While the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on student academic growth since abruptly ending in-person school in March, negative impacts on student well-being has been assumed, but less well understood.

This fall, EmpowerK12, in partnership with seven DC charter school networks and local school-based mental health experts, set out to learn how DC students feel about and experience life and school. This blog post summarizes key findings from the fall survey and shares promising practices implemented at participating schools as a result of the data.

This blog post is the first in a series of 4 to be released over the next couple weeks focused on ways DC schools can reboot strong throughout this year and beyond by utilizing the strength of strategic collaboration and intentional data collection to power the continuous improvement of District students’ educational engagement no matter the hybrid learning context.

Distance learning, while an unanticipated response to mandated COVID-19 school closures since March, will likely be a fundamental component of schooling for the foreseeable future. We expect distance learning to be employed in various regimens as the virus ebbs and flows and social distancing requirements prevent the traditional school day schedule at different times over the next year. It can also be a tool for delivering additional instruction during breaks and weekends. The purpose of this blog post is to provide distance learning recommendations to schools from a data-driven perspective.

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?

Over the last two decades, the District's demographic makeup has shifted in small and large ways, becoming more affluent with black/African American residents comprising a smaller share of the total population. Given the correlation between achievement and affluence, how much of the District's overall proficiency gains might be attributable to population changes and how much to overall student improvement?

This past December, OSSE released the new common DC School Report Card with STAR scores and ratings for every school and subgroup within the school. Then, in February, parents finalized their school preferences for the SY2019-20 school year. We analyzed the newly released MySchoolDC waitlist data for next year, comparing it to historical data as well as other school factors included on the new report card, to find out whether the new rating system impacted school choice on a broad level. 

Many parents wonder how they should rank their schools in the My School DC (MSDC) Lottery to maximize their chances of getting a good match. We dug into the algorithm to understand the absolute best way to rank your choices. What we found might surprise many people. 

In December, OSSE released the new DC school report card and first STAR school quality ratings. For elementary and middle schools, the new rating system included academic growth in math and reading for the first time, and growth was worth the plurality of points in the school score. However, for high schools, there was no growth measure included. This blog quickly examines how STAR scores could change for the public charter high schools in DC if OSSE had been able to utilize the data in time.

Maybe a better place to start is by asking: Is teacher retention an issue we should care about? In our city's quest to ensure a high-quality teacher in every classroom, we should be concerned about teacher retention.