Contacts:
Fred Lewis (OSSE) 202-412-2167, [email protected]
Michelle Lerner (DCPS) 202.805.2885, [email protected]
Tomeika Bowden (PCSB) 202-577-6158, [email protected]
Shayne Wells (DME), 202.727.3636, [email protected]
Today, the District of Columbia has released its School Equity Reports for the 2015-16 school year. Reporting on several measures of school equity including, but not limited to, enrollment, discipline, and student achievement, the Equity Reports give schools, families, and communities transparent and comparable information across public schools in the District. Every District of Columbia Public School and public charter school has an Equity Report, and each report shows individual school data in comparison to the citywide average.
Launching the day before EdFest, DC’s only citywide public school fair, the District’s public education agencies, DC Public Charter School Board (DC PCSB), DC Public Schools (DCPS), the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) and the Deputy Mayor for Education (DME), worked to continue a collaborative partnership grounded in data transparency and accessibility – a core commitment of Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration. Recently, the Data Quality Campaign highlighted DC’s state report card, which include equity reports, as one that is leading the way toward real transparency for communities.
“Equity Reports are a prime example of how the District continues to prioritize collaboration between our education agencies in order to meet the needs of families,” said Deputy Mayor for Education Jennie Niles. “I am proud of the strides we are making toward providing transparent resources that support our efforts to deliver high-quality education to all of our students.”
In addition to individual school reports for DCPS and DC public charter schools, there are aggregate reports citywide, for PK3-12, and for adult/alternative schools. Taken together, the reports provide an important macro-level view of education in DC.
“These reports continue to be an important resource for our community as families navigate the education choices that are best for them and their children,” said State Superintendent of Education Hanseul Kang. “Because of the broad range of information contained within the reports, and the fact that we have now been producing these reports for four years, families are able to compare year over year trends on much of the data. This is vitally important as we look at where our schools are doing well and where we need much more support to ensure that all our students have access to a high-quality and equitable education.”
"This report shows that for the third year in a row, DC public charter and public school students are doing better overall. They are scoring higher on the assessment tests, graduating at higher rates, missing less days of school and staying in the same school until the end of the school year. We have more work to do but we have much to be proud of." said Scott Pearson, Executive Director, DC PCSB.
“For the fourth year in a row, we’re proud to provide families and stakeholders critical information about all of DC’s schools,” said John Davis, Interim Chancellor at DC Public schools. “We must provide an excellent education to all students in the city, and this collaborative project is one important step in that work.”
Individual school results are available at www.LearnDC.org and www.osse.dc.gov/equity-reports.