DC Race to the Top Presentation

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March 17, 2010

● Who We Are

● Why DC?

● Goals, Vision, and Early Results

● Our Theory of Change

● Implementation

● Impact

DC Race to the Top Presentation

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Mayor Adrian Fenty

Michelle Rhee

Kerri Briggs

Victor Reinoso

Jennie Niles

Mayor of the District of Columbia

Chancellor District of Columbia Public Schools

State Superintendent of Education

Deputy Mayor for Education

Head of SchoolEL Haynes Public Charter School

Who We Are

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Who We Are

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Photo credits: Bel Perez Gabilondo and Michael DeAngelis, DCPS.

R e d a c t e

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Our Students

Our Schools

Our City

• One traditional school system and 57 charter LEAs

• Manageable size: 200+ schools and 75,000 students

• Potential to fulfill the promise of charter schools and their potential to impact a traditional school system reform

• 94% of our students are of color

• 70% of our students live in poverty

• Nation’s capital: the worldwide spotlight is on us

• Talent magnet: attracting high-performers from across nation

• Willing to be bold and aggressive – we are unafraid

Why DC?

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DC will be the highest-achieving jurisdiction in the country

DC will be the first to eliminate the achievement gap

Our Vision

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0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

White

Black/Non-Hispanic

57 points

25.6 points

DC CAS Math Achievement Gap (2006-2013)

historic projection

Closing the Achievement Gap

Early Results

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DCPS had 19% gains in elementary math on the DC

CAS over two years

DC had significant gains for every subgroup of students

over two years

DC closed achievement gap at the secondary level in

reading from 60% to 46% and in math from 62% to

52% in two years

DC CAS

MA CA

DC

GA

LAOH

NY

19 19

27

17

11

14

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NAEP 4th Grade Math Gains (2000-2009)

DC Outpaces Other States

Early Results

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National average

DC had triple the national average of gains for eighth

graders in math.

DC had the greatest gains of any state in fourth grade

math.

DC was the only state in the country that reported

increases in fourth grade math for every subgroup of

students.

NAEP

Evaluation

Turnarounds

Data-driven Instruction

• Sousa Middle School – historically low-performing middle school

• Turnaround focus: new principal, new facility, new staff

• Impressive gains: 17% points in reading and 25% points in math

• Groundbreaking IMPACT system already being implemented by DCPS

• Achievement Network partnership

• 10 DCPS schools and 24 charter schools participating, bringing embedded, data-driven practices directly to the classroom

Our Vision: What We’re Doing Already

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Our Vision: In Four Years…

• Minority achievement gap: 5 percentage points annual

• Poverty achievement gap: 3.5 percentage points annually

• ESEA performance: 5 percentage points annually

• NAEP scores: 10 points over four years

• High school graduation rates: 3 percentage points annually

• College enrollment: 5 percentage points annually

Increase Student Achievement

Close Achievement Gap

College and Career Readiness

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Our Vision: How We Get There

• Common Core standards and assessment

• Standards-aligned formative assessments

• Standards aligned to prepare students to succeed in college

• Student growth model

• Principal and teacher evaluations based on effectiveness

• Individualized PD Platform

• Ineffective teacher prep programs decertified

• In-school data coaches

• Instructional data systems in place for teachers and leaders

• DCPS schools in the bottom 5% (and up to 20%) implementing a turnaround model

• Lowest-performing charter schools have been closed by authorizer

Standards & Assessment

Great Teachers &

Leaders

Turning Around

Struggling Schools

Data Systems

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DC Today

• Disproportionate concentration of low-achieving schools

• Few existing models of high achieving schools

DC With RTTT

• Dramatically reduce number of low-achieving schools via turnaround efforts

• Increase number of high-achieving schools

• Raise overall system performance

Low-Achieving

Mid-Achieving

High-Achieving

Realizing the Vision of RTTT

DC Today

DC under RTTT

Num

ber

of S

choo

ls

High-Achieving

Mid-AchievingLow-

AchievingNum

ber

of S

choo

ls

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The school is the unit of change

Our Theory of Action

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Commitment to action and results…

Implementation

Willingness to make difficult decisions and take on the status quo

Capacity to implement…

Courage to reform…

State and LEAs ready to implement plan together

Surge of talent from across the nation

Aligned governance structure

A new, reform-oriented state agency supported by a

policy-focused State Board of Education

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