The growth of public charter schools in Washington, D.C.—coupled with out-of-boundary options for the traditional public school system, and vouchers—have made D.C. one of the most robust school choice environments in the nation. But as executive director of the DC Public Charter School Board (PCSB), I’ve seen and heard how in the charter sector, the proliferation of options has brought its own problems when it comes to picking and enrolling in a school.
D.C. has 57 charter organizations that operate 102 campuses, each with its own means of enrolling students. Parents said that with so many different application dates, the process was confusing and headache-inducing, leading some to throw up their hands and opt out. It can also act as a subtle barrier to the least advantaged families. For oversubscribed public charter schools that held lotteries, each school’s lottery was separate, meaning that some families get into many schools, while others into none–with no account taken for a family’s first or second choices. And with uncoordinated enrollment systems, families enroll in several schools and decide at the last minute which to attend, triggering a cascade of students switching schools after classes start, a phenomenon known as the “waitlist shuffle.” With more than 35,000 students enrolled, or 43 percent of the public school population, our charter schools haven’t been entirely happy with the application and enrollment process either. They have to contend with higher student turnover, phantom enrollment, and mobility in the first month of school that can exceed 10 percent of the student body. Clearly collective action was needed to address these issues, and it made most sense for PCSB to facilitate. But to make progress, we knew our action had to be respectful of charter school autonomy and voluntary, with charter schools themselves designing and directing the path forward. Enrollment is a charter school’s lifeblood. Only if we moved gradually, without laws, regulations, and mandates, and in a way that was informed by the schools’ perspectives, would this succeed. The first issue we would tackle was having a single, common enrollment deadline. Our schools had more than 30 separate deadlines for applying—along with different dates for lotteries, notification, and enrollment. Looking at every school’s process, the most common date was March 15. My team and I individually called each school leader to ask for their support. Many schools initially said “yes.” Others signed on when they saw how many of their peers were. In the end, just four or five schools opted out. The schools joined a working group that became a key forum for addressing other related issues. They agreed, for example, to set a common enrollment deadline of April 12 as a way of minimizing duplicate enrollments. They agreed to share enrollment information as a way to flag dual enrollments that do occur. The facilitator of this workgroup, Abigail Smith, built tremendous trust among the schools. (Two weeks ago D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray appointed Smith to be his Deputy Mayor for Education.) And we had key philanthropic support from NewSchools, which helped launch a media campaign called Your Charter Your Choice, which that put signs at bus stops and ads on the radio and in newspapers, to make sure parents knew about the date. The April 12 acceptance deadline has just passed, and we’re eager to hear the final numbers. But early data indicate tremendous success. One public charter school saw a 66 percent increase in applications. Another charter school said that this year they saw their highest interest level from parents yet, showing that awareness of the deadline was high. With schools sharing information about their acceptance lists, we expect far fewer duplicate enrollments. Now the working group is turning its attention to the next issues, a common lottery and common application, for charters and the traditional school system. Many schools are enthusiastic about these next steps; others are understandably more cautious. I’m confident that through the same collaborative process that created the common deadline, we can develop a common system of choice that will work well for parents and for charter schools. Scott Pearson Executive Director DC Public Charter School Board
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