State Superintendent Proposes Dramatic Changes to DCPS Graduation Requirements

By Sarah Livingston, on February 17th, 2016

The District of Columbia is considering alternate ways of awarding credit for courses taken toward high school graduation. The proposed rules would radically change the way students would be educated in the city’s high schools. . . . → Read More: State Superintendent Proposes Dramatic Changes to DCPS Graduation Requirements

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Will Any DC School Officials Answer Ward 8 State Board of Ed. Member Mr. Trayon White’s Question?

By Guest Contributor, on August 12th, 2013

By Erich Martel Retired DCPS Social Studies Teacher

At the July 31st meeting of the DC State Board of Education, Ward 8 Member, Mr. Trayon White, said that he had attended the 2013 graduation of Thurgood Marshall Charter HS and wondered why there were so few graduates when four years earlier, as a 9th grade, the class was much larger. No one replied. It’s time that our public officials conducted an independent investigation of this scandal.

Quick Facts about Thurgood Marshall Public Charter School

Between 2007 and 2013, only 45% of starting 9th graders graduated four years later. Between 2007 and 2011, only 32% of the tested 10th graders are African-American males.

Over the past seven years, 2007-2013, Thurgood Marshall graduated 394 of the original 872 9th grade students enrolled. That’s a completion rate of 45.2%.

What happened to the other 478 starting 9th graders counted by OSSE? 336 or 38.5% were transferred before the 10th grade DC CAS testing roster was set. 142 or 16.3% were transferred after the 10th grade test, but before graduation.

Thurgood Marshall has trouble keeping African-American male students. According to gender data reported on OSSE’s DC CAS website, of the 462 10th graders tested in the 5 years from 2007 to 2011: – 314 or 67.97% were female. – 148 or 32.03% were male. In no year, did the % of male students exceed 33%.

Of the 88 Thurgood Marshall students tested in 2011, 62 (70.5%) were female, only 26 (29.5%) were male.

At each of Councilmember Catania’s recent ward education “conversations” and at most of the Council’s Education Committee hearings, Councilmember Catania and/or Councilmember Grosso contrasted Thurgood Marshall as an example of charter school success against DCPS failure. According to the numbers, Thurgood Marshall does not live up to that distinction.

Mayor Gray chose Thurgood Marshall Charter HS as the symbolic site to announce his proposed legislation to give the chancellor chartering authority.

The public has a right to know – and the Mayor, Council and State Board of Education Members should demand to know:

The reasons why these students were transferred; Their receiving schools; Their practice scores (DC BAS) were before transfer; Their official DC CAS scores after transfer; Whether they graduated with their class or cohort; Whether any of them dropped out;

And many other questions that public officials holding positions of public trust should feel obligated to answer and not cover up as they make public education policy.

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Doing Right By the District’s Children

By Sequnely Gray, on May 20th, 2013

Child care in Washington DC is vital for a family to work, live, and participate in the community in a positive way. Without proper child care, parents- particularly single parents- may be forced to cut back their work hours, turn down promotions, or even quit their stable jobs. For the children, these early years provide the foundation for their future development; quality child care prepares children for success in school. Child care is increasingly expensive and many families cannot afford it on their own wages. In the District, the average yearly child care cost for an infant/toddler is $18,200. These are clear facts that have been widely documented.

So then why is funding for subsidies continually cut? Why are reimbursement rates for providers so low that they can’t afford to provide high quality care?

Child care advocates all over the District have been working for years to right the funding wrongs of the Office of State Superintendent of Education (OSSE). Funding for the child care subsidy program has been slashed dramatically while the need for these subsidies continues to grow at a steady pace. Last year, the council passed a budget that cut $5.7 million; in the last five years subsidies have been cut nearly $30 million. This is 1,600 families that were unable to participate in the subsidy program. This is 1,600 families who could not get child care.

This year, in the Mayor’s released budget, the child care subsidy/voucher program made it to #1 on his wish list. Child care should not be a “wish” because the money is there. The District has enough funds and new sources of revenue to restore the money that has been taken away from this program.

In fiscal year 2014, the childcare subsidy/voucher program will lose another 1.5 million dollars due to sequestration. This budget cut affects about 80 more families who need childcare subsidies to work, attend school and seek employment. However, the District of Columbia has the money to replace what is being cut. DC has generated over 400 million dollars of extra revenue for the city in the past year but they put all of it in the bank. Meanwhile, parents are still having challenges getting childcare vouchers and their children are missing out on an early start in education. The mayor and his team regularly say how much they care about families and, in particular, vulnerable children in this city. They sure have a funny way of showing it. Now it’s up to the Council to plug the leak in childcare subsidies. We need to restore the lost funding for childcare subsidies and give higher reimbursement rates for childcare providers. Because DC doesn’t work without childcare.

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