D.C. Family Finds Voucher Journey Well Worth It

What happens to these children is being watched closely by partisans on each side of a long and bitter national debate. Supporters of the grants say that locally funded vouchers in Cleveland and Milwaukee have raised student achievement and encouraged the public systems to do better. Opponents say that vouchers drain resources from public schools, which still have to educate the struggling children who don't receive the scholarships.

It will be another year before education researchers can conduct a meaningful study of the D.C. program's impact on student test scores. But for the Hammonds, the changes in family routine have been immediate and pronounced.

Hammond enrolled her children at Nannie Burroughs when she was living at her mother's home in Northeast Washington, near the school. Then a four-bedroom townhouse in Southeast Washington became available, presenting her with a difficult choice. She could not stand the thought of forcing the children to spend another year in just one bedroom with her, so she chose the long commute. The 163-student private school was so well-run -- with an average class size of about 16, compared with more than 20 at the public schools in Southeast -- that she felt it would be worth it.

As they rode up Minnesota Avenue on the U2 bus on the recent Wednesday morning, the four children sat quietly, either reading or looking out the window. While waiting at the Minnesota Avenue station to switch buses, Hammond chided Asia for taking longer than her siblings to eat her sausage and biscuit. "They are not going to let you eat that on the bus," she said. The child, with a defiant grin, popped the remaining morsel into her mouth at the last possible moment.

The Hammond children said they rarely have more than a half-hour of homework a night, similar to what they had at their public school, Merritt Educational Center in Northeast. What is different about Nannie Burroughs, they said, is the sense of order and attention to learning.

"It is overcast, but we have sunshine in our building and it will be a good day," said Nannie Burroughs Principal Shirley Hayes as her 9 a.m. announcements came over the loudspeakers in the classrooms of all four Hammond children.

Hayes, who was principal for 23 years at a D.C. public school, Park View Elementary in Northwest, gave the students a short history lesson on William Grant Stills, the first African American composer to conduct a major symphony orchestra.

The day's lesson, she said, was "help others." She said, "God wants us to love and care for other people. He especially wants us to love and care for other Christians. In a big family, in a small family, we help each other."

London spent one period with a dozen other kindergartners, enthusiastically learning the Spanish words colores (colors) and estaciones (seasons).

Ronald's second-grade class had eight students, because seven had gone off to a computer lab. His teacher went from one child to the next, checking reading assignments and having each read aloud so she could check for problems.

On the wall was Ronald's recent two-sentence essay, "Spring is in the Air," printed neatly under his drawing of four short football players and two referees. "In spring my team play against a team named the Black Tigers," the essay said. "I hope to get the medal this year."

Asia's fourth-grade class was the largest, with 19 students taking turns writing the day's spelling words on the blackboard. Hammond said Asia, the most outgoing of her children, often took the longest to complete her homework but was improving.