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Closing the Achievement Gap

Cost-Conscious Design to Help a Charter School Meet its Program

According to a national study prepared by Ball State University, charter schools are significantly underfunded relative to local public schools.  The study found that in the District of Columbia, during the 2006-2007 school year, charter schools received 41 percent less funding than public schools.  D.C. public charter schools educated 25.6 percent of the district’s students during 2006-2007, but the schools received only 16.8 percent of total education funding.  By 2016, charter schools were educating 44% of District of Columbia students while receiving one-third of the facility allowance garnered by the public schools.

Given these financial limitations, the design of charter schools in the District of Columbia requires innovative and extremely cost conscious design to foster their educational programs.  The new Achievement Preparatory Academy middle school shown in the link below is a building designed to close the achievement gap in the District’s Ward 8 Community.

Achievement Preparatory Academy