The transition from a public school to a charter school was not very difficult for me because, for starters, I was young and did not really understand the difference between the two. Before attending Cesar Chavez PCS: Parkside Campus I attended Burrville Elementary and before that Merritt Elementary.
The two schools shared one thing in common — none of the classrooms were enclosed with walls or doors. Everything was out in the open and once I entered the doors of Chavez I recognized this change. Chavez Parkside Campus has both middle and high school students, which was an adjustment for me mainly due to the fact that there were so many students in one school. Burrville was a big school and those who don’t know their way around could end up getting lost, but at Chavez this wasn’t the case.
It was fairly easy for me to find my way around the school due to how it is structured. When I was in middle school at Chavez the first floor belonged only to high school, the third floor belonged only to middle school, and the second floor was shared among all grade levels. Throughout the years this created a lot of congestion because occasionally a middle school class would collide with some high school students transitioning to their classes. Minor incidents like this still occur to this day.
When entering Chavez I had no idea what to expect. My parents decided to send me there because it was my neighborhood school and it was convenient for them, and I didn’t have a problem with their decision because all my friends were going there as well. Before starting at Chavez, students have to take an online test, which measures their skills in math and reading. My nerves were sky-high while taking the test because I knew that my future at Chavez depended on it.
My parents decided to send me to a charter school rather than a traditional public school because I’ve been at traditional schools all my life, and Chavez met their standards for what type of school where they wanted to send their child. Every child is nervous on the first day of school but since the majority of my classmates from Burrville were attending Chavez my nerves weren’t as bad.
One aspect that Chavez focuses on is discipline. They heavily enforce uniform policies, PAR, which stands for professional, actively engaged, and respectful, and the importance of upholding the school in a positive manner. Also, Chavez tries to focus on public policy here and there. Starting in the ninth grade, students participate in community action projects (CAP) for the last two weeks of school.
During those two weeks students select a public policy topic to focus on and they gather information along the way. Finally, on the last day of school students present their projects. Students earn fifteen hours for community service while participating in CAP. CAP allows students to take an active role solving problems that exist in their communities and society itself.
Even though Chavez is known for being one of the best charter schools in the Northeast Washington, DC area the school still has its flaws. Since Chavez is a “college prep” school I never understood why so many of the students weren’t attending some of the most prestigious colleges in the country. Many of the students are pushed towards colleges in which they are guaranteed acceptance into instead of applying to competitive colleges such as Duke University, University of Pennsylvania, and Stanford University.
The reason why many of our students apply to “mediocre” colleges is mainly due to the fact that they are only used to receiving a mediocre education. Several times this school year I have gone without a teacher. My pre-calculus teacher went on maternity leave during the start of the second quarter and as a result my class went without an adequate substitute teacher for the remainder of the quarter.
We went from teacher to teacher and learned practically nothing that entire quarter. I fell behind and took it upon myself to learn the material the best way that I could. An incident like this discourages students and sets them back from reaching their full academic potential. Pre-Calculus is not a very difficult course, once my teacher taught a new lesson and went over several examples I understood it.
But some improvements or additions that Chavez can add are a variety of Advanced Placement (AP) and Honors courses. Honors courses should start in the middle school portion of Chavez and carry out into high school. If students are introduced to a new level of difficulty in work at an early age, then honors and AP courses would not feel brand new to them once they enter high school. Also every grade level (9-12) should have the opportunity to participate in AP courses; the courses should not start in the eleventh grade, they should start being offered in the ninth. If more AP courses that applied to students’ respective career focus were offered, then the amount of students passing the course would increase. When individuals learn about a topic that they’re interested in they are more likely to remember that information as opposed to information from a topic that they have no interest in at all. Therefore, Chavez should offer a new variety of AP courses, such as AP Biology and Chemistry, in order to increase students’ intellectual capacities.
CER Intern, Imani Jenkins