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That's not how pre-K works. Instead, parents apply for up to 6 of the 85 DCPS pre-K programs by lottery, and the other 70 charter and community-based programs all have separate applications and lotteries of their own. A child could apply for a few programs and get turned down at all of them, and never know if there is a slot somewhere else.

OSSE could collect data on all of these lotteries, identify how many distinct children are applying, and report a number reflecting the total demand for pre-K. But they do not. OSSE did not respond to multiple requests about its audit methodology.

This methodology is as flawed as the OSSE method of measuring enrollment in May, for similar reasons. There are a decent number of kids who apply to 6 DCPS pre-school slots, as well as a lot of charter schools, and don't get in via the lottery to any of them. But they are placed on the waitlist, and many get slots over the summer or shortly after school starts. Because of the active waitlists, applicant data is meaningless.

For similar reasons, even measuring enrollment as of the first day of school is flawed - there is a lot of movement the first month of school. It seems to me the best date to measure enrollemnt woudl be October 2 - I think that's the day after schools report their enrollment for funding purposes. Regardless, May is far too late to measure enrollment - there can be attrition for a whole host of reasons, and schools actually have a disincentive to fill spots vacated after October 1 (I don't believe vacancies affect their funding after that date).

by dcd on Jun 19, 2012 12:34 pm • link • report

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