Returning to school in Washington, D.C. during the coronavirus crisis has been an experiment in learning. Charter schools are trying out in-person schooling for small groups. A charter school is a tax-supported school created through a legal agreement between a school board and an outside group. Meridian Charter School, for example, experimented with ways to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. The school set up tall, three-sided dividers to keep students separated. But then school officials learned that this would not really prevent the spread of the virus. Now the dividers are not required. But more than half of the students still use them as personal organizers, putting notes and pictures on them. “It’s all a learning experience, and it’s all playing out in real time,” said Matt McCrea, Meridian’s head of school. Most of Washington’s 52,000 public school children are dealing with learning on computers in virtual classrooms. But more than 10 charter schools have experimented by giving in-person classes to small groups of students.