The administration of Mayor Vincent Gray recently commissioned a study of DC schools by the Illinois Facility Fund (IFF) which was paid for by the Walton Foundation (Wal-Mart) and several other interests heavily invested in charter schools. The study divided DC schools into 4 tiers (Tier 1 being the highest “performing” and Tier 4 being the “lowest performing”).  The methodology used to rank the schools into Tiers was by looking at Standardized Test Score Results (DCCAS).

Eliminating poor performing seats poses no threat to children. Only to seats.

Overall the study offers 5 recommendations:

1. Fill seats in Tier 1 Schools. Sustain the performing capacity of Tier 1 schools.
2. Invest in facilities and programs to accelerate performance in Tier 2 schools.
3. Monitor Tier 3 schools.
4. Close or Turnaround Tier 4 DCPS Schools. Close Tier 4 charter schools and replace them with high-performing publicly-funded charter schools.

If you believe that test scores are the only thing that determines whether or not a school is worthy then using them as the sole criteria in the IFF’s study won’t bother you.  If, on the other hand, you view a school as an integral part of the community and for that reason should be supported, then you might have hoped the study might look into why so many DC schools are failing academically.  Despite the firing of hundreds of teachers from DCPS, academic performance has failed to improve by more than a few points.  It would have been nice if the issue was that simple.  Closing more than 20 public schools during the Fenty Administration may have increased class sizes and saved the city money but the achievement gap between white students and black students is wider than it’s ever been.  Following the recommendations of the IFF study may increase the number of publicly-funded charter schools but as there’s no real evidence that charter schools are actually doing better academically than DC’s public schools, it hardly seems like a recommendation designed to improve the schools.

Please note.  I’m aware that the mainstream media has suggested that the publicly-funded charter schools are in fact doing better academically than the traditional public schools but test scores just don’t bear that out.  If you doubt this, please research it for yourself.  Great Schools is one source for test scores and academic rankings.  You might start there.   I site them also because they’re rankings take more into account than academics.  According to their site, the top-ranked DC schools are all traditional public schools.  Although their rankings are hardly conclusive, I’m reasonably certain that they’ve been replicated by other reputable sources.  So, if in fact, the best schools in DC are traditional public schools, why would the Illinois Facilities Fund recommend that DC’s “Tier 4” schools be replaced by publicly-funded charter schools?  Wouldn’t it make more sense to suggest that these low-ranking schools, which are mostly in Wards 7 & 8, be encouraged to emulate the successful public schools west of the Anacostia River?   The cynic in me believes with all sincerity that the real reason behind the IFF’s recommendation that DC’s public schools be replaced by charters has something to do with the fact that the Illinois Facilities Fund is a non-profit lender that lends mainly to charter schools not only in Illinois but soon across the whole of the United States.  Increasing the number of charter schools in DC may not improve the academic performance of DC’s student population. It’s not likely to reduce the achievement gap between our white and black students but it may very well help to increase the bottom line of the Illinois Facilities Fund (which given it’s emerging status as a national entity would prefer to be referred to as the IFF).

I’m also confused by the Gray Administration’s confidence in the study, not because of what appears to be a clear conflict of interest, but because the recommendations don’t seem to align with the purpose of the study itself.  According to the Washington Post, Deputy Mayor for Education De’Shawn Wright’s reason for commissioning the study was, “to identify communities in greatest need of more education options.”  The report recommends that the communities in greatest need of more education options either close their schools or replace them with charters.  I don’t see how closing schools will provide the communities in Wards 7 & 8 with more educational opportunities.  Isn’t that a direct contradiction of the purpose of the study?  Presumably more charter schools will increase education options but if you’re simultaneously closing down potentially good public schools doesn’t that limit a families options to which ever charter school will accept their child?  As charter schools are not public schools in the sense that any child in the surrounding community can attend, a neighborhood’s charter school option simply won’t be available to every neighborhood kid.

Examine the IFF study yourself and see if you don’t come to similar conclusions.  Just so you know how many communities are likely to be impacted, here are the Tier 3 and 4 schools the report recommends to close or turn around broken down by Ward.  In total, there are 38 DC public schools are at-risk of closure.  Notice how many are in Wards 7 & 8.

Ward 1
Bruce Monroe @ Parkview Elementary School
Cardozo High School

Ward 4
Macfarland Middle
Raymond Educational Campus
Brightwood Educational Campus
Roosevelt High School

Ward 5
Noyes Educational Campus
Burroughs Educational Campus
Browne Educational Campus
Spingarn High School
Wheatley Ed. Campus

Ward 7
Plummer Elementary
Beers Elementary
Randle Highlands Elementary School
Aiton Elementary School
Drew Elementary School
Kelly Miller Middle School
Woodson High School
CW Harris Elementary School
Davis Elementary School
Nalle Elementary School

Ward 8
Orr Elementary School
Ballou High School
Hart Middle School
Hendley Elementary School
King Elementary School
Leckie Elementary School
Anacostia High School
Kramer Middle School
Garfield Elementary School
Stanton Elementary School
Johnson Middle School
Malcolm X Elementary School
Ferebee-Hope Elementary School
Terrell/McGogney Elementary School,
Patterson Elementary School
Simon Elementary

As a parent and a resident of Ward 7, I’m all too familiar with the struggle to insure that my daughter gets a good education. What I see when I look at the above list of schools is an administration that would prefer to disinvest in low-income communities (like mine!) rather than implement the practices that they know work in wealthy communities.

So again I ask that you join Empower DC at the Mayor’s One City Summit this Saturday,  again here are the details.

Join the Empower DC contingent at the Mayor’s “One City Citizen’s Summit”

Saturday, February 11, 2012
Meet at 11 AM
At the Convention Center
801 Mt Vernon Pl, NW

We’ll meet at the Mt. Vernon Place entrance of the Mt. Vernon Square Metro, across from Carnegie Library.  Our plan is to deliver information about the proposed school closings and DC’s loss of affordable housing to summit participants.   Our message to Mayor Gray is simple. We hold you accountable to save our schools and communities. We reject the flawed findings of the IFF report and its recommendations to close or turn around DC’s public schools. We demand a moratorium on school closures until a valid community-led process is developed for evaluating our schools.

If you can’t make it to the Mayor Gray’s One City Citizen’s Summit on Saturday, February 11, 2012, Empower DC will also be pushing for the Gray Administration to hold another One City Citizen’s Summit that’s dedicated solely to education, where students, parents and educators–the real experts–can lead the discussion on how to better our schools. It’s time for the Gray Administration to try something new. Work with the community to find the solution. We look forward to the Mayor’s response and we’ll be sure to post it here.