and some people are trying to get them to do something about it. To be more precise: on August 9, the DC office of open government (OOG) issued a binding opinion that declared that the DC public charter school board (PCSB) violated public meeting requirements of DC’s School Reform Act (SRA), PCSB custom and practice, … Continue reading So, The Public Charter School Board Violated The Law In June . . .

Last week, the Anacostia studio of progressive media station We Act Radio (which hosts Education Town Hall, to which I have contributed) was vandalized and expensive equipment stolen. As a result, We Act Radio is shut down until it is, literally, rebuilt. Please consider giving to the station's fundraising campaign as well as its community clean-up, slated … Continue reading Help Save We Act Radio

It’s a new school year--and to herald its start, the SY16-17 PARCC test results were announced last week. Despite a lack of significant change from last year, the scores have prompted several interesting remarks. Charter board executive director Scott Pearson was quoted in the Post as noting that DCPS’s relatively stronger performance was evidence that … Continue reading Continuing The Damage

Last month, in a chemistry lab at Luke C. Moore high school, I may have gotten a glimpse of the future. That was when, on July 25, I heard members of the cross sector task force discuss opening and closing of schools in our city. Part of a subgroup of the task force, working on … Continue reading Seeing The Future: School Closings?

Whatever honeymoon existed for Chancellor Wilson ended abruptly last month, with revelations that suspensions in DCPS are not accurately recorded (thus artificially lowering DCPS suspension rates) and with teachers at high-poverty DCPS schools testifying on July 19 before the state board of education about the poor retention of their colleagues and a culture of administrative … Continue reading The Summer Of Official Concern™

Well, chalk it up to the fast-moving heat, but education events are happening so quickly this month that one wonders if the famous quiet of July in DC is apocryphal: --Tomorrow, Thursday July 13, the council holds a public roundtable on summer modernizations in DCPS. (No idea when this was announced, but you can get … Continue reading The Rush Of July: Education Events Galore

and not just because the deadline to sign up has been extended to this Friday, July 7, at midnight. (Sign-up is here, and more information is here.) First, a little information: The DCPS chancellor’s parent cabinet is an advisory body for the chancellor on a number of topics. It is forming anew for the 2017-18 … Continue reading Well, DCPS Parents, Better Join The Chancellor’s Parent Cabinet…

Quick: Did you hear about the DC public school that lost more than half its teachers after the start of school year 2015-16? No, I am not talking about DCPS's Ballou high school--which, as the Post recently reported, lost 28% of its teachers this just-completed school year. Rather, I am talking about a whole host … Continue reading Um, Teacher Retention Is Not Just A DCPS Problem

The DC Department of Behavioral Health and Department of Health are holding several public meetings this month on proposed new staffing of school health professionals starting next school year (SY 17-18). The meetings are as follows, starting tomorrow: --Thursday, June 8, 6 pm, Shaw Library, WTD Meeting Room, 1630 7th St. NW --Wednesday, June 14, … Continue reading Public Meetings On School Health Professionals

In the wake of the DCPS lottery scandal, and local as well as national politicians’ embrace of school choice, it seems fitting to examine school choice in DC. This year, as in years past, about 20,000 students participated in the annual lottery for DC's public schools. There are about 90,000 public school students in DC, … Continue reading When School Choice Isn’t About OUR Choice (Or, Why We Need An Audit Of The Lottery)