The D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) system also continues to have the nation’s widest achievement gaps between white and black students and white and Hispanic students, according to the study, which shows that poor black children in the District continue to score lower, on average, than their counterparts in other cities.
The study is based on the 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress, math and reading tests that are administered every other year to a representative sample of fourth- and eighth-graders across the country.
The District’s gains — which reflect only the performance of traditional schools, excluding charter schools — come amid a period of rapid change that has made the city a nationally watched experiment in improving urban schools. Public preschool is now available to all children; the city has adopted new academic standards; demographics have shifted; and the traditional school system has gotten rid of teacher tenure, instituting evaluations that tie job security and pay to student test scores.
It’s difficult to say exactly how those different factors have contributed to the city’s gains, but Chancellor Kaya Henderson said the growth is evidence that the school system’s key policies are the right ones.
