*At least until the figures are audited! The Office of the State Superintendent of Education reported today that enrollment in D.C. public schools and charter schools had grown for the third consecutive year, bringing the total number of students in the system to 78,200. more ›

Your inner cranky grandparent will likely be awakened as you read this report by Michael Neibauer. Friendship Tech Prep Academy, a newish charter school which currently serves 240 students in sixth and seventh grades, not only boasts a wireless campus, but now, every single student enrolled at Friendship Tech will receive a free iPad. The D.C. Office of the State Superintendent, backed by the federal government, issued a $410,000 grant to the school to buy 240 of the fancy internet doohickeys. We're excited that these particular D.C. students are learning how to utilize advanced technology -- but are also insanely jealous that they get to tote around a free iPad. Whatever, dying of dysentery was way more fun when it was done on a bulky box. more ›

Plenty of people will watch the long-awaited "Waiting for 'Superman'" this weekend (read our review), and my guess is that plenty will walk out with a hefty respect for Michelle Rhee. She is, after all, something of an unstated Superwoman of the film. They will also probably walk out fretting what a VInce Gray mayoralty may bring -- especially if it's without Rhee at the helm of the city's schools. Fear not, though. As far-fetched as it may seem, Gray is a Superman too. more ›

In the closing scenes of Davis Guggenheim's much-anticipated Waiting for "Superman", the five school kids which the documentary revolves around await their fates in lotteries granting entry to high-achieving charter schools. As names are called, numbers chosen, and bingo-style balls pulled from cages, the suspense builds -- and the outrage that has been mounting throughout Guggenheim's damning indictment of America's failed public schools boils over. How could the future of these kids, from different cities and diverse walks of life, be so callously left to chance? Isn't this the land of opportunity, the greatest country in the world, the shining beacon on the hill? How the hell did public education get so crappy? more ›

The Washington Post's Bill Turque reports that the D.C. Public Charter School Board puled the charters for two charter schools, Children's Studio and Academy for Learning through the Arts (ALTA), and may move to revoke the charter of another, Kamit Institute for Magnificent Achievers (KIMA). On the day many area school students and teachers are celebrating as the first day of summer, parents of children at Children's Studio and ALTA must now grapple with the fact that their kids do not have schools to return to. more ›

There's something wrong with America's education system, and filmmaker Bob Bowden starts his new documentary, The Cartel, examining the roots and potential solution to those problems like any good doctor, first attempting to diagnose and define the problem. His findings — that our reading and math scores are abysmal, and our dropout rates staggering — come as no surprise, but it's a necessary setup for his task of finding out why this is the case, and what can be done about it. more ›

Remember the early allegations of cheating on the DC-CAS (the standardized test that determines school progress under NCLB)? Bill Turque has done some digging, and reports in the Post that two teachers and one administrator at Howard Road Academy Public Charter School in Southeast have been fired after realizations that the two teachers were given advance copies of the exam so students could have "extra practice." The scores of 27 4th and 6th grade students at the school have been invalidated, and the campus will lose $10,000 of Title 1 funding in order to cover the costs of the tests. How did the teachers get caught? An exam proctor was suspicious when a student finished the exam's math section extremely quickly and said, "We did this yesterday. I know all of the answers." more ›

Bad news for D.C. charter school teachers: you may not be getting paid on Friday, according to a story just posted to the Post's website. D.C. missed a $103 million payment to its 60 public charter schools this morning, thanks to some kind of tax revenue shortfall or delay, Bill Turque reports. The District is facing at least a $190 million deficit in the current fiscal year, thanks to shrinking tax revenues due to the recession. The Post story says that charter board officials are negotiating with the city to make some kind of partial payment from contingency funds to help them meet immediate payroll needs. more ›

Over the weekend the Post launched its investigative series/Pulitzer bait on the District’s charter schools, which together enroll about a third of D.C.’s students. In addition to profiling the high-performing D.C. Prep, the Post dug into the suspect financial benefits some members of the D.C. Public Charter School Board have received as a result of their board work, mostly through the complicated world of charter school loans and financing. The Post found conflicts of interest involving nearly $200 million at more than a third of the city’s charter schools. more ›

D.C. Wire reported late yesterday that the D.C. Public Charter School Board has passed new attendance and truancy policies in the wake of the killings of the daughters of Banita Jacks. The decomposing bodies of the four girls were found dead in their Southeast home after having been absent from school for months. Charter schools will now be required to report attendance statistics on a quarterly basis, and will mark attendance at a threshold rate of 85 percent, and truancy at less than 20 percent. more ›