Natalie Hopkinson has figured out what has caused all the preternatural perennial [look, they both start with the same letter and it's Friday afternoon, okay?] problems in Washington, D.C.'s public schools: ?experimentation? and ?competition.?
D.C.'s high-profile status as nation's capital means that for decades, our kids have been the subjects of virtually every passing education fad and experiment?like lab rats. But usually the meddling comes from Congress. D.C. is the only city where Congress pays private school tuition. About 40 percent of public school kids go to charter schools, also thanks to Congress. All of this ?experimentation? and ?competition? has destabilized the system so badly that the most competent D.C. school administrators rarely know how many kids are enrolled in public or charter schools on a given day.
?Liam Julian