What is DC Decision Day?

DC Decision Day is the District’s adaptation of College Signing Day, a national movement created in 2015 within former first lady Michelle Obama's Reach Higher initiative. The goal of DC Decision Day is to recognize high school seniors for their postsecondary education plans and encourage younger students and families to prepare early for postsecondary education. National College Signing Day is held annually in early May and is designed to coincide with the date that seniors must inform most colleges of their plans to enroll.

DC Decision Day initiatives are inspired by the NCAA’s National Signing Day where student athletes are celebrated for signing a letter of intent, committing to the athletic program at the college they will attend, often accompanied by a partial or full athletic scholarship. Decision Day events reinforce that academic excellence should be given as much pomp and circumstance as athletic excellence. By supporting the tradition of DC Decision Day, we want every student in the District with a postsecondary plan to experience a feeling of importance and to be recognized for their efforts.

For the 2022-23 school year, OSSE celebrated DC Decision Day with the release of the DC Decision Day video that honored the postsecondary decisions of several students across the district. Check out the video below:

Upcoming Event

Join OSSE for DC Decision Day 2024
May 1, 2024

This year, OSSE will celebrate and honor the Class of 2024 through a social media campaign. If your school would like to feature your students’ postsecondary decisions in OSSE’s DC Decision Day social media campaign, please register here.

District of Columbia high schools are also encouraged to host their own DC Decision Day events during the months of April, May, and June with the “I Have a Plan!” theme. No matter which postsecondary option your students are pursuing after high school, we want them to be excited to shout, “I Have a Plan!” Use the hashtags #IHaveAPlan #DCDecisionDay when promoting your event on social media.

DC Decision Day is one of OSSE’s college-readiness pathway events that, along with College Application and Exploration Month and our Districtwide FAFSA Completion Initiative, help guide seniors and their families in planning for, applying to, paying for and completing college.

For more information or questions, please contact Joi Jones at [email protected].