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Over the last six years, no more than 24 percent of students at Kramer Middle School in Southeast D.C. have read proficiently. Math scores during that same period have never been higher than the 29 percent registered in 2011. Enrollment has dwindled almost 40 percent since 2006 (454 to 277) as two high-performing charter schools serving middle grades (Achievement Prep and KIPP:AIM) have taken root in Ward 8.

That makes it a pretty good place for DCPS to try blended learning, a mix of on-line and traditional instruction that Chancellor Kaya Henderson hopes can be a game changer. Officials announced Thursday that Kramer will switch to a blended approach this fall, with half of its academic program delivered through on-line courses aligned to the new Common Core State Standards. As one of the city’s 40 lowest performing schools, Kramer is targeted for a 40-point turnaround in test scores by 2017, a pledge that was part of Henderson’s recently unveiled five-year plan.

Henderson is keen on the blended model. She tried unsuccessfully to lure Rocketship, the widely-praised California-based charter network that has gotten promising results from poor students, to D.C. Instead, Kramer is using a federal School Improvement Grant and Race to the Top funds to take the leap. It has bought curricula and technical support from a team of digital providers, including Johns Hopkins, and Adaptive Curriculum and BrainHoney.

Educators are hoping that the interactive lessons will engage students below grade level, helping them to make up ground while teachers work personally with more advanced students. Dashboards will keep students updated on their progress and what they need to do to improve. It will also allow teachers to give more timely feedback and support in areas where kids are struggling.

About 70 percent of Kramer students are a year or more behind their grade level, according to DCPS. But principal Kwame Simmons said he believes students can gain 13 to 15 points a year under the new system.

“This is not just technology for technology’s sake,”Simmons said. “We have been very intentional about what research says drives learning. We chose strategies to improve learning not just by one or two grade levels but by multiple grade levels.”

At Kramer, that would be more than game changer. It would be a revolution.

I’m working on a story about how public charter schools serve special education students. If you’re a current or former charter school parent of a child with an IEP, I’d like to hear about your experiences, negative and positive. I’m especially interested in speaking to families who feel they’ve been discouraged from enrolling or “counseled out.”

You can reach me at turqueb@washpost.com or 202-334-9294.

It turns out that the U.S. Department of Education has quite a few issues with the District’s application for relief from No Child Left Behind. The problems start with two chronic concerns: The city’s poor record of handling and accounting for federal grants, and its difficulties staying in compliance with special education laws. Both were inherited by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education when it was formed in 2007, but they remain obstacles.

“The Department is concerned about OSSE’s status as a high-risk grantee,” said the April 17 letter to D.C. State Superintendent Hosanna Mahaley from Acting U.S. Assistant Secretary Michael Yudin, which the District kept under wraps until Thursday evening. Yudin also cited what he called the District’s “sustained non-compliance with Individuals with Disabilities Act” (IDEA).

Federal officials want to hear more about how OSSE will hold the city’s 53 public charter schools accountable--especially low performers-- since they operate with considerable autonomy. Mahaley said OSSE’s issues were unique from other state education agencies because of the city’s heavy concentration of charter schools. She said that OSSE and the D.C. Public Charter School Board need to work out decisions on which agency is best suited to support academically struggling charters.

The Education Department is offering “flexibility” from NCLB’s focus on absolute test scores and its mandate for students to achieve 100 percent reading and math proficiency by 2014. States that propose their own tough accountability plans can get some regulatory relief. Without a waiver, however, nearly all of the District's 187 eligible public and public charter schools would be considered ”failing” in two years.

OSSE officials have proposed a system that emphasizes growth in test scores over annual results and an intensive effort to overhaul the lowest-performing schools in the city. It wants to give parents a more meaningful set of measurements to determine progress of students and schools, including rates of ninth grade completion, and high school and college graduation.

Mahaley said she was surprised by the Education Department’s references to grant and special education issues. She said OSSE’s last three quarterly reports to the federal agency have included no “open issues” surrounding grants, and that discussions were underway on the District’s removal from high-risk status. As for special education, she cited the District’s exit from the “Blackman” segment of the Blackman-Jones class-action lawsuit.

Mahaley said discussions with the department would continue and a revised application will be filed by May 30.

The District has been trying to save a few dollars by reducing the number of special education students in expensive private schools at public expense.

According to a new report, that includes 118 students whose families don’t even live in the city.

Those are among the findings of a panel in the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) that studied suspected cases of residency fraud in 2011 enrollment data. D.C. is expected to spend $110 million in fiscal year 2013 to support 1,700 special education students in private settings --where annual fees run anywhere from $30,000 to $125,000 and up--because it was decided that the city can’t meet their needs. The Gray administration, which is trying to improve services at neighborhood schools, would like to shrink the number to 1,100 by 2014.

On Wednesday the state education agency reported 276 confirmed instances of students in the system illegally: 126 in DCPS, 32 in public charter schools and 118 in pricey “non-public placements.”

That’s less than one-half of one percent of the city’s 78,469 public and public charter students. But the costs mount quickly. Assuming an average of $75,000 in tuition for the 118 non-public students, the tab comes to $8.8 million a year. Add the minimum amount of per-student funding under District formula ($9,000) for the other 158, and you’re looking at a minimum of an additional $1.4 million.

“Education is free, but not without cost,” D.C. State Superintendent Hosanna Mahaley said in a statement. OSSE will press the families involved to pay non-resident tuition and make referrals to the D.C. Attorney General for collection and prosecution, if necessary, Mahaley said.

You can look at the OSSE documents here.

This is how a student of Arnita Meekins at D.C.’s Harriet Tubman Elementary described her gift as an educator: “My teacher thought I was smarter than I was. So I was.”

Meekins, who works in special education, was among this year’s 21 recipients of the Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher Awards, sponsored by The Washington Post Educational Foundation to recognize teachers throughout the region for their initiative, creativity and professionalism. A group of area principals also received Distinguished Educational Leadership Awards. A full list is here.

The presentation ceremony for teachers at the Post Tuesday evening was filled with stories from students and colleagues of long hours, meticulous preparation and devotion. Nicholas Martino enlisted the school nurse and security guard to help transform Mountain View High in Stafford, Va. into Ellis Island so that his social studies class could gain a vivid understanding of the immigrant experience. Julian Hipkins III brings subjects like Hiroshima alive for his eleventh graders at Capital City Public Charter School in D.C.with first hand testimony from survivors.