Achieving #ParentPriorities through a Parent-Driven Process

To ensure that parent and community voices were at the center of the DC School Report Card, OSSE (the Office of the State Superintendent of Education) collected feedback from the community at every phase in the development of the DC School Report Card. Parents provided input and feedback on the content they wanted to see included, the language and design, and how they would use the DC School Report Card. OSSE collected feedback in a variety of ways including online surveys, in-person feedback sessions, and from over 500 surveys from parents all across the District through PAVE’s canvassing efforts. A diverse set of family and community members participated in providing feedback, including:

• More than 4,000 family and community members from all wards and backgrounds
• 150 families with children with special needs
• 170 English Language Learner families
• Families with children in both DCPS and Public Charter Schools

A recent report from the Data Quality Campaign (DQC) highlighted OSSE’s work in DC as a model to include parent and community voice in this process. The DQC, which has looked at report cards from all 50 states and DC to highlight progress and areas of improvement, noted that “OSSE took what could have been a basic compliance exercise and turned it into a meaningful opportunity to cultivate relationships throughout the city”. We are so proud of the work our parent leaders put in to make DC’s School Report Card useful and accessible for all families, and are glad to see their work celebrated! You can read more about that work here.

With the release of the DC School Report Card in December of 2018, parents, families, and community members have access to information about all public schools in DC - including both DCPS and public charter schools, in one place. With this new DC School Report Card, parents can find and compare important information including:

• Student demographics
• Academic performance (including PARCC and MSAA scores)
• Teacher experience
• Course offerings
• Information about School Environment (such as absenteeism or suspensions)
• STAR Rating (which evaluates schools on a variety of metrics, and ranks them by giving them a STAR Rating from 1 to 5)

State of the DC School Report Card

Our partners at EmpowerK12 have created a useful tool to compare schools using DC School Report Card data. Looking at data from across the city, the DC School Report Card sheds a light on the inequities we know exist in our city. Some important data points to note:

• There is an overwhelmingly large number of four- and five-star schools in Wards 2 and 3. In fact, there are no schools in Wards 2 and 3 that earned less than three stars.

• Despite having the most public schools, Wards 7 and 8 have no five-star schools. There are only seven four-star schools, and the majority of schools East of the River have earned less than three stars.

While numbers vary across wards, these findings make it clear that DC has much work to do to improve our education system. Still, the information provided on the DC School Report Card is a good first step to celebrate and expand schools’ successes and identify the schools and areas that need the most support.

What Does the DC School Report Card Tell Us about Schools in Our City?

Since it’s launch in December 2018, the DC School Report Card has had:

• Over 39,000 unique users
• 61,000 sessions
• 56% of overall users use their desktops to access the DC School Report Card
• Sessions last about 4 minutes where users typically look at about 4 pages

Check out the SBOE’s ESSA Task Force Presentation here to learn more about how the DC School Report Card is being used.

After hearing from families, educators and advocates, the 2018-2019 School Report Card will include several new data points. OSSE has committed to including the following in the next version of the DC School Report Card:
 

While the DC School Report Card is a good start, there are still needed improvements.

OSSE has committed to refining the DC School Report Card using community feedback and including details about critical information such as teacher retention, special education programming, and including an “access and opportunities” measure on the STAR rating to show what schools are doing to provide students with a well-rounded education. You can contact OSSE to share your feedback or to ask questions at DCSchoolReportCard@dc.gov. If you’re interested in testifying at an upcoming hearing about the DC School Report Card - reach out to the PAVE organizers at organizers@dcpave.org for more information!