DC’s Undercount of Students Designated At-Risk

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.