Policy center report: DC shows test-score gains but chronic absenteeism and college-readiness lag

Chelsea, deputy director of the DC Policy Center, told the District of Columbia State Board of Education on April 1 that the center’s March “State of DC Schools” report finds mixed progress across the system. She said overall enrollment ticked up to about 91,337 students and that statewide learning outcomes improved by roughly four percentage points in both ELA and math compared with the previous year, milestones the center called evidence the system is moving beyond the pandemic recovery phase.

But Chelsea emphasized that gains on interim measures have not erased long-standing gaps: about 49% of students were designated at-risk last year, 18% were students with disabilities and 13% were English learners. She said chronic absenteeism remained near 40%—an increase from roughly 29% pre-pandemic—with particularly sharp rises for some Latino and English-learner…