The DC charter school market is strong and growing. It has a number of outstanding schools and already comprises nearly 40 percent of the entire public education sector in the nation's capital. In just a couple years, chartering could become the primary mechanism for delivering public schooling in DC.
But there are a number of low-performing charters in the city as well. The DC Public Charter Schools Board, the city's only authorizer, moved to close one of those schools late last week. This release lays out the bill of particulars.
It's never a happy moment when a school closes, but in a number of cases it can be in the best interest of students, communities, chartering, and public education. Should the school close, the critical next step is making sure the students displaced have access to higher performing schools as soon as possible.
As chartering has expanded and its principles have spread to traditional school districts, it has become increasingly clear that tough accountability is just one of many load-bearing walls in the management of a broad schools portfolio. The challenge is figuring out how best to pair closures with new starts and expansions so the universe of schools is both high quality and reflective of students' needs.
With two different "systems" in DC--the traditional district and the chartering board--coordinating these concomitant activities can be difficult. It's also one of the great opportunities and challenges of the urban school system of the future.
--Andy Smarick