As

we celebrate 20 years, here's our progress

In school year 2016-17, 65 nonprofits operate

118 schools that educate students living in every ward
in the city, up from 3 schools in 1996.
Since 2011, charter enrollment has grown in parallel to higher enrollment at traditional
public schools, and today, 44 percent of DC students attend a public charter school.
90000
80000
70000
60000
50000
40000
30000
20000
10000
0
20

20

20

20

20

20

20

15
-2
01
6

01

01

01

-2

-2

14

13

-2

01

01

01

-2

-2

-2

12

11

10

09

00

00

-2

-2

08

07

00

00

00

-2

-2

06

05

00

00

-2

-2

04

03

00

-2

-2

02

01

00

Public charter school enrollment

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

-2

00

99

-2

00

99

-1

99

99

-1

-1

98

97

96

20

19

19

19

19

Total Enrollment

Traditional public school enrollment

We've also seen the following trends in our public charter schools.

Public charter schools serve a student body that is equally or at times more disadvantaged,
while outperforming traditional public schools.
Proficiency for public charter schools has increased steadily over the last ten years and
consistently exceeds city averages across virtually all subgroups.
We are committed to rigorous oversight, leading to closure or improvement of low-performing
schools and expansion of high-performing schools. Since 2011, we have closed 20 lowperforming schools and expanded 31 of the highest-performing schools.
Our oversight has led to record-high attendance rates along with large reductions in
suspensions and expulsions.

2016

Top 10 Highlights

1
3
5
7
9

More Quality Choices

Public charter school quality

continues to rise! More students
are attending top-performing
("Tier 1") public charter schools
than ever before. 40 schools
achieved a Tier 1 rating.

1st Summer Graduation

54 students from 12 public
charter schools participated in
our rst-ever summer
graduation ceremony. 1,169
public charter school students
graduated during the 2015-16
school year.

Rising PARCC Scores

The Partnership for Assessment of
Readiness in College and Careers
results showed 4 and 2.5 percent
increases in the number of citywide
public charter school students in grades
3-8 and high school meeting or
exceeding expectations in reading and
math, respectively.

Four Brand New Schools

4 new schools opened this year:
Breakthrough Montessori PCS,
Goodwill Excel Center PCS,
Rocketship DC PCS, and
Washington Leadership Academy.

Key Legislation Passed

3 key pieces of legislation passed:
Fiscal Transparency - allows DC PCSB to
have better financial oversight over school
management organizations
Military Preference - authorizes DC PCSB
to authorize a school in Ward 6 or 8 on a
military base
PACE - requires schools to report on the
condition of their facility every 2 years and
on health and safety testing annually

Higher Graduation Rates

Graduation rates rose by 1.2
percent from the previous year
to 72.9 percent for public charter
schools. The citywide graduation
rate is 69.2 percent.

Exceptional Service Honored

Community Engaged

8
10

We honored 4 people and 1

organization with the Board's
Award for Exceptional Service.
Congratulations to Josephine
Baker, Thomas Nida, Brian Jones,
John "Skip" McCoy, and O'Melveny
& Myers.

We held 57 community meetings

- a record number! We also held
our rst-ever Charter Application
Town Hall and a school fair in
Ward 8.

A New Board Member

We welcomed Saba Bireda to the
Board in June. A resident of Ward
8, she brings with her a wealth of
experience in education reform
and policy.

Enrollment Rises
41,784 students are enrolled in
DC public charter schools as of
October 2016. This is a 7.9 percent
increase from school year 201516.

HIGHLIGHTING OUR PUBLIC

CHARTER SCHOOLS'
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
A Brief Snapshot

E.L. Haynes PCS

E.L. Haynes is thrilled to share that two of its students in the
Class of 2016 received prestigious Posse Foundation
scholarships. Founded in 1989, the Posse Foundation
identies public high school students with extraordinary
academic and leadership potential whom traditional
college selection processes may overlook. Posse partners
with colleges and universities to award selected scholars
four-year, full-tuition leadership scholarships. E.L. Haynes
Posse scholars, chosen from more than 1,600 nominees
from the DC-region, now attend Lafayette College in
Pennsylvania and Sewanee: The University of the South in
Tennessee.

Thurgood Marshall Academy

PCS
This school year, Thurgood Marshall Academy and Howard
University School of Law partnered up to create Howard
Law Academy. This new program provides 10th graders the
opportunity to travel to Howard University School of Laws
campus for workshops led by law students, study
amendments and apply their learning to everyday
situations.

Maya Angelou PCS + Young Adult

Learning Center
In 2016, YALC launched Seeds For Success, a partnership
with the Department of Public Works, Department of
Employee Services, and Washington Parks and People. The
program consisted of weeks of job training in the classroom
and hands-on experience, in which students learned the
basics of landscaping and other skills. The 9-month program
culminated in a paid internship, which turned into full-time
jobs for several students. YALC now boasts 13 students with
paid internships and 4 full-time employees at the
Department of Public Works!

DC Prep PCS
In October, DC Prep ocials and supporters joined by
Preppies, families, alumni, Board Members, and
community/business leaders ocially broke ground on a
permanent new home for the Anacostia Elementary Campus
(AEC) in Ward 8 at a fun-lled neighborhood block party.
Through the generosity of The RFI Family Foundation, DC
Preps Anacostia Elementary The Ruth & Norman Rales
Campus will open in time for the upcoming 2017-18 school
year in a newly-renovated building at 1409 V Street, SE. The
campus was formerly Our Lady of Perpetual Help, a 100year-old historic landmark in the community. DC Prep is a
network of public charter schools, and this will be their fth
campus.

DC International PCS
Congratulations to DC International School for being
authorized as an International Baccalaureate World School
after less than two years in operation.

Breakthrough Montessori
PCS
In September 2016, Breakthrough Montessori opened its
doors in Ward 4. This year, Breakthrough serves 91 students
ages 3 and 4 with a high-delity Montessori model,
including early morning and extended day programs
oered at no cost to families. Breakthrough further
contributed to the growth of public Montessori with both a
teacher residency program that will increase the number of
trained Montessori teachers in the District and through
piloting assessment tools for developmental education.

Excel Academy PCS

Congratulations to Jade Snell (7th grade) and Mekah Key (7th
grade) who have won the OSSE LEA Institute Series "It Takes
a City" Art Competition. Their work has been displayed
among other winning artworks printed in the program for the
OSSE "It Takes a City: DC Does it Best" Conference and
viewed by educators all over the city!
Additionally, congratulations to Autumn Rizbrook (7th grade),
Naima Danson (5th grade), and Heaven Deloach (4th grade)
who have received nancial aid to cover 100% of the cost of
taking (1) technical dance class a week at Joy of Motion
Dance Center.

Center City PCS

Center Citys ESL After the Bell program, which provides
targeted academic support to English Language Learners in
an after-school program, continues to receive external
recognition for its success. On Nov 29th and 30th, teachers
and leaders from throughout Minnesota visited Center City
to learn about their ESL programming with support from the
McKnight Foundation and the Urban Education Institute. The
visitors got to observe instruction, hear from teachers and
students, and learn about the school's ESL programming
from campus leaders and central oce sta. ESL sta were
invited to present on the ESL Program to school leaders at
the New York City Charter School Center.

Latin American Montessori

Bilingual PCS
Congratulations to Sarah Tupper for winning the Most
Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award at the STARS
Tribute 2016 Awards Ceremony presented by the DC
Association of Chartered Public Schools.

DC Bilingual PCS
While DC Bilingual PCS has always had an evolving food
and wellness program, this year their new Coordinator, Lola
Bloom, has expanded the program to reach beyond school
hours and impact their students families, with community
cooking demonstrations, the addition of chickens to their
garden area and more. Other schools throughout the area - even Loudoun County, Virginia -- have called upon Ms.
Bloom to discuss the expansion and success in elevating
the program.

Carlos Rosario PCS

At the June 2016 Carlos Rosario School graduation, the
school celebrated the accomplishments of 341 graduates
who had earned high school diplomas, became citizens,
became uent in English, earned career training
certications, and entered into family-sustaining wage jobs.
Carlos Rosario PCS also raised and awarded $138,000 in
scholarship funds to help students going on to college and
vocational education programs.

Briya PCS + Bridges PCS

Partnerships are the cornerstone of how public charter
schools continue to innovate and provide more resources
and services to families and students across the city. On
October 15, Briya PCS, Bridges PCS, Mary's Center and
close to 1,600 District residents celebrated the opening of
the Fort Totten campus. Through the partnership with
Mary's Center, students and the community will have
access to medical and dental clinics, as well as various
support services. Additionally, the partnership between
Briya PCS and Bridges PCS provides early intervention,
early childhood, elementary and adult education programs
to students.

Two Rivers PCS

Two Rivers is a School That Works! This year, Edutopia
dedicated a page of their website to a case study on Two
Rivers. The page is called "Creating Problem Solvers for the
Real World," and features instructional videos and articles
by sta. Find it at https://www.edutopia.org/school/tworivers-public-charter-school. To learn more about how Two
Rivers teaches and students solve real world problems,
visit www.learnwithtworivers.org.

Cesar Chavez PCS

100 percent seniors at Cesar Chavez PCS - Capitol Hill High
School and Cesar Chavez PCS - Parkside High School
were accepted into college, and received approximately $3
million in scholarship dollars from last year.

Howard University Public Charter

Middle School of Mathematics and
Science PCS (MS2)
Kudos to Mr. Giani Clarkson! He was recently featured in
the Afro Washington Area article D.C. Educator Uses
Ford Theatre Fellowship to Teach History. Now in his
second year at MS2, Mr. Clarkson teaches 6th grade
Speech, Communications and Debating, and 8th grade U.S.
History and Social Studies. Mr. Clarkson has participated in
the Ford Theatres Fellowship Program for three years.

Early Childhood Academy

PCS
Early Childhood Academy PCS (ECA) will implement a
year-round schooling model beginning SY 2017-18. With
the support of an OSSE SOAR grant awarded to the
school in 2016, ECA has planned a school calendar that
includes a continuous cycle of school programming from
August 1 through June 30. Additional free educational
opportunities for students will be provided during the
three-week intersession periods between each quarter.
The school expects the new model to support the
increased growth and achievement of ECA students.

Mundo Verde PCS

An Award-winning LEED-Certied campus: The Mundo Verde
campus has received Gold and Platinum Certication of its
buildings in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
(LEED). Additionally, it has been named one of the 12 most
beautiful schools in America and winner of an Education
Facility Design Award from AIA. On October 22nd, Mundo
Verde held a ribbon cutting ceremony to present the campus
to the D.C. community and celebrate its LEED certication. The
ceremony, attended by over 100 families, students, and
community members, featured remarks from Councilmember
Kenyan McDue, Deputy Mayor for Education, Jennie Niles,
and Ward 4 Councilmember Brandon Todd.

I have two children in public charter schools. Both of them have been
afforded opportunities that I don't think they would have [received] in a
traditional public school. One child goes to a language immersion school and
the other is getting a classical education. As public charter students they
both benefit from an expanded worldview and a diverse cultural experience.
-Will Hegwood, parent of two public charter school students