Better Buildings:
Better Schools
May – June 2008

The 21st Century School Fund Newsletter

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SHAPPE's
August 2008
Newsletter

Senior High Alliance of Parents, Principals, and Educators

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District of Columbia Public Schools News

Planning for Quality Schools in Healthy Neighborhoods

The Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) will host a policy forum on increasing the availability of and access to quality school options in the District of Columbia. The forum marks the public release of the Planning for Quality Schools: Meeting the Needs of District Families, a year-long study sponsored by the OSSE in coordination with the Brookings Institution, the Urban Institute, and the 21st Century School Fund.

When: Rescheduled for August; exact date will be announced soon.

DCPS to Implement Major Reorganization this Summer

This fall, DCPS will have a total of 13 middle schools serving 6th through 8th grade students, completely replacing the jr. high 7th-9th grade structure. 2,200 5th grade students who graduated from 70 PreK-6th grade elementary schools this spring will attend middle schools as 6th graders this fall.

23 schools will be closing: 16 elementary schools, 4 middle schools or junior high schools, 2 special education centers and 1 high school. The closed schools enrolled a total of 4,950 students last year. However, there are only 8 direct consolidations — where two schools are combined. Since students from 15 of the closing schools have been guaranteed admission in one of several near-by schools, many classrooms throughout the city are expected to welcome larger than usual numbers of transfer students this fall.

There will be 16 new pre-kinder through 8th grade schools are being established, so that in the fall, DCPS will have a total of 22 pre-K-8thgrade schools. All but one of these new pre-K-8 schools is in Wards 4 and 5 where less density had formerly required middle school students to travel longer distances.

Public Seeks a Voice in Facility Planning and Better School Facilities Management

The DC Council Committee of the Whole held a roundtable discussion on "Progress in Modernizing and Improving District of Columbia School Facilities" on Wednesday, June 26, 2008. Witnesses explained the critical need for:

community involvement (and reasonable notification) in planning
the importance of continuing with full modernization projects at all DC public schools,
the importance of learning from past design mistakes (i.e. Woodson High School)
the need for a structured process for capital planning with clear responsibility for decision-making.

Read testimony in Data Shop by clicking here.

21st Century School Fund News & Information

Ballou Teachers Enjoy New Lounge

21st Century School Fund recently completed work to improve the teacher's room at Ballou High School. With design help from architects at Hickok Cole, through the Washington Architectural Foundation, the expanded room includes a copy center and computer work stations that provide teachers with support for their class preparation. In addition the beautiful new wood floors, comfortable furniture, and kitchen appliances make it a refuge from the institutional environment in the rest of the 1960s high school. Support for construction was generously provided by the Kimsey Foundation and Horning Brothers.

Good Buildings, Better Schools: An Economic Stimulus Opportunity

Weak economic conditions has prompted discussion of using federal stimulus spending on our nation's school buildings to spur near-term economic growth by creating high quality jobs. Mary Filardo, Executive Director for 21CSF recently released, "Good Buildings, Better Schools: An economic stimulus opportunity with long-term benefits", this paper was written for the Economic Policy Institute. Mary also presented her paper at EPI's forum on Investing in U.S. Infrastructure, exploring needed federal investments in infrastructure that can provide short-term economic stimulus while also building the foundation for long-term economic growth. Click here to read Mary's paper.

Planning for Quality Schools: Meeting the Needs of District Families

The Quality Schools Project — a joint effort of the DC Office of the State Superintendent of Education, the 21st Century School Fund, the Brookings Institution, and the Urban Institute — creates a firm analytical basis to help the city plan for quality schools to meet the needs of the District's families. Phase One, the first of three phases, provides a comprehensive profile of the supply of public primary and secondary schools and of the students attending these schools in the 2006–07 school year. The report examines such questions as:

What types of public schools are available in the District and who is attending them?
How do students get access to various types of public schools?
Where are students attending school, and where do they live in relation to the schools they attend?

Click here to read the report.

Click here to view appendices in Excel format.