WASHINGTON, D.C. (Oct. 31, 2022) – Education Reform Now Senior Policy Analyst James Murphy released the following statement in response to today’s U.S. Supreme Court hearings on affirmative action.

“Today’s Supreme Court hearings on affirmative action are a reminder of how central questions of equity and racial justice remain in higher education.

Education Reform Now unequivocally defends the right, indeed the necessity, of colleges considering race and ethnicity in their admissions process in order both to reckon with the impact race plays in access to opportunity and to recognize that all students should be able to bring their full identity to the admissions process, which include their racial and ethnic identity among many other factors. We hope that a majority of the justices will agree. Today’s case should also spark private and public colleges to undertake serious admissions reform to protect diversity, including the elimination of legacy preferences.

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Committee of the Whole Public Hearing on the following Legislation:

Bill 24-428, School Attendance Amendment Act of 2021 and, more general Update on Improving School Attendance/Reducing Truancy and Chronic Absenteeism

Minetre Martin

Community Organizer

Education Reform Now DC

Good afternoon Chairman Mendelson, Councilmembers, and staff of the Committee of the Whole. My name is Minetre Martin. I am a ward four resident and Community Organizer for Education Reform Now DC. (“ERN DC”). ERN DC is a non-profit organization fighting for a just and equitable public education system for all students.

Thank you, Chairman, and the DC Council for turning your attention to an important matter that has been fraught for too long, and that needs reforming. I am happy to provide testimony on how we can improve school attendance since clarifying our attendance policies is just the beginning to solving DC public school truancy issues. Chronic absenteeism effects academic achievement and student well-being. There are many factors that may contribute to poor attendance such as student mental health issues and a lack of student support personnel.[1] Therefore, the DC Council should consider more context regarding accurate attendance reporting and the following questions should be asked:

1.) How are substitute teachers being trained to report absences?

On average, 25 percent of DC public school teachers leave their school annually[2]. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a higher shortage in teachers in the district, increasing needs for substitutes who may lack professional training, awareness of attendance policies, and unfamiliarity with students in the building.[3] For example, a parent in ward 6 recently shared with me that their child’s substitute teacher confused their child with another student resulting in them having to attend court to defend themselves against inaccurate attendance reporting. Mistakes like these are not okay, and as schools rush to fill classrooms with substitutes, it is important for the DC State Board of Education and the Office of State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) to investigate how schools are preparing substitute teachers to report student attendance with fidelity for accuracy in data and most importantly to protect our students and families and maintain their trust

2.) What is the district doing to ensure that there are accurate and robust early warning indicators that inform parents of absences in a timely manner at all schools?

In another check in with parents in ward 6, they expressed concerns with not being made aware of their child’s absences immediately. Two parents shared that they received an automated call notifying them that their child missed over 40 days of school. When asked if their child’s teacher or the school ever tried to contact them, they all said no and that the attendance counselor failed to review the inaccurate reporting until they visited the school. Another parent revealed that their child informed them that their homeroom teachers were often late, resulting in attendance not being taken. Our families cannot afford these kinds of mistakes, especially when they are having to take time off from work to address these problems. DCPS and charter schools have a duty to be relentless in maintaining families’ trust and keeping students safe, that includes being keenly aware of their daily attendance and taking immediate action to contact parents when students are absent.

3.) How does diminished student well-being impact school attendance reporting?

As you all are aware, student well-being has dramatically declined since the Covid-19 pandemic.[4] While OSSE has done well to provide guidelines around school personnel training for mental health support, there does not seem to be guidelines around how attendance should be taken for students who may attribute their tardiness or early dismissal to mental health issues. This may also result in inaccurate attendance reporting and should be considered.

I offer two recommendations to help bolster student attendance for further consideration.

1.) Ensure that all public schools have a robust attendance management system in place to identify and provide appropriate support services and interventions to chronically absent students.

All DC public schools and charter schools should have a robust attendance management system in place for identifying and supporting pupils with attendance problems early. Schools should also train all teachers and substitute teachers on how to report attendance,  and evaluate staff understanding of the school’s attendance policies and management system. While DC public schools and charter schools have made compliance with attendance a priority, the reality is that staff responsible for reporting attendance have many other duties that make it challenging for them to commit their full attention to ensure attendance is reported with fidelity. By following these recommendations, schools can ensure that students with truancy issues are identified early and appropriate support can be provided. 

2.) Ensure that every school staff includes a variety of specialized support personnel such as school nurses, counselors, psychologists, social workers, or other pupil support personnel for case management and counseling.

According to the DC Policy Center’s 2022 State of D.C. Schools report, nearly half of students designated as at-risk were chronically absent.[5]The Mayor and the DC Council should raise the at-risk weight of the uniform per student funding formula to .37 so that schools can provide adequate school staff and support to students.[6]Additionally, the Mayor and DC Council should build on past years’ investments in the School-Based Behavioral Health (SBBH) program because mental health plays a large role in chronic absenteeism.[7]  With these investments and more, our elected leaders will ensure that investments are being made to provide critical services to schools to help increase their capacity for supporting students with chronic absenteeism.

Clarifying school attendance policies are a start to improving our student attendance rates. However, ensuring schools have a robust attendance management system in place and increasing investments in our schools can help to improve attendance, engagement, and overall academic achievement.

Thank you for allowing me to testify today. I welcome any questions you may have.

 

[1] Chronic Absenteeism is defined as missing 18 or more school days per year.

[2]OSSE and TNTP, “District of Columbia Teacher Workforce Report”, October 2019 (pg. 25)

[3] https://www.washingtoninformer.com/teachers-buckling-under-the-stress-of-staff-vacancies-advocates-say/

[4]  American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and Children’s Hospital Association October 19, 2021, available at: Declaration of a National Emergency in Child and Adolescent Mental Health

[5] 2021 State of D.C. Schools Report. https://www.dcpolicycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/SODCS-2020-21-one-pager_final.pdf?mc_cid=8c78509f36&mc_eid=bb7c8338aa

[6] Recommended level based on the 2014 Adequacy study. https://dme.dc.gov/page/dc-education-adequacy-study

[7]https://edreformnow.org/dc/dc-pens-letter-to-mayor-bowser-urging-continued-progress-toward-educational-equity/

New York State Senator Andrew Gounardes and Assemblywoman Latrice Walker introduced the Fair College Admissions Act on March 9, 2022. It seeks to eliminate use of the legacy preference and binding early decision in admissions at public and private New York colleges and universities. The sponsors argue both policies undermine diversity and opportunity in and through higher education.

More than 50 colleges in New York state provide a legacy preference in their admissions process and more than 30 New York colleges administer binding early admission plans. These practices tend to favor students who already have many advantages in the admissions process and harm underrepresented minority, low- and middle-income, and first generation students. They are particularly common at New York’s most prestigious and selective private colleges.

These institutions have large endowments, often worth more than a billion dollars. They also charge high tuition and fees, which is why their contributions to a non-compliance penalty assessed by the Fair College Admissions Act on colleges that choose to maintain a legacy preference or early decision plan is substantial. The penalty amounts to 10 percent of the previous year’s freshman class enrollment multiplied by the published tuition and fees. The bill directs revenue collected through this fee to the New York Tuition Assistance Program (TAP).

The table below reveals the level of commitment several highly selective private colleges and universities in New York make to equitable admissions practices, their wealth, and the potential size of the penalty they would pay for refusing to drop the legacy preference and early decision.

Sources

All data are for the most recent year available. Binding early admission (i.e. early decision), Black, and Hispanic student enrollment percentages drawn from an analysis of the most recent Common Data Set published on each institution’s website. The Common Data Set also identifies whether an institution considers an applicant’s relation to alumni in its admissions process. Pell Grant student enrollment percentages are drawn from an analysis of the most recent IPEDS data. Endowment totals are from the 2021 NACUBO analysis and, in the case of Cornell University, reporting by the Cornell Daily Sun. An earlier version contained an error in the potential noncompliance penalty for NYU.  It has now been corrected.

*Columbia University: Unlike most selective universities, including every Ivy League college, Columbia University does not publish its Common Data Set. The early decision percentage is taken from 2016. The share of students who identify as Black or as Hispanic is from the Class Profile for the Class of 2025.

Dr. Christina Grant, State Superintendent of Education
Office of the State Superintendent of Education
1050 First St NE
Washington, D.C. 20002

Dear D.C. State Superintendent of Education Dr. Christina Grant:

The D.C. School Report Card and STAR Framework was launched in December 2018 to give families, communities, and policymakers a tool that provides essential information about annual school performance. It comprises specific metrics such as student achievement, student growth, improved English language attainment, graduation rate, and school environment. It provides comparative school data on how all students are performing in each of these metrics so that families can decide which school best meets their child’s needs.

Recently, the D.C. State Board of Education (SBOE) voted to remove the single summative rating from the D.C. School Report Card and make a dashboard of various metrics instead. This change would dramatically reshape the D.C. School Report Card without making equity a critical guiding principle. While well-intentioned, this proposal fails to make transformational change in our accountability system.

D.C. residents want our district leaders to make bold changes and adopt new ways of thinking to recover from the covid-19 pandemic so that their child, and every child, has a just and equitable public education. In furtherance of this, we urge you to adopt the following five recommendations:

(1) Re-strategize and refocus outreach efforts to ensure that families in all eight wards know that the D.C. school report card and star framework is a tool that they can use to help them make decisions about schools.Families want to know that their child’s school is safe, joyful, and provides them with high-quality learning opportunities but there are still many families who have no idea that the DC School Report Card exists. A recent report from the D.C. Policy Center confirms that families use a variety of tools to make decisions: school visit (48 percent), word of mouth (48 percent), STAR or school quality ratings (37 percent), school report card data (28 percent), school websites (26 percent), promotional materials (10 percent), and other (10 percent).

(2) Get buy-in from families and D.C. residents in all eight wards, particularly those furthest from opportunity, to determine how best to use the D.C. School Report Card and Star Framework to serve their students better.The lessons learned from these focus groups can help the Office of the State Superintendent of Education and the SBOE identify ways to support schools in identifying resources and inputs that will reinvigorate joy in learning, facilitate academic growth, and put students on a path to future success.

(3) Improve, but do not eliminate the single summative rating. D.C. must keep the summative rating so that all families have access to clearly communicated, detailed information that provides a single transparent metric for determining how well their child’s school serves all students. We urge District leaders to improve the summative rating by assigning greater weights to schools providing high-quality learning to students with special needs, English language learners, students designated as “at-risk,” and students experiencing significant social change. This is the equitable approach we should be adopting as a city. One key area to consider in the future is tieing summative ratings to reading proficiency to ensure that the District remains serious about its commitment to ensuring every student is equipped with this most fundamental civil right.

(4) Administer the district-wide annual assessment exam this spring. The District uses statewide summative assessments, like the PARCC exam, to provide a baseline understanding of all D.C. students’ academic progress to drive programmatic changes and direct resources to schools that need them most. Unfortunately, it has been two years since the District last administered the PARCC exam. Though these tests may not be perfect, we should fix them, not end them. Rather than just ending testing, students, parents, educators, and policymakers in the District should have a real review to see what is working, what isn’t, and how we can change these important tests to meet the needs of students and educators. DC education leaders might consider shortening the length of the exam and making it more useful for students and families by ensuring the exam provides more rapid, useful feedback on how the student is progressing and what support they need to succeed.

(5) Get serious about innovation and school improvement. The Every Student Succeeds Act requires states to set aside 7% of Title I funds to support schools identified in need of support under state accountability systems. The DC State Report Card should demonstrate how those funds are utilized, and our local research-practice partners must analyze their impact to guide improvement.

Covid-19 has greatly exacerbated already existing inequities between student groups. That is why we owe it to our students to transform our public education system so we more effectively put them on a path to success. We urge the Office of the State Superintendent of Education to adopt these recommendations so that every student receives a just and equitable education in the District of Columbia.

In service,

Eva Johnson Ward 8 Parent
Michael Dannenberg Ward 3 Parent
Linda Epstein Ward 3 Parent
Lea Crusey Ward 6 Parent
Debra Gaines Ward 8
Amanda Borden Ward 2 Parent
Tynejia Grant Ward 7
Sherry Ward 8
Maura Marino Ward 1
Sullivan Ward 2 Parent
Cassandra Gentry Ward 6 Parent
Kyle Myers Ward 5
Irina Shaman Ward 6 Parent
Odessa Bolton Ward 6
Trudy Murray Ward 1 Parent
Michael Stewart Ward 5 Parent
Joshua Hodge Ward 6
DonWeigel                         
Ward 7
Kyle Myers Ward 5
Nicole D’Angelo Ward 5 Parent
Scott Pearson Ward 3
Artecka Brown Ward 5 Parent
Isis Rustin Ward 1
Josh Boots Ward 6
Minetre Martin Ward 4
Sarah Bradach Ward 3
Margie Yeager Ward 3 Parent
Michael Sriqui Ward 3 Parent
Matthew Nocella Ward 4
Morrell Miles Ward 7 Parent
Catharine Bellinger Ward 1
Marita Ri Ward 5
David Grosso Ward 5
Erika Harrell Ward 7 Parent
Jaqueline Castaneda Ward 1
Maria Harrell Logan Ward 5
Bethany Little Ward 3 Parent
Morello Miles Ward 7 Parent
Ellen Dodsworth
Jessica Giles Ward 7
Will Stoetzer Ward 5
Eric Paisner Ward 6 Parent
Julie Klingenstein Ward 2
Andrew Klingenstein Ward 2
Evelyn Fraser Ward 5
Nicholas Munyan-Penney Ward 2
Linda Jones Ward 8 Parent
Daniele Avila Ward 1 Parent
Nora Lieberman Ward 7
Tracy Barnes Ward 5 Parent

Cc

Rep. Jessica Sutter, President
Rep. Eboni-Rose Thompson, Vice President
D.C. State Board of Education

 

 

 

New Analysis of Best Practices from State High-Impact Tutoring Programs
Five States Highlighted for Evidence-Based Strategies to Accelerate Student Learning

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Feb. 23, 2022)—As states seek to combat missed learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report highlights promising practices from five states for implementing high-impact tutoring (HIT), a proven strategy for accelerating student learning.

The report was jointly released by Education Reform Now (ERN), The Education Trust, and Future Ed, and shares blueprints for state tutoring programs based on those in Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, Tennessee, and Texas.

“If implemented with fidelity, high-impact tutoring holds tremendous promise for not only helping students recover from interrupted learning during the pandemic, but in helping to close opportunity gaps for historically underserved students,” said Charles Barone, vice president for K-12 education policy at ERN. “We hope this analysis will facilitate knowledge-sharing among the 20 states who plan on implementing tutoring programs so that every child has access to high-quality instructional support.”

Each state highlighted has incorporated at least three of seven strategies that are proven to support student learning—particularly for historically underserved students. These include:

“The federal government, through the American Rescue Plan, invested unprecedented resources for state and district leaders to re-envision education, especially for undeserved students,” said Allison Socol, assistant director of P-12 Policy for The Education Trust. “Targeted, intensive tutoring programs show promising results not just for addressing unfinished learning as a result of the pandemic, but for addressing longstanding inequities.”

“Well-designed tutoring programs can give students the academic help and personal connections many need to recover from the ravages of the pandemic,” added FutureEd Director Thomas Toch.

You can read the full analysis here.

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About Education Reform Now
Education Reform Now (ERN) is a non-partisan, nonprofit think tank and advocacy organization that promotes increased resources and innovative reforms in K-16 public education, particularly for students of color and students from low-income families. We seek forward progress in public education—at the federal, state, and local level—developing and advocating for new, bold ideas and mutually reinforcing policies in elementary, secondary and post-secondary education.
For media inquiries, contact Victoria Fosdal: victoria@edreformnow.org

About The Education Trust
The Education Trust is a national nonprofit that works to close opportunity gaps that disproportionately affect students of color and students from low-income families. Through our research and advocacy, Ed Trust supports efforts that expand excellence and equity in education from preschool through college; increase college access and completion, particularly for historically underserved students; engage diverse communities dedicated to education equity; and increase political and public will to act on equity issues. Learn more: www.EdTrust.org.

For media inquiries, contact Joe Weedon: jweedon@edtrust.org

About FutureEd
FutureEd is an independent, solution-oriented think tank at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy. We are committed to bringing fresh energy to the causes of excellence, equity, and efficiency in K-12 and higher education on behalf of the nation’s underserved students.
For media inquiries, contact Phyllis Jordan: jphyllis.jordan@georgetown.edu

 

 

Good evening! My name is Jess Giles. I am a Ward 7 resident, an equity advocate, and the State Director of Education Reform Now DC (ERN DC). ERN DC is a non-profit organization that fights for a just and equitable public education system for all students. I am testifying tonight regarding the 12 recommendations made by the DC State Board of Education’s Committee on Accountability and Assessments regarding the School Transparency and Reporting (STAR) Framework.

I urge the State Board to keep the single summative rating and make it more equitable.

Parents/guardians want to know that their child’s school is safe and provides them with high-quality learning opportunities. They use various tools to help them decide where to send their students to school. These tools include STAR or school quality ratings (37 percent), school report card data (28 percent), and school visits (48 percent), as reported by a survey conducted by the DC Policy Center.[1] Some even use sites like Great Schools to determine school performance. Because there is a lot of information out there, parents/guardians should be able to count on the DC government to provide one website where they can find easy to understand information that they care about on every school and a single transparent metric for determining annual school performance.

Some argue we should remove the single summative rating because it increases racial or class segregation. There isn’t conclusive evidence of that. In fact, in school years 2016-17 and 2018-19 there were no large changes in racial and ethnic or socioeconomic diversity at the school level given student demographics.[2]There were also not a lot of changes in diversity in school years 2014-15 to 2016-17 either.[3]

The single summative rating must be tied to support that will improve the education and opportunities students are receiving. The State Board must provide strong oversight of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) required setting aside of 7% of Title I funds supporting schools identified in need of support under state accountability systems.

We can make the star rating more equitable by assigning greater weights to schools serving students with special needs, English Language Learners, and students designated as “at-risk” well. The State Board should hold focus groups with these families to determine how best to use the DC School Report Card and Star Framework to serve their students better. The lessons learned from these focus groups can help OSSE and the DC State Board identify ways to incentivize schools to open their doors to more of these students and identify resources and inputs that will facilitate learning and growth.

There are many aspects of the recommendations that I support, but I hope you will strengthen them by keeping the single summative rating and making equitable changes that will vastly improve education for our most marginalized and undereducated students. Thank you for allowing me to testify.

 

[1] DC Policy Center. “Exit & voice: Perceptions of the District’s public schools among stayers and Leavers.” https://www.dcpolicycenter.org/publications/school-leavers/

[2] DC Policy Center. “Update: Diversity in D.C.’s public schools, 2018-19” https://www.dcpolicycenter.org/publications/diversity-in-schools-update/

[3] DC Policy Center. “Landscape of Diversity in D.C. Public Schools” https://www.dcpolicycenter.org/publications/landscape-of-diversity-in-dc-public-schools/

Good evening! My name is Jess Giles. I am a Ward 7 resident, an equity advocate, and the State Director of Education Reform Now DC (ERN DC). ERN DC is a non-profit organization that fights for a just and equitable public education system for all students. I am testifying tonight regarding the twelve recommendations made by the DC State Board of Education’s Committee on Accountability and Assessments regarding the School Transparency and Reporting (STAR) Framework.

I urge the State Board to keep the single summative rating and make it more equitable.

Parents/guardians want to know that their child’s school is safe and provides them with high-quality learning opportunities. They use various tools to help them decide where to send their students to school. These tools include STAR or school quality ratings (37 percent), school report card data (28 percent), and school visits (48 percent), as reported by a survey conducted by the DC Policy Center.[1] Some even use sites like Great Schools to determine school performance. Because there is a lot of information out there, parents/guardians should be able to count on the DC government to provide one website where they can find easy to understand information that they care about on every school and a single transparent metric for determining annual school performance.

Some argue we should remove the single summative rating because it increases racial or class segregation. There isn’t conclusive evidence of that. In fact, in school years 2016-17 and 2018-19 there were no large changes in racial and ethnic or socioeconomic diversity at the school level given student demographics.[2]There were also not a lot of changes in diversity in school years 2014-15 to 2016-17 either.[3]

The single summative rating must be tied to support that will improve the education and opportunities students are receiving. The State Board must provide strong oversight of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) required setting aside of 7% of Title I funds supporting schools identified in need of support under state accountability systems.

We can make the star rating more equitable by assigning greater weights to schools serving students with special needs, English Language Learners, and students designated as “at-risk” well. The State Board should hold focus groups with these families to determine how best to use the DC School Report Card and Star Framework to serve their students better. The lessons learned from these focus groups can help OSSE and the DC State Board identify ways to incentivize schools to open their doors to more of these students and identify resources and inputs that will facilitate learning and growth.

There are many aspects of the recommendations that I support, but I hope you will strengthen them by keeping the single summative rating and making equitable changes that will vastly improve education for our most marginalized and undereducated students. Thank you for allowing me to testify.

 

[1] DC Policy Center. “Exit & voice: Perceptions of the District’s public schools among stayers and Leavers.” https://www.dcpolicycenter.org/publications/school-leavers/

[2] DC Policy Center. “Update: Diversity in D.C.’s public schools, 2018-19” https://www.dcpolicycenter.org/publications/diversity-in-schools-update/

[3] DC Policy Center. “Landscape of Diversity in D.C. Public Schools” https://www.dcpolicycenter.org/publications/landscape-of-diversity-in-dc-public-schools/

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Nov. 19, 2021)—Education Reform Now (ERN) National President Shavar Jeffries released the following statement in response to today’s passage of the Build Back Better Act in the U.S. House of Representatives:

“We congratulate Congressional Democrats on the Build Back Better Act, which will make historic, transformational investments that will yield lifelong benefits for millions of children and families.

Significant investments for families include two years of universal Pre-K, the expansion of the child tax credit for an additional year, and reduced childcare costs for lower-income families. We also applaud Build Back Better for its historic levels of support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other minority-serving institutions of higher education.

We are especially pleased to see several of our hard-fought for investments for teacher preparation included in the Build Back Better Act. The $112 million for Hawkins Centers for Excellence will support teacher preparation programs at HBCUs and Minority-Serving Institutions to increase diversity in the country’s teaching workforce—an investment that has a direct benefit on educational outcomes for students.

Additionally, the $112 million allocated for high-quality teacher residency programs, and $112 million allocated for ‘Grow Your Own’ programs will have the potential to greatly expand teacher pipelines to not only support recruitment, but to also improve preparation so that educators have the knowledge, skills, and classroom experience to support every child from Day One. These investments have the potential to be transformative for our nation’s students, and we applaud the Biden administration and Congressional leadership for heeding the recommendations ERN put forth with our coalition partners.

The increase in Pell Grant aid to a maximum award of approximately $7,000 is a step in the right direction, as is the expansion of financial aid to students in DACA programs and the continued increased investment in minority-serving institutions to support infrastructure and financial aid. We especially commend the Build Back Better Act’s investment in postsecondary student retention and degree completion. Additional resources and policy changes are needed to generate better results and greater equity in a higher education system that isn’t working for the majority of Black and Latinx students and those from low-income backgrounds.

While the additional resources for postsecondary education are welcome, we are afraid much more policy change is needed to bring accountability and equity to a higher education system that isn’t working for the majority of Black and Latinx students and students from low-income backgrounds. 

We urge the Biden administration to continue to pursue opportunities for a reciprocal federal-state partnership in higher education that promises all students equitable access to an affordable, quality postsecondary education.

The Build Back Better Act is a tremendous accomplishment, but there’s still much work to be done, particularly when it comes to ensuring all children receive a quality education from preschool to and through college.”

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