D.C. charter schools fight second-class status. This Washington Post  article highlights some of the challenges local charter schools face with obtaining facilities compared to the city’s traditional public schools.  Check out this map that accompanied the article.  We will talk more about our take on the charter schools facilities issues at charter schools in a separate post.

Washington area public schools are chopping down on paper use. This Washington Post article discusses how some D.C. area school systems are making efforts to reduce paper usage.  School systems such as DC Public Schools (DCPS) have a strong web and social media presence; this also serves to help and educate families without excess paper.

In the District, the rise of the school garden.  Healthy diets and academic success go hand-in-hand, so we found this article on school gardens in Washington, DC public and public charter schools inspiring.

Charter schools get $1.1m to help DCPS. This article details how Cesar Chavez Public Charter School and Paul Public Charter School were given $1.1 million to train teachers and boost student test scores at two lower-achieving DC Public Schools elementary campuses.

Welcome to Friendship Beach.  This heartening Sports Illustrated video that is a part of a series on high school football teams interviews Friendship PCS’s football coach and several Friendship Public Charter School students.  It’s very interested to hear about the dedication of the students how their coach motivates them to on achieve in the classroom and the football field.

Close look at KIPP charter school challenges. Washington Post columnist and blogger Jay Mathews discusses the challenges of the KIPP DC Public Charter Schools network and delves into their DC CAS scores.  See the full blog post here.