In a report cosigned by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and the Office of the State Superintendent of Education, the District’s public schools’ latest statewide assessment numbers showed students made gains in both English and math.
So, how did students do?
Overall, the city’s public schools’ third through 12th grade students experienced a 2.6% gain in math and a 2.9% gain in English, according to results from the spring 2023 assessment.
A third of students — 33.6% — are “meeting or exceeding expectations” in English and 21.8% of students achieved that same mark in math.
The report noted that while no statewide assessments were given to students in 2020 or 2021, this year’s results remain lower than the 2019 results, alluding to the assumption that the shift to virtual learning during the pandemic harmed student achievement and is reflected in the results.
The assessment ranks student’s academic achievements against the District’s “rigorous grade-level academic expectations” on five levels — level one being a student did not meet its expectations and level five being that a student met or exceeded its expectations for the grade level.
“We are encouraged by these results,” wrote State Superintendent Christina Grant in a news release. “Our high-quality statewide assessments give us the best picture of academic progress and we know that students, teachers and their families have been working extremely hard.”
In English, elementary school students in grades three through five increased 2.8% since 2022, middle school students increased 4.5% and high school students increased by just 0.2 percentage points.
In math, elementary school students increased 4.2%, middle school students increased 2.3% and high school students increased again with just a 0.2 percentage point increase.
Throughout the overall student population, all races and ethnicities saw increases in math from last year. Most groups saw an increase as well in English language arts. Economically disadvantaged students that receive federal assistance benefits also saw a 2.7% increase in English and 1.4% increase in math.
While they celebrate the improvements, school leaders said there’s still more work to be done. “We will keep pushing forward. But I think the lessons learned really have been around the types of investments; our trainings, our special education credentialing and the way that our teachers are making time to bring excellence into the classroom,” Grant said.
In terms of recuperating from the lingering effects of the pandemic on students, the school leaders emphasized that they continue to take this into account and are analyzing factors such as attendance and critical coping skills.
“We got to get back to the basics and the basics is maximizing that time between the teacher and the student,” said Executive Director of the DC Public Charter School Board Michelle Walker-Davis.
The D.C. school report card including the past two years of assessment data will be published in December.
WTOP’s Ciara Wells contributed to this report.
