Celebrating TIERific Public Charter Schools - Part One
On Wednesday, November 16, we hosted a celebratory luncheon in downtown DC at the National Press Club on the recently released school quality reports with more than 40 Tier One schools. This event was a way to honor each school's accomplishment and to also celebrate the 20th year of public charter schools in Washington, DC.
Mayor Muriel Bowser spoke to school representatives in attendance and acknowledged how important public charter schools continue to be for families in the nation's capital.
Learn more about each TIERific top-performing schools:
Latin American Montessori Bilingual PCS
Located in Wards 4 and 5, this elementary school has been Tier 1 for five straight years. Each year they improve their student’s reading skills and challenge students who were good to be even better. They do all of this while creating an atmosphere that is rich with cultural diversity and respect, which shines through at the school’s monthly Peace Ceremony.
BASIS DC - Middle School and High School
This school has earned a Tier 1 rating every year since they’ve been open. They’ve truly been Tier 1 on Day 1. BASIS DC students also had the highest college and career ready rates on both the reading and math subject on the state assessment.
DC Prep’s Benning Elementary, Benning Middle, Edgewood Elementary and Edgewood Middle School
The four out of the five schools at this network earned a Tier 1 rating this year. One campus has been rated Tier 1 for five straight years, another three have earned their first Tier 1 rating this year, and the fifth school is too new to be tiered. They attribute their success to a longer school day, lots of homework, and focused academic intervention when students need it.
Community College Prep PCS
This school is in a category all by itself! They’ve made remarkable progress over the last year. It is the only adult public charter school ever rated Tier 3 to move up two Tiers into Tier 1.This school is in Wards 6 and 8 has 100% of their students earning a GED.
DC Scholars PCS
Located in Ward 7, this school is a newcomer to Tier 1, improving by 14.6 percentage points from their 2014 score when they were rated Tier 2. They also posted impressive gains on the PARCC assessment in Math and they educate a large population of at risk students.
Sela PCS
This dual-language school opened three years ago in Ward 4, and in their first year of being able to earn a tier have been named a top performer. Additional the school is a top performer on the NWEA Map assessment in reading scoring 70%. Eagle Academy PCS,
Eagle Academy PCS - Capitol Riverfront
This school is located in Ward 8 and it was their founder, Cassandra Pickney’s, vision to created a school that offers students and families a quality early childhood education no matter where they live in this city. It’s with pleasure to see this school fulfill her vision by earning our highest rating for a top-performing public charter school.
Capital City PCS High School
This expeditionary school, which means that students work with outside experts, do fieldwork and community service to go deeper in their studies. This Ward 4 school is Tier 1 for the third year. And many of their high school students are advanced in reading, with freshman and sophomores taking literacy class, in addition to an English class.
We featured additional Tier One schools in other blog posts. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
