ASPIRE System

An Overview of ASPIRE

ASPIRE stands for Annual School Performance Index Report & Evaluation. Simply put, ASPIRE means achieving excellent schools for all students, particularly those from communities which have been historically marginalized. 

Please see the video below, which details the intentions of our accountability system and comprehensively explains its new features.

How does ASPIRE work?

ASPIRE has five main frameworks, which are separated based on the grade bands that a school serves: PK-Only, PK-8, High School, Adult, and Alternative. 

In the first year of implementation, most schools will be evaluated based on their success in four main categories: School Progress, School Achievement, School Environment, and a new school-selected category, called School-Specific Performance. DC PCSB has determined various metrics for each category, including state assessments and CLASS data. PK-Only schools will be evaluated based on just three categories: School Progress and Achievement, School Environment, and School-Specific Performance. 

Schools' evaluation based on these frameworks will determine their level. ASPIRE has five levels, a major departure from our former three-tier system, in the Performance Management Framework (PMF). 

DC PCSB will use these levels to make school oversight decisions. School leaders will be able to use their ASPIRE evaluation to understand their impact on students' success, and improve it. Families and communities will use this evaluation to understand how their local school serve their students.