Bolstering the Educator Workforce

We play a vital role in licensing DC teachers, creating multiple pathways for would-be educators to start a career in the classroom, and supporting educators in the role. Our work over the last year in those areas demonstrates our commitment to grow and equip the educator workforce. We are seeing the results: Over the last five school years, DC has consistently retained teachers in the city at rates of 80 percent or higher, demonstrating stability in the educator workforce.

New Teaching Credential - Specialized Performing and Visual Arts

We finalized regulations for a new Specialized Performing and Visual Arts teaching credential to expand the opportunities for professionals with this specialized background to become teachers. The credential supports professionals with non-traditional teacher preparation experience to earn full state certification based on their professional training and demonstrated experience in the performing arts and visual arts disciplines.

Strengthening Educator Credentialing Systems

We successfully launched the new Educator Credentialing Information System (ECIS) application. ECIS is user-friendly, intuitive, and accessible. It features real-time notifications and alerts that automatically inform users of any status changes, including approvals and notification of items that require attention to resolve issues. As a result, ECIS has reduced the application submission times for external users, while internally we have improved processing times from the previous range of six to eight weeks down to fewer than five business days.

Investing in New Teachers

For the fourth year, OSSE partnered with an external vendor to provide personalized 1:1 coaching for DC educators. In FY24, we expanded our partnership to support 75 new teachers who recently graduated from a DC educator preparation provider (EPP) to provide coaching focused on personal and professional growth.

Apprenticeship in Teaching

To help grow pathways into the education profession, we launched the first citywide registered apprenticeship for aspiring teachers. The OSSE Apprenticeship in Teaching program provides cost-free pathways for District paraprofessionals and District high school graduates to earn a bachelor’s degree and become certified teachers in DC’s high-demand subject areas, including early childhood, elementary, and special education.

Teacher Retention: On the Rise

We publish data annually about DC’s educator workforce. At the start of the 2024-25 school year, 84 percent of teachers were retained citywide, and 76 percent stayed in the same school—a 2 percentage-point increase from the previous year. Principal retention has also remained strong, with 83 percent of principals retained in DC schools in 2024-25, marking a 4 percentage-point increase from the previous year. Same-school principal retention held steady at 78 percent, demonstrating consistency in school leadership across the city. OSSE remains committed to publishing comprehensive educator workforce data each year to track these trends and inform future efforts.

These increases parallel historic investments in teacher preparation and development and retention, including: new teacher coaching, the OSSE Apprenticeship in Teaching program, charter teacher pay supplements and expanded professional development.

Raising the Quality of Standards and Instruction

Financial Literacy Standards
We adopted new financial literacy standards in March following a unanimous vote of approval by the State Board of Education. These standards, which are intended to be implemented as a standalone course for students in grades 9-12, include important financial knowledge and skills, and will help ensure that students understand how individual financial circumstances are influenced by personal decisions and systemic factors.

DC STEM Fair
In March, we hosted more than 200 students and families from across the District at the 2024 DC STEM Fair. Held at Dunbar High School, students at the fair presented nearly 70 projects across science, technology, engineering and math topics. The longest-running science fair in the District, the DC STEM Fair brought together students to showcase their ideas, talents and innovation. It included an elementary exhibition for students in grades K-5 and a competitive fair for secondary students in grades 6-12.

Enhancing School Culture and Climate - Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)

We continued our commitment to supporting schools in cultivating learning environments where students are emotionally healthy and thriving academically.

New SEL Standards
We adopted new SEL standards in May 2024 following a unanimous vote by the State Board of Education. The standards include essential social and emotional knowledge and skills, like how to manage emotions and achieve goals. We reestablished a 12-member SEL Advisory Committee including educators and mental and behavioral health clinicians to support community implementation. We also published the SEL standards and SEL competency wheel in seven languages.

Social Emotional Symposium
In June 2024, OSSE held an SEL Symposium to bring together educators and stakeholders for skill-building workshops and networking opportunities to share best practices. The symposium had 163 participants from more than 20 LEAs and a variety of partner community organizations attended this conference.

Connecting SEL to Restorative Justice
In alignment with SEL principles, OSSE has also provided restorative justice training and technical assistance to LEAs. Restorative justice is an approach that promotes school safety and stability, and enables positive culture shifts within schools while supporting the behavioral needs of students.

Restorative practices are dialogue-driven processes that focus on fostering equitable, inclusive relationships rooted in trust, understanding, and collaboration within a community. This trauma- informed and healing-centered approach includes techniques such as community-building circles with opportunities for students and staff to practice SEL skills while reinforcing mental wellness for students, school staff, and families. In partnership with the nonprofit Restorative DC, we provided more than 2,100 hours of technical assistance to schools and 192 hours of in-person and virtual professional development to 38 DC schools representing 21 LEAs.

An example of SEL in action at the middle and high school level is the program Our School Our Voice (OSOV). It gives students in grades 6-12 a safe, student-led space where they can seek community with peers, and elevate their voices around the issues most important to them. OSOV held weekly restorative circles at five schools to train students to design and lead their own circles.

Improving Literacy Instruction

We provided high-quality, evidence-based training such as Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS), and the Science of Reading. We did this through our online Learning Management System (LMS), available to educators on demand. These trainings built educator knowledge and skills, which infused classrooms throughout the District with strengthened literacy instruction. To date, 876 educators have enrolled in OSSE's Science of REading course with a total of 588 educators who have completed coursework. A total of 179 educators have completed LETRS and an additional 138 educators are slated to complete their LETRS coursework in July 2025. We also made progress in providing educators with evidence-based resources, a recommendation of the DC Early Literacy Task Force. We developed and released the Structured Literacy Recommended Training List for LEAs so they could select the option that best meets the needs of their educators and students. We also supported school- based personnel with observing and improving literacy instruction through our development and release of the grades K-5 Structured Literacy Walkthrough Tool, including guidance for its implementation.

Educator Convenings for Multilingual Learners and Special Education

In August, we engaged hundreds of DC educators during two convenings: OSSE’s annual Multilingual Learner Institute, “Advancing Literacy, Culture and Multilinguals,” and our inaugural Special Education Institute, “Building Capacity for a Brighter Future.” The events enabled DC educators to engage with colleagues across the District, and grow their professional knowledge and skills in advance of the 2024-25 school year.

Launching the Math Task Force

In October, we kicked off the DC Math Task Force, a group of 18 stakeholders from across the District, including DC government personnel, DC school leaders and educators, and community organization leaders. Meeting monthly, the task force is slated to release comprehensive recommendations in 2025 for all DC students to achieve proficiency in math skills and concepts, setting them up for success as critical thinkers and problem-solvers in subsequent grade levels and life. The recommendations are slated to include:

• A baseline for math instruction to include professional learning, high-quality instructional materials, on-the-job support and family engagement
• Requirements that drive shifts to evidence-based math practices for all DC schools
• Resources and programming to support effective math instruction through professional learning

Improving Math Instruction - Math Bootcamps

We continued to invest in intensive professional development via Math Bootcamps, which have served approximately 400 teachers from all eight wards. These professional learning opportunities helped K-12 math educators deepen their knowledge of the content in order to improve their instructional practices – thereby increasing their ability to reach all learners. Additionally, educators in grades 6-12 grew their understanding of how to approach math teaching and learning with a growth mindset, because ALL people are math people.