Charter Board Partners launches new website
February 7, 2012
Charter Board Partners was founded in 2010 to promote and foster strong governance for charter school boards in order to improve student achievement.  Their work focuses on creating and sustaining a network of advocates for the charter sector and their new website will serve as a valuable resource for boards and board candidates alike.  To learn more about their work in recruiting top talent to join DC charter school boards, please click here.

Introducing Ahnna Smith, Teach for America DC Region's new Executive Director
February 3, 2012
After an eight month search, Teach For America DC Region has succeeded in recruiting a superstar new Executive Director:  Ahnna K. Smith will join the TFA team in early February.  Ahnna served as a 2004 TFA corps member in Miami where she was voted "Teacher of the Year" by her colleagues.  After working for TFA as a recruitment director and in London for Teach First, she was recruited by then-Deputy Mayor Victor Reinoso to join his office to support Michelle Rhee's reform efforts and to build relationships with DC's charter schools. She became an instrumental person in City Hall and remained to serve Mayor Vince Gray, working under Deputy Mayor for Education De'Shawn Wright (TFA New York, 1998). To learn more about Ahnna and to read the full announcement, please click here.

IFF Study, Quality Schools: Every Child, Every School, Every Neighborhood: An analysis of school location and performance in Washington, DC
January 26, 2012
Commissioned by the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education, the IFF (Illinois Facilities Fund) study provides a supply and demand analysis of quality public school options citywide and by neighborhood cluster.  Based on DC-CAS data—both recent test scores and projected growth—the study organizes all public schools (DCPS and charter) into four performance tiers.  Schools in the top quartile (Tier 1) are considered "performing;" Tier 4 schools are identified by a combination of low-performance and under-enrollment.

Key findings:
1. DC needs to supply an additional 39,758 Tier 1 seats to serve all public school students; 68% of this need is concentrated in 10 neighborhood clusters, referred to as the "Top Ten."
2. DCPS and the Public Charter School Board should prioritize efforts to increase the numbers of performing seats in the Top Ten.

Recommendations to increase performing capacity in the Top Ten and across the city:
1. Invest in facilities and programs to accelerate performance in Tier 2 schools.
2. Close or turn around Tier 4 DCPS schools; close Tier 4 charter schools.
3. Fill seats in and sustain capacity in Tier 1 schools.
4. Monitor Tier 3 schools.

DC Public Charter School Board Announces Selection of New Executive Director
December 9, 2011
The DC Public Charter School Board (PCSB) has selected Scott Pearson to serve as the organization’s new Executive Director.   Pearson most recently served in the Office of Innovation and Improvement at the U.S. Department of Education, where he oversaw federal charter school programs.  He was a co-founder and chair of the board of Leadership Public Schools in San Francisco, a charter management organization operating college-preparatory high schools in the South and East Bay areas.  Pearson also had a distinguished career in business at America Online and Bain and Company.  He is a long-time resident of the District of Columbia.  To read the full announcement, please click here.

Charter School Board Announces List of High Performing Charter Schools; Report cards show schools’ annual performance
December 6, 2011
The DC Public Charter School Board (PCSB) recently announced the results of the Performance Management Framework (PMF), the PCSB’s evaluation tool for assessing and monitoring charter school performance.  At a briefing at Achievement Prep Academy—one of the city’s high performing charter schools—the PCSB announced the names of 22 high performing charter school campuses across the city.  To read the press release, please click here.  To see the full list of schools, please click here.

The Two Year Window
December 1, 2011
The New Republic recently published an article by Jonathan Cohn about new advances in the science of childhood development.  The article details the findings of the Bucharest Early Intervention Project in which researchers tracked how children who were removed from Romanian orphanages fared over time in comparison with the children still in the orphanages.  The results, as Cohn reports?  “Orphans who went to foster homes before their second birthdays often recovered some of their abilities.  Those who went to foster homes after that point rarely did.”  Cohn goes on to explain that “neglect of very young children does not merely stunt their emotional development.  It changes the architecture of their brains.”  This article is an excellent example of how to blend research, practice, and policy—exactly what we at CityBridge aspire to do!

Teach Plus is coming to DC!
October 24, 2011
Half of new teachers leave urban classrooms within three years, just as they are beginning to have the strongest impact on student learning. Teach Plus gives effective teachers a reason to stay. Teach Plus' mission is to improve outcomes for urban children by ensuring that a greater proportion of students have access to effective, experienced teachers. The organization is founded on the premise that teachers want to learn and grow in the profession, and want to ensure that their development results in increased learning among their students. An integral part of Teach Plus' work is to build a network of engaged educators who aspire to become leaders in their field. Applications for their DC Teaching Policy Fellowship Program are due November 21. To nominate a teacher or begin your application, click here.

Teachers increasingly use home visits to connect with students’ families
October 9, 2011
This Washington Post article highlights the importance of home visits as a means of establishing trust and building relationships between teachers and families.  DC’s Flamboyan Foundation has trained teachers from 47 schools to conduct home visits and the results have been astounding; parents who were once reluctant to enter the school building are becoming active and engaged partners in their child’s education.

LearnZillion launches its new beta site
September 23, 2011
Started at E.L. Haynes Public Charter School to share best practices across classrooms, LearnZillion makes great lesson plans easily accessible online to teachers, students, and parents free of charge. To preview lessons that range from fractions and measurements to statistics and expressions, click here.

What if the Secret to Success is Failure?
September 14, 2011
Paul Tough's recent New York Times article entitled suggests certain character traits have proven to be effective early indicators of academic and life-long success. Tough's piece chronicles two educators’ struggles to implement character development programs in two very different school environments.