2016 PARCC

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness in College and Careers (PARCC) results show a 4 percentage point increase in the number of citywide public charter school students achieving a 4 or 5 (meeting or exceeding academic expectations) in grades 3-8 and high school on assessments in English Language Arts (ELA) and a 2.5 percentage point increase in the number of citywide public charter school students achieving a 4 or 5 in Math, according to data released by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE).

This year — the 20th year citywide public charter schools have provided quality education options for students in Washington, DC — continues the decade-long trend of citywide public charter school students performing at or better than the District average, as well as showing steady improvement in performance. This is the second year OSSE has administered the PARCC assessment; prior to 2015, OSSE administered the DC CAS as the statewide assessment.

The PARCC results reflect more than 14,000 public charter school students who took the ELA and Math assessments. Students from every ward attend citywide public charter schools, and 79% of the students taking the assessment last year were African American, 12% Latino, and 6% white. Additionally, 82% were economically disadvantaged, 19% were special education students, and 8% were English language learners.

Students in Grades 3-8

Overall, more DC public charter school students in grades 3-8 met or exceeded expectations, scoring a 4 or 5, on the ELA and Math assessments this year. Specifically, 29% of public charter school students scored a 4 or 5 on the ELA assessment and 28% of public charter school students scored a 4 or 5 on the Math assessment. This is a 4 percentage point and a 2 percentage point increase on the ELA and Math assessments, respectively, from last year.

Results by Subgroups Grades 3-8

Consistent with the overall growth in student performance, the performance of African American students and Latino students improved as well. Specifically in ELA, African American students improved by 4 percentage points and Latino students improved by 7 percentage points. Additionally, economically disadvantaged students improved by 5 percentage points; English language learners improved by 3 percentage points; and special education students improved by 1 percentage point, compared with an overall improvement of 4 percentage points by students in grades 3-8.

In Math, African American students improved by 2 percentage points; Latino students improved by 3 percentage points; economically disadvantaged students improved by 3 percentage points; English language learners improved by 3 percentage points; and special education students improved by 2 percentage points, compared with an overall improvement for students in grades 3-8 of 2 percentage points.

Top Performing Citywide Schools: Grades 3-8

In 22 citywide public charter schools the percentage of students in grades 3-8 scoring a 4 or 5 on the ELA and Math assessments exceeded the District average performance.

Most Improved Citywide Schools: Grades 3-8

In 16 citywide public charter schools the percentage of students scoring a 4 or 5 on the ELA and Math assessments, improved by 5 or more percentage points compared to last year.

Students in Citywide High Schools

Twenty-three percent of public charter high school students scored a 4 or 5 on the ELA assessment, and 11% of public charter high school students scored a 4 or 5 on the Math assessment. This represents a 1 percentage point increase on the ELA assessment and a 4 percentage point increase on the Math assessment.

Citywide High School Results by Subgroup

As a subgroup of students, high school Latino and English language learners showed the largest percentage point improvement on any PARCC assessment. The share of Latino students scoring a 4 or 5 on the ELA assessment increased by 5 percentage points, while the percentage of English language learners scoring a 4 or 5 on the ELA assessment increased by 11 percentage points.

Additionally, the share of high school African American students scoring a 4 or 5 on the Math assessment increased by 4 percentage points compared with last year, and the share of economically disadvantaged students increased by 3 percentage points.

Top-Performing Citywide High Schools

In four citywide public charter high schools, the percentage of high school students scoring a 4 or 5 on the ELA and Math assessments exceeded the District’s average performance.

In other citywide public charter high schools, the performance of African American and Latino students exceeded the District’s averages for those subgroups.

Most Improved Citywide High Schools

Additionally, in seven citywide public charter high schools, the share of high school students scoring a 4 or 5 on the ELA or Math assessment improved by 5 or more percentage points.

To download a PDF version of the presentation delivered during the press briefing, click here.

Interested in last year's results for comparison? Read 2015 PARCC information here.