OPINION:
One of the responsibilities of education reformers is to constantly evaluate and improve the ways in which we’re shaping public education. We have to be honest about what works and what doesn’t, and encourage policymakers and school leaders to learn from the states, districts and individuals who are getting it right.
My organization, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, recently released a new report assessing the health of the charter public school movements in 18 states. We analyzed and ranked these states based on the growth, quality and innovation evident in their charter schools.
Washington, D.C., tops the rankings. The report notes that D.C. charter schools serve 44 percent of the city’s students and higher percentages of racial and ethnic minority students than the city’s District-run schools. Furthermore, D.C. charter school students have registered impressive learning gains, and the rich variety of school models offered in Washington means that students and parents have many options to choose from.
It’s been 20 years since the first charter schools in D.C. opened their doors, and city leaders have worked hard to make their charter school movement the best in the nation. Smart policy decisions, effective authorizing practices, collaboration among district and charter leaders, and really good school management have not only made D.C. charter schools models of success, but improved District-run public schools as well.
The city’s charter school pioneers had obstacles to overcome. In the mid-1990s, when the quality of D.C. public schools was reaching its low point, many early charter school founders struggled to find suitable buildings, as the District government shuttered scores of schoolhouses, selling them to developers to become luxury condominiums or letting them rot.
One pioneer who persevered was Donald Hense, who ran a nonprofit, Friendship House, that assisted low-income families. Mr. Hense is a graduate of Morehouse College, and he wanted to do what he describes as some of the journeyman’s work of the civil rights movement led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. When charter schools were introduced to D.C., he sensed an opportunity to prevent the children of the parents and guardians who relied upon Friendship House from becoming clients as adults.
Friendship Public Charter School obtained a charter with the aim of serving students in underserved neighborhoods from pre-K through 12th grade. A first step was creating Friendship Collegiate Academy, a high school in D.C.’s neglected Ward 7. Friendship had to revitalize an abandoned D.C. public school building that didn’t have functioning electricity or plumbing, and had become an illegal drug-manufacturing factory.
Today, Friendship educates more than 4,000 District students on nine campuses, providing a high-quality alternative to families who cannot move to wealthy suburbs or choose private schools. Its flagship, Collegiate Academy, graduates 92 percent of students on time, versus an average of 67 percent for the traditional public school system.
Collegiate students can chose from 17 Advanced Placement courses and can earn college credit in partnership with local colleges, including the University of Maryland at College Park. Friendship schools also have built a formidable college scholarship program, with more than $70 million awarded to students to date. This commitment to financial aid, combined with mentoring and emotional support, has made college graduation a possibility for students, most of whom are first-generation college students. They can be found at some of the nation’s most selective colleges, including Columbia, Princeton, and the University of Pennsylvania.
As Friendship has grown, so has its sense of what its graduates will need to prosper. Two years ago, the charter network unveiled a new $18.1 million, state-of the-art building for its students at Friendship Technology Preparatory Academy. This campus is dedicated to STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — and the emerging field of environmental sciences.
Importantly, this investment is in D.C.’s Ward 8, where poverty, crime and unemployment are highest. Part of the thinking behind the new facility was not only that these are disciplines of growing importance, but also that minorities are chronically underrepresented in them.
Last year, two of Friendship’s campuses — one elementary and one middle school — received International Baccalaureate (IB) accreditation. Only 6,000 schools participate in IB worldwide. Now Friendship’s young scholars will have new opportunities to prepare for success on a global scale.
With its 15-year charter recently renewed by D.C.’s Public Charter School Board, the vision of Donald Hense shines through in Friendship schools. Mr. Hense is preparing to step down as Friendship’s CEO (though he will remain chairman), after having spent two decades building a strong and enduring pathway to success for thousands of D.C. students. Educational visionaries and entrepreneurs like Donald Hense have made Washington, D.C.’s charter school movement the healthiest in the nation. They serve as an inspiration and model for education reformers in every city and state.
• Nina Rees is CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.
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