In today’s data-driven education system, assessments are more than just a measure of student performance—they are a key component in evaluating program efficacy, teacher effectiveness, school accountability, and District-wide success. Assessment results are the foundation of a lot of important work. That’s why test security in our public schools is so critical.
You may have heard the word “steward” as related to the land and our environment. To “steward” is to take care of, to nurture. Being a data steward at OSSE is not a job title; it is a responsibility to take care of OSSE data. Because OSSE data, as we’ve said in previous blog entries, is more than data – it represents important information about people, whether a child, student, parent/guardian or faculty or a staff member of a school or child development facility.
The “how it started, how it’s going” meme started on social media in 2020 (according to information on the internet), the same year that the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) adopted its Student Privacy and Data Suppression Policy. Coincidence? Probably. But five years later seems like an opportunity to put that meme to good use.
As you may already know, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) administers the DC School Report Card, which shares comparable data we have about public schools, local education agencies (LEAs) and the District with the public. We are required by federal law to provide a state report card, and the DC State Board of Education (SBOE) has authority over the data elements that we put on the website. For years, we had been hearing from the public for school climate survey data, but we did not have a tool to collect these data.
Over the past seven years, the District has seen notable shifts in public school enrollment patterns across its public and public charter schools. These trends are likely due to changing demographics, community preferences, high mobility between neighboring metropolitan areas, and external influences, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the 2019-20 school year (SY2019-20) enrollment in DC schools saw consistent growth, driven particularly by increased investments in public education, improved charter school options, and a growing population of young families in the district.
Working with public education data means working with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), a federal law that protects the privacy of and access to personally identifiable information (PII) in student education records.
At the same time, Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) data is more than data – it represents important information about people, whether a child, student, parent/guardian or faculty or a staff member of a school or child development facility.
The Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) has led a $40 million investment over four years to support the expansion of HIT programs across the District, with a focus on students who are furthest from opportunity. OSSE and Mayor Muriel Bowser announced $7 million of this investment to sustain these efforts after a three-year pilot period concluded in September 2024. These funds will support HIT programs for students across 90 DC public and public charter schools this year, prioritizing students who are identified as economically disadvantaged.
The District of Columbia’s education ecosystem is unique. Families have the ability to choose a school that is right for their student and each of the District’s 69 local education agencies can set their own enrollment policies. This means that students can transition across schools during and between school years.* Additionally, the District’s small geographic footprint means that students may move only a few miles but move out of or into the District’s boundaries and therefore also move out of or into the District’s school systems.
There are no shortages when it comes to government acronyms, especially in assessment. Keeping track of them all, however, can be a test all on its own. So, to prep you for the upcoming public scores release on January 29, let’s walk through what “NAEP” is, what it stands for, and why OSSE cares about what these scores have to say.
