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State of D.C. Schools, 2018-19

This State of D.C. Schools report is a systemwide overview of education in D.C. meant to help local residents, and especially parents of current and future D.C. public school children, better understand where D.C.’s traditional public and public charter schools have made progress. The report also addresses where targeted improvements are still necessary. We hope this State of D.C. Schools report will help inform local education policymakers in the development of future policy decisions.

At-risk priority in D.C.’s common lottery

In this report, the D.C. Policy Center simulates four scenarios to analyze how different levels of a priority for at-risk students would affect lottery results and shift student demographics in schools with low percentages of at-risk students and high waitlists. Our analyses show that at-risk priority could increase match rates from 4 percent to as high as 71 percent, depending on the ranking of preference, and the composition of the incoming class could shift from 11 percent at-risk to as high as 100 percent.

Transition to College or Career for the District’s High School Students

This report explores outcomes for D.C.’s students at the close of high school and as they become young adults transitioning into postsecondary or entering jobs. Current metrics show that the majority of D.C. public high school students enter college or careers without the adequate skills and credentials for success. Most of these students will directly enter the workforce after high school, with only 14 students out of every 100 expected to complete a postsecondary degree within six years of high school graduation. In a labor market that provides limited jobs for lower-skilled workers, many D.C. students are thus excluded from their city’s economic opportunities, widening current gaps in income and quality of life. With school years cut short, classes forced to go online, and job loss disproportionately affecting those with lower levels of educational attainment, the public health and economic crisis of COVID-19 will make this year’s transition to college or career more challenging for the District’s public school students.

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Schools

Update: Diversity in D.C.’s public schools, 2018-19

Chelsea Coffin / July 30, 2020

Reports

At-risk priority in D.C.’s common lottery: Potential implications for access and diversity

Chelsea Coffin / July 21, 2020

COVID-19

D.C. Voices: Sustainability of D.C. child care facilities during the pandemic

Chelsea Coffin / July 15, 2020

About the Education Policy Initiative

Schools have been an important catalyst for urban development and a significant means of inter-jurisdictional competition for residents in the metropolitan area. After at least 25 years of declining child population, D.C. has experienced a turnaround in school enrollment. More families are choosing to stay in D.C. and its public schools. Between the 2008-09 and 2018-19 school years, enrollment in public schools increased by 26 percent. In addition to larger total enrollments, local families are choosing to enroll in public schools at higher rates: from 2008 to 2016, the number of students in kindergarten as a percent-age of births in D.C. five years earlier rose from 67 percent to 81 percent. However, the city struggles to retain middle-income families and those with older children, and some schools are overcrowded while others are under-enrolled.

Student achievement as measured by national assessment has also improved, outpacing gains expected from demographic changes. Despite gains in student outcomes on assessments, stark achievement gaps persist and have widened in some cases. Achievement gaps between African American and white students were greater than 55 percentage points in both subjects on the state assessment in 2017-18, and a lower proportion of African American students graduate from D.C.’s public high schools than white students: In 2017-18, 69 percent of the African American cohort graduated in four years compared to 91 percent of the white cohort.

While public schools have made important progress in increasing enrollment and test scores, large disparities in educational outcomes persist and many families exit D.C.’s public schools. The Education Policy Initiative’s upcoming studies will focus on inclusivity and equity in D.C.’s public schools in addition to how the District’s schools can attract, keep, and retain families of all types. Building on previous work that created a landscape of how D.C.’s schools are changing as the city is growing, the Initiative will examine how are schools creating opportunities for all students in the District of Columbia.

Advisors

Our research is guided by a group of education researchers with deep knowledge of D.C.’s public schools and public school choice.

Matt Chingos, Urban Institute
Steven Glazerman, Innovations for Poverty Action
Savannah Gress, Kindred
Arthur McKee, CityBridge Education
Jon Valant, Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution

Education Policy Initiative

Enrollment

Educational equity

Student experience

Education policy