Enrollment among students in the District of Columbia’s public and public charter schools spiked for the eighth consecutive year to 90,061 students for the 2016-17 academic year. Officials primarily attribute this increase to robust growth in the city’s charter schools.
Public Schools in D.C. have experienced an enrollment hike for the eighth year. (Courtesy image/logo)
Audited numbers for the 2016-17 school year released by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education March 7, show enrollment in the District’s public charter schools shot up to 41,506 students, a gain of 2,601 students from the previous year.
Charter school growth was acutely felt in the fourth and ninth grades, Tomeika Bowden, director of communications for the Public Charter School Board told the AFRO. Both Bridges Public Charter School (PCS) and KIPP DC Spring Academy PCS added a fourth grade this school year, while Washington Leadership Academy and Goodwill Center PCS opened and added freshmen.
That meant fourth grade growth increased by 11.2 percent, while ninth grade saw 11.1 percent gains. Data from the District of Columbia Charter School Board shows 75.7 percent of its charter school students are Black and nearly 78 percent are low income.
Meanwhile, enrollment in traditional D.C. public schools gained 116 students, for a total of 48,555 students for the 2016-17 school year, per the data.
In response to the growth, District of Columbia Public Schools will add additional grades to MacFarland Middle School and Ron Brown College Prep High School next year, Janae Hinson, deputy press secretary for DCPS told the AFRO. In past few years, DCPS responded to the demand by adding about a half-dozen schools, she noted. “One of DCPS’ top priorities is ensuring that students have an opportunity to attend a great school that they love,” Hinson said via email. “Our student satisfaction rate is 82 percent because of the incredible learning opportunities we provide.”
Public school enrollment numbers are up nearly 3 percent from the previous school year, with the charter and traditional public school systems adding a total of 2,717 new students. The school system’s enrollment reached a high of roughly 146,000 students in 1967, before dropping precipitously over the next decades, according to The Washington Post.
School officials said the continued upward swing proves the city’s investment in improving public education has paid off, and families recognize it as a new day for public education in the District.
“The District is becoming an attractive place to live and people from across the country are moving here and sometimes they start families and they begin looking for educational options,” Fred Lewis, a spokesman for the Office of the State Superintendent of Education, told the AFRO. “And through the diligent work of both the school sectors — the DCPS and the public charter schools — they are seeing that the quality of education is improving, they want to be part of that movement and they also want to become involved.”
David Pickens, executive director of D.C. School Reform Now, told the AFRO that multipronged levers have fueled the growth in both systems over the years. For one, the D.C. Public Charter School Board has added schools with existing track records of success and jettisoned those that are low performing, Pickens said. Existing charter schools also offer students a wealth of educational options and choice, which generates excitement as well.
Moreover, the District’s streamlined application process that lets students apply online to 12 schools in one swoop has helped bring more kids to public and charter schools, he said. “The city’s done a very good job in just instilling confidence in the public sector,” Pickens said.