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A decade after the first charter schools opened in the nation's capital, they have mushroomed into a major presence here, serving a larger segment of students than in almost any other city.
One in four public school students now lugs a book bag to a charter each weekday. If trends continue, a new report suggests, charters will serve more than half of Washington's students by 2014.
But the massive charter experiment hasn't exactly produced the sea change in the quality of public schooling that some advocates had hoped for. By many accounts, the charter landscape here is a mixed picture, and even advocates for the largely independent public schools are finding reasons to worry about low levels of student achievement in many charters.
"Currently, there are not enough high-quality public schools (district or charter) in the District of Columbia," says the new study, issued this month by Fight for Children, a Washington advocacy group that has been supportive of charters. "Charter schools have produced a wide array of results: Some are among the highest-performing schools in the District, while too many others at the low end appear to be failing."
The study argues that charter authorizers should close more low-performing schools. At the same time, it calls for more supports to help struggling schools succeed.
"I think the D.C. charter industry-we're beyond a movement now-has outgrown its infancy and is now in its awkward adolescence ... with growth spurts and growing pains," said Thomas A. Nida, the chairman of the District of Columbia's Public Charter School Board, or PCSB, one of two charter authorizers in the city.
A 'Strong' Charter Law
The original District of Columbia charter law, passed by the Republican-controlled Congress, was signed in April 1996 by President Clinton. Charter proponents call the law one of the nation's "strongest" because, for example, it hands the schools substantial operational and academic flexibility, provides local aid on an equitable basis with regular public schools, and allows multiple authorizers.
This school year, Washington has 55 charters on 69 campuses, the Fight for Children report says. The schools serve an estimated 19,000 students, compared with about 57,000 in regular public schools. Only New Orleans and Dayton,...