Amid continued declines in enrollment, D.C. schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee announced plans on Tuesday to reshape curriculum at certain schools in an effort to attract students back.
The District expects about 45,100 students when school starts at the end of August, down from about 47,200 last spring. The District’s public charter schools are expecting about 28,000 students, up from about 25,600 last year.
The new initiative at 13 neighborhood schools will infuse the entire curriculum with one of three focus areas: arts, world cultures, or science, technology, engineering and math — commonly called STEM by educators. Eaton Elementary in Cleveland Park, for example, will become a world cultures school where students will learn Chinese. Malcolm X Elementary in Congress Heights will adopt a STEM focus and begin a program in robotics. Sousa Middle School in Southeast’s Fort Dupont neighborhood will integrate arts and music, hearkening back to the 1980s when it produced the best marching bands in the city.
The coming year is set for first steps, and the new curriculum will begin in full in fall 2010.
“We want to offer the kinds of programs and initiatives in our DCPS schools that first and foremost engage our students in learning, and second, inspire families and parents to want to send their children to our schools,” Rhee said. “This is what’s compelling about a lot of the private and charter schools that exist in the city, and there’s no reason why we can’t provide those kinds of programs in DCPS.”
Rhee said the schools are modeling themselves after successful programs around the country, including some in the D.C. suburbs.
Barbara Liess is the principal at Kensington Parkwood Elementary in Montgomery County, an arts integration school that incorporates much of what DCPS hopes for: artists in residence, extra professional development for teachers, and a partnership with the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
“The fact is, it’s extra work for the teachers,” Liess said. “But they do it because they see how well it works for the kids — most say they could never go back to a regular school.”
The District’s program will be funded by the nonprofit D.C. Public Education Fund, and will cost about $2 million for the first few years. After that, Rhee said she expects enrollment at the schools to have increased enough so that the programs can fund themselves.
