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For Immediate Release: August 30, 2016 Contact: DC PCSB Communications Phone: (202) 328-5543 Email:[email protected]
DC Public Charter School Students Continue to Show Improvement in PARCC Assessment Results Show Schools Narrowing the Gap in Student Achievement
Washington, DC – Today’s release of 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.
“We commend our public charter school leaders and teachers who work so hard to provide our students with a quality education,” said Scott Pearson, Executive Director of the DC Public Charter School Board (DC PCSB). “While these PARCC results show improvement over last year, we still have more work to do. We will keep improving the educational options available to DC students and their families.”
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 to an overall improvement of students in grades 3-8 of 4 percentage points.
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 to an overall improvement of 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.
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 percentage 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 percentage of high school African American students scoring a 4 or 5 on the Math assessment increased by 4 percentage points and by 3 percentage points for economically disadvantaged students compared to last year.
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 percentage of high school students scoring a 4 or 5 on the ELA or Math assessments, improved by 5 or more percentage points.
“We’re pleased with the steady progress our schools have made this year. For public charter schools, PARCC is only one metric we use to assess the quality of each school,” said Darren Woodruff, Chair of DC PCSB. “In November we’ll release our School Quality Reports which will include the PARCC results along with other measures we use to assess quality such as individual student progress, re-enrollment and attendance.”
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About DC PCSB: The DC Public Charter School Board (DC PCSB) is setting a national model for creating quality public school options through its rigorous review of new public charter applications and effective oversight of public charter school performance that is leading the transformation of public education in Washington, DC. DC PCSB oversees 65 public charter schools on 118 campuses serving more than 40,000 students living in every ward of the city. Learn more at dcpcsb.org.
