DC’s Charter School Movement is Strong, Ranked #1 in National Report

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools released its latest report evaluating the health of the public charter school movement in key states across the country. The Health of the Charter Public School Movement: A State-by-State Analysis ranks Washington DC number one.

The report finds that states with higher rankings are strong in many of the following areas: they enroll a large percentage of students in public charter schools, have strong rates of new schools opening and serve a significant amount of historically underserved students. They measure high on innovation, meaning they have a diverse array of school programs. They also have high-performing schools that show strong academic gains. In DC, we have 114 schools run by 62 operators serving roughly half of the entire public school student population.

“Public charter schools do well in Washington, DC because they have tremendous support from parents, Mayor Bowser and the City Council,” said Scott Pearson, Executive Director, DC Public Charter School Board. 

The two new quality indicators are based on how public charter schools performed on state accountability measures, including whether the state increased the percentage of schools receiving top ratings and decreased the percentage of public charter schools receiving bottom ratings.

Community support and the Board’s focus on providing quality options to families allows the public charter school sector to continue to grow. We are proud of the work that has been put into public education in DC and appreciate the recognition from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.

Public charter schools are independent, public, and tuition-free schools that have more flexibility to be innovative while being held to high standards to advance student achievement.

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools released the latest report evaluating the health of the public charter school movement in key states across the country.