Fifteen years ago, when Darren Woodruff’s first child was born, most of his friends and neighbors in Washington, D.C., didn’t even consider public schools to be an option.

“The expectation was, once you had children, you would either move to the suburbs outside the city or you’d put your child in a private school,” he said.

Woodruff set out to change that expectation.

“One of my goals, once I knew I was going to have a child, was to make sure there was a good school for her to go to once she got old enough to go to school,” he said.

Today, Woodruff is the board chair of the DC Public Charter School Board (DCPCSB) — the organization responsible for approving new charter schools, monitoring existing charter schools, and closing schools that are not meeting students’ needs.

Setting high standards and holding schools accountable for results is “critically important” to the board and to the city’s students.

Scott Pearson, who is the board’s executive director, explained that DCPCSB strives to be a “strong authorizer” that applies “close scrutiny” to make sure schools are serving students well.

“Ultimately, we're responsible for making sure that each school and that the entire charter school sector provides a quality education to the children of the District of Columbia,” Pearson said.

Washington, D.C.’s charter school law was passed nearly 20 years ago in 1996. Today, nearly 40,000 students are enrolled at more than 100 campuses, and charter schools are serving 44% of the city’s student population.

More students across the city are meeting and exceeding standards — and, for the first time, the student populations of both the city’s charter schools and traditional district schools are expanding as more families are staying in Washington, D.C., and opting to send their children to public schools.