While the District has experienced ongoing gentrification, we find one key contributing factor to the decline in the total number of students designated as at-risk is the minimum wage increase. This (rather lengthy) post examines the relationship between District population shifts, minimum wage hikes, the number of students who are designated as at-risk, and the likely undercount of students living in households that can benefit from the additional academic and social-emotional resources that the “at-risk weight” was designed to equitably fund.

This morning, a coalition of local education support and advocacy organizations formally launches a new campaign to ensure the 2021-22 school year is our Strongest Year Yet. This blog post is a summary of why EmpowerK12 believes in the coalition’s mission and how an equity-centric, continuous improvement-oriented approach can help us exceed ambitious goals we must set for a quick recovery.

You may have heard conflicting information of late about whether student achievement gaps in the District of Columbia are widening or narrowing. As with most conversations about school data, there is nuance to addressing the question, and the answers rarely come with complete certainty. We take a comprehensive look at many data points to try and determine if DC schools are helping to narrow gaps for traditionally disadvantaged student groups.

In this blog post, we examine the following key questions related to the academic achievement and improvement of DC's at-risk students: How has the correlation between school level proficiency and percent of at-risk students tested changed over time? Is the pace of at-risk proficiency gains improving and when will DC at-risk students close the achievement gap with their national higher income peers? What school level operational and instructional policy decisions are helping to improve at-risk outcomes?