examiNation DC: What do you think about students in D.C. public schools migrating to charter schools?

The sad part about all of this is that parents aren't being held accountable as much as the teachers, admininstrators, and schools are. I feel that as long as parents don't continue to provide structure in the home and for their children, fostering discipline and social responsibility, the charter schools will eventually render the same baby sitting service(=failure) as the public schools because of the lack of discipline, social responsibility, and structure on parts of the student(s), parent(s)(especially), and the school(s). Also we need to teach what students are academically capable of handling. Main-streaming is great when a student can actually benefit from it. To put students in classes that they in no way can handle defeats the purposes causing student frustration. "As a student (even), Einstein wasn't an 'Einstein'."; proper student placement is very important, if nothing but to make him or her TRAINABLE 4 WORK. Everybody's not capable of trig, chemistry, etc. Let's wa

I have never thought about home schooling my children until moving to D.C. and viewing the options. Now that we home school, I have met a large group of parents whom also home school and we would all agree that D.C. is the place to do it! With the crimes in the streets and the education level being below standards, what choices do we have? At least home schooling we know our kids are safe and getting an education. It's a great place to be....D.C. has more history than anywhere in the U.S.! Great field trips and learning experiences everywhere! If only the public schools could get it together. For now, home schooling is how we will take care of our kids...along with the other 200 families we know who home school as well. By the way, we don't get paid to home school...maybe we can change that so we do get paid!

DCPS teaches to the test and nothing else. They don't do a good job of teaching students on reading comprehension. A lot of students who come out of DCPS can barely read...and that's the sad truth.

If the public really wants to know the differences between Public and Charter schools look up greaterschools.net and compare. Many will be surprised at what they learn. Charter schools consistently score lower on the test than DCPS. Why are they not under the same scrutiny? Politics Politics Politics!!! Do they really care about children? Don't just believe what you read people look at the munbers for yourself.

Charter schools are public schools of choice. If the enrollment in charter schools is increasing it's because PARENTS are making the choice to send their kids to charter schools. If a parent thinks their child is not getting the best education at DCPS why shouldn't they be able to send their child to a charter school? It is pure ignorance to say that charter schools were founded on hate and fear. Hate towards whom? Fear of what? Maybe charter leaders hated that minorities were getting a sub par education at DCPS. Or maybe they feared that DCPS schools would continue to fail students and so they provided an alternative. The charter schools in my community are far outperforming the DCPS schools.

Half the charter schools were founded on fear; half on hate. While many of the charter school charlatans have been halted if not indicted, the system needs more financial and academic controls. We now know that academic results of charter schools as a group are no better than the rest of the publicly-financed DC schools. There are other, more efficient ways to reorganize public schools into smaller academic units yet still maintain the economic advantages of scale. Restricting discussion to charter schools and vouchers keeps DCPS and concerned citizens from exploring more productive alternatives.

The public schools in DC should be closed. The city could sell the property and give parents approximately $8,000 per child per year to cover their educational expenses. Parents could make decisions about their children's education. For example, parents could enroll in private schools in the city or public schools in the Maryland or Virginia counties. They could also home school their children and pocket the money.

All DC Public Schools are not BAD. In all actuality some are better than charter schools. My child has attended both public and charter and I believe it is the teachers who have the love, passion and patience for the job that makes the difference at each and every school. The reason I think students are migrating is because the charter schools distribute flyers and market to a lot of people. Where DC Public Schools do not send flyers requesting you send your child to that school. They have boundaries that you have to reside in or get special permission to attend. In my opinion it’s your child send them where you want them to go.

If I had children I would base my decision off of the school's performance and record of improvement (or plans for improvement). From what I've heard most of the DC Charter schools did not rate any better than the DC Public schools in educaton or facilities.

As a DC resident I have chosen to put my children in the public charter school system. Children learn more and have better amenities:such as heat in the winter and air conditioning in the summer. Every student receives their own textbook that they can take home to study with and they are not 10 to 20 years old. Unlike the DC Public schools where students can only use them in class and two or three children have to share one textbook. The lunches are also nasty and sometimes spoiled. There have been rodent and insect problems in the kitchens. Not to mention the state of the rest of the school like holes in walls;leaking walls; and so on. Not all DC public schools are like this but a lot are sadly unacceptable.

Public schools need to practice what they are supposed to be teaching. The standards need to come up higher. This needs to be a team effort, beginning with administration right down to the classroom instructor. It is my experience, that students in public schools are having to put up with mediocre teaching that does not usually take into consideration learning styles and students' potential. They need to move away from teachers that teach to the test hoping to save some time to complete their paper work to instruction that expands the mind of each student and provides more perspectives in life. It's not easy. But its possible. It's an investment on the future of our society.

A one-line description of charter schools by way of background for readers who aren't familiar would suffice. Students are leaving because their parents want to investigate alternatives. Many of the kids who leave, however, come back when their parents realize the charters aren't much better, if at all, have less oversight and have limited special education services and can't offer extracurricular activities. And, although the money leaves DCPS when the students go to charters, it doesn't come back when they return,which is wrong.

8:12 raised an important point: Sometimes these folks called reporters write about stuff THEY think s important, and now what WE the reader thinks is important. Who gave them the license to tell us what we need to read anyways? Many a times I have noticed stories on here that are sooooooooooo boring...boring....boring

Good question, but then sometimez reporters live in their own fools paradiso.

WHY are they leaving?

I have not seen any reproters ever respond to comments and doubt wil stoop to our level even tho that's what web 2.0 is all about...

I am new to the area and also new to the Examiner and I have to say that your reporter is rather presumptious in talking about charter schools and expecting lay readers to know what charter schools are? Maybe just one paragraph would have sufficed just telling people what charter schools are and how they are different from regular Public schools, or private schools. Reading the story, one assumed that people who could afford to send their kids to public schools were the ones pulling their kids off the public schools. Would the reporter take the time to explain this? No big explanation, the reporter can even respond above my comment. Not sure if the reporter has time to pay attention to these comments and one surely hopes they do...Will the reporter stand up please?

Quality of life at play.