Announcing DC's 2024 Bold Performance Schools! These 12 incredible schools are proving what's possible, with proficiency rates 13.5 points higher than schools serving similar students. Learn about how these bold educators are leading the way!

Bold Performance Schools are the DC schools that boldly support priority students — students designated as at-risk, students with disabilities, and students of color — to reach academic success. This report digs into five key strategies that Bold Performance school leadership teams identified to achieve their success.

This year’s Bold Performance Schools have 2022 PARCC proficiency rates that were an average of 9.1 percentage points better than other Bold-eligible schools, and their 2022 PARCC 4+ proficiency rates were 2.6 percentage points better than the pre-pandemic average for schools serving similar demographics.

We analyzed the new DC School Report Card and found 13 schools serving high proportions of priority students where academic growth exceeds growth among non-at-risk students without disabilities at DC’s lowest poverty schools. These schools were on pace to close the achievement gap in 5 years. We met with each school’s leaders and teachers, and our team identified three commitments all of the schools make in order to move the growth needle forward for all students.

We analyzed school-level student growth data from 2015-16 and 2016-17 to identify the top ten high-poverty, rapidly improving schools in the District of Columbia based on their scores against a “growth Index.” Our analysis finds that 10 of the District’s public schools serve a high percentage of at-risk students and achieve some of the most significant academic growth in the city. We call these schools “Bold Growth Schools” and uncovered common practices capable of being scaled across the District.