DC Prep board reviews 2024–25 results and sets data-driven goals for 2025–26 focusing on retention, attendance and instruction

Laura opened the meeting by saying the network would "start off by talking about a recap of our data from school year 24–25," and framed the discussion around measurable goals for the next five years.

The presentation laid out several network priorities for 2025–26: keeping eight- and five‑year goals anchored to measurable outcomes, maintaining enrollment near 94 percent, strengthening staff and principal retention, and improving assessments where students lagged. "Our goal for 2025–26 is that we are stable, that we will maintain 94% enrollment," Laura said, and presenters tied that target to a planned student recruitment effort and to ongoing leadership transitions at several campuses.

Maura, leading the annual‑plan discussion, described a strategy she summarized as "follow the data," which directs staff to trace root causes of student absences and learning gaps (for example, transportation barriers or basic needs such as uniforms) and to build upstream supports. Maura said daily attendance monitoring, targeted family outreach and new leader‑development structures were central to that approach.

Presenters reviewed assessment results and accountability frameworks that shape school ratings. They said citywide gains in ELA and math were seen in 2025, and that DC Prep showed stronger growth than city peers in several early grades. The team highlighted the network’s use of state assessment measures and district frameworks (PCSB and Aspire) and described NWEA median growth percentiles and CLASS early‑childhood observations as additional evidence used to set campus targets.

On staffing, the network acknowledged principal turnover and said causes were mixed: some leaders left the role for nonprofit or out‑of‑state positions, others took personal breaks, and many cited job strain. To mitigate turnover, leadership described a reorganization that increases home‑office capacity and creates focused roles to support principals, including scheduled principal cohorts and one‑on‑one development time.

Attendance also received emphasis. Presenters described a new attendance bulletin and early interventions — attendance advisers, cross‑functional work between operations and campus teams, and family outreach — and reported stronger daily attendance in the first two weeks of the school year compared with the prior year.

Network outcomes for alumni were discussed: presenters said the most recent graduating class achieved a roughly 66 percent college‑graduation rate, which the presenters characterized as substantially higher than a national benchmark. The team also flagged special education and ELL as subgroups requiring additional attention in the coming year.

The board asked for follow‑up on several items, including sector benchmarks for principal tenure and a clearer breakdown of reenrollment by grade and campus. Presenters said reenrollment calculations would not be finalized until early October and public release would follow later in 2026.

The meeting closed its public presentation portion with announcements about staff changes and next steps for the annual plan; the board then moved into closed session. The presenters left the board with next steps to provide benchmark comparisons on principal tenure, finalize reenrollment numbers and return with further detail on supports for special education and ELL students.

The board did not take any new public policy votes tied to spending or program adoption during the presentation segment. The most immediate procedural outcomes were approval of the June minutes earlier in the meeting and later a vote to enter closed session.