Besty DeVos said Jefferson Middle teachers were in ‘receive mode.’ Here’s how they responded

03/09/2017

By Alejandra Matos
March 9, 2017

Schoolteacher Ashley Cobb spends her evenings in what might be called “receive mode.” The eighth-grade math teacher receives dozens of texts and phone calls a day — at all hours — from students with questions about homework.

D.C. Officials Offer Details On Proposed Walkability Preference For Charters, But Concerns Remain

03/08/2017

By Martin Austermuhle
March 8, 2017

D.C. officials this week unveiled new details about Mayor Muriel Bowser’s proposal for a walkability preference for charter schools, which would allow some students preferential access to a charter school that’s closer to their home than their neighborhood public school.

Read more about Mayor Bowser’s proposal for a walkability preference for charter schools at: http://bit.ly/2lZlZpT

Entire senior class at D.C.'s Ballou High School applies to college for first time

03/07/2017

By Sam Ford
March 7, 2017

The entire senior class at Ballou High School in Southeast Washington has applied for college for the first time. Several seniors at the school have already received acceptance letters.

"We have 189 seniors and this time 100 percent of them have applied to schools and we're just waiting for acceptance letters to roll in," says Ballou Principal Yetunde Reeves.

Just What Is A Charter School, Anyway?

03/01/2017

By Claudio Sanchez
March 1, 2017

We’re all familiar with the term “hidden in plain sight.” Well, there may be no better way to describe the nation’s 6,900 charter schools. These publicly-funded, privately-run schools have been around since the first one opened in St. Paul, Minn., in 1992.

Here, the author sits down with three charter experts to gain greater insight into how these institutions operate.

D.C. officials want to add algebra classes, lacrosse and archery in middle schools

02/24/2017

By Alejandra Matos
February 24, 2017

D.C. Public Schools plans to spend $6.2 million in its 2018 budget to bring algebra classes, engineering and computer science electives, coding clubs, lacrosse and archery to its middle schools.

Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) and DCPS Chancellor Antwan Wilson announced the proposed spending Friday, marking another year of the school system putting emphasis on resources for middle and high schools.

Remodeled River Terrace school aims to better serve special-education students

02/22/2017

By Alejandra Matos
February 19, 2017

Kiara Jones is learning how to analyze data. But the 8-year-old is not using fancy software on a computer. She has a tactile board in front of her with the names of classmates and information on when they were in class. Kiara is visually impaired.

‘Uplifting each other’: All-boys Ron Brown High is coming together in debut year

02/21/2017

By Joe Heim
February 19, 2017

At 8:45 one recent Monday morning at Ron Brown College Preparatory High School, the freshman class sat in a giant rectangle in the school’s brightly lighted meeting area. This period of reflection, affirmation and exhortation is how every day begins at Ron Brown, the District’s only single-sex public high school, one of just a few dozen in the country.

What Could Reverse D.C'.s Intense School Segregation?

02/17/2017

By George Joseph
February 17, 2017

According to the author of a new UCLA Civil Rights Project report: School choice is only exacerbating the effects of the city’s extreme housing segregation. Last week, a group of Washington, D.C., parents and teachers stopped Betsy DeVos, the new Secretary of Education, from entering a D.C. middle school.

Equitably distribute housing: A priority for DC

02/15/2017

By David Alpert
February 15, 2017

A coalition of affordable housing advocates, faith groups, business groups, tenants' groups, developers, and over 250 residents have unified to support more housing, more affordable housing, and targeted support for communities as DC rewrites its Comprehensive Plan. One of those priorities: Equitably distribute housing.

DeVos Met By Protesters At D.C. Public School

02/10/2017

By Martin Austermuhle
February 10, 2017

About three-dozen protesters confronted newly confirmed Education Secretary Betsy DeVos as she arrived at Jefferson Middle School Academy, a public school in Southwest D.C., on Friday morning.

A small group of those protesters delayed DeVos’s entrance to the school, but did not keep her from eventually entering the building. According to city officials, DeVos visited classrooms and met with a small group of teachers, and also spoke with D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Antwan Wilson.

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