reprinted by permission of the writer, Max Kieba, co-chair of the Maury (DCPS) Elementary SIT team. No word on a reply.] June 9, 2016 at 5:22:54 PM EDT To: Beers, Nathaniel (DCPS), Tuch, Joshua (DCPS), Davis, Patrick (DCPS), kaya.henderson@dc.gov, Monique Forrest monique.forrest@mckissackdc.com, Marcos Miranda, marcos.miranda@mckissackdc.com, dme@dc.gov, chris.weaver@dc.gov Cc: Allen, Charles (Council), Marks, … Continue reading Different School, Same SIT Story

[Last week, at large DC state board of education member Mary Lord (who is running for re-election) sent out a missive about implementation of the new federal law called ESSA--and the public meetings the state board is holding to get feedback on that new law, which replaces No Child Left Behind. In her emailed letter, … Continue reading Lessons of ESSA–or, the Epistemology of School Accountability

Not that we here in DC don't have a lot going on politically right now, but a tag line on an email from a teacher this morning just enlightened me about another piece of this, intimately related to the issues of local control and political autonomy that seem to be in the air we breathe this year: … Continue reading Getting (Politically) Educated

at the council, at any rate: On Wednesday June 15, at 10 am, the education committee of the city council is holding a hearing on proposed legislation that creates an administrative entity to handle all DC school-based sports. For anyone who has experienced the heartbreakingly common problems of DC school athletics (buses not showing up; … Continue reading June 15: Time to Speak Up For Public School Sports

In the deep recesses of DCPS's FY17 capital budget, schools activist Peter MacPherson found something that seemed odd, which he shared last week with both the DC attorney general, Karl Racine, and the DC auditor, Kathy Patterson: $20 million for a student tracking database that costs $2 million, tops. In a letter to Patterson, MacPherson expressed … Continue reading The Hunt for $20 Million

Public education consortium C4DC has just posted city council candidates' responses to its 2016 questionnaire on DC public education. The consortium noted that the purpose of the questionnaire was to elucidate candidates' views on DC public education; budgets; evaluations of schools; and testing of students. As interesting as some of the responses are, perhaps more interesting is who has … Continue reading Read Candidates’ Thoughts About DC Public Education