Testimony of Dr. Michelle J. Walker-Davis, Executive Director DC Public Charter School Board

Hearing on Adult Workforce Education

Committee of the Whole

November 20, 2025

Good afternoon, Chairman Mendelson, members of the Committee of the Whole, staff, and members of the public. I am Dr. Michelle Walker-Davis, Executive Director of the DC Public Charter School Board. Thank you for holding this important hearing on adult workforce education and for the opportunity to testify about the great work adult-serving public charter schools are doing in the District of Columbia.

Adult education was woven into the fabric of our sector in the earliest days. After the School Reform Act, or SRA, became law in April 1996, one of the first schools to receive a public charter was an adult-serving charter school: The Next Step PCS. Three decades later, the Next Step is writing more history this year as the first school to undergo a 30-year renewal. And two years from now, Carlos Rosario and Maya Angelou will undergo their 30-year renewals.

This is an enormous accomplishment for each of those schools and the communities they have built and nurtured. It also speaks to the success of DC’s thriving adult charter schools as a sector. Today, nine DC public charter schools serve adults across ten campuses and, for the 2024-2025 school year, they reached some 5,700 students or 12 percent of all public charter school students.

These nine schools do not meet the bar for adult charters in this country. They set it. Because of their innovation, tenacity, and achievement, Washington, DC is a national model.

What makes them special? For one thing, adult-serving charter schools are not compulsory. Students are choosing to enroll and to show up to class—and it’s no secret why they are.

The Mayor’s Office of Planning projects to add an additional 235,000 jobs over the next 25 years, and adult public charter schools are preparing today’s learners for tomorrow’s economic opportunities. Some adult learners seek to improve their literacy and language skills, while others aim to earn their high school diploma or other credentials.

I suspect I do not need to sell this Council on the benefits of greater literacy or credentialing, but consider this: by some estimates, raising every adult to a sixth-grade reading level would add $2.2 trillion to the country’s gross domestic product. Or this: according to census data, the median income nationwide is $36,900 for those without a high school degree and $58,410 for those with one—a difference of more than $20,000 each year.

Adult learners want new skills and the opportunity to build a better future for themselves and their families. Because success is multigenerational, parents who graduate, skill up, or earn additional credentials make it more likely for their children to do the same. And sometimes, students at adult public charter schools set the model for their parents.

A few months ago, I met an inspiring woman. Like her classmates, she walked across the stage that day to receive her high school diploma. Unlike them, she is 75. She was encouraged by graduates in her family to enroll and less than two years later, she achieved a long-held goal of earning her diploma. And to hear her tell it, she planned to put that diploma to good use in the workforce. Talk about a model for lifelong learning!

Stories like this are powerful reminders of what is happening in adult public charter schools across this city, thanks to innovative school leaders, invested families, and inclusive communities. It is also because of the Mayor’s support and this Council’s assistance, including raising the weight for adult learners through the Uniform Per Student Funding Formula (UPSFF). I know you face competing demands for every dollar, and I am grateful to you for continuing to prioritize adult-serving public charter schools.

The DC PCSB also supports adult public charter schools as part of its oversight work. First and foremost, we are committed to meaningful engagement with these schools to understand the unique models they offer and students they serve. As part of this effort, I am also pleased to share that we have recently begun partnering with a former adult education school leader who will specialize in and focus on adult charter schools. I have instructed our team to be more mindful of ensuring that adult charter schools are highlighted in our work, from making connections to sharing information. Adult public charter schools are some of our longest tenured schools, and we need to harness that success and experience.

I couldn’t possibly end a testimony without mentioning our academic accountability system, ASPIRE. As folks have heard me say, we engaged educators across the sector—including adult charter leaders—in building out ASPIRE to ensure it would not be a one-size-fit-all model. The resulting system uses five grade-based frameworks, including one designed specifically for adult learners. For adult public charters, ASPIRE measures GED rate, employment and postsecondary enrollment rate, and several other indicators of progress and achievement.

This tailored approach was a large motivator in our decision to build out ASPIRE. As you know, we are implementing the system this school year and will continue to solicit feedback from our partners at adult charter schools and across the charter sector.

So let me end where I began. For the past 30 years, adult-serving schools have been among the brightest lights in the public charter sector. Adult education continues to play a vital role in learning and workforce development in our city and region, and I have every reason to believe that, together, we can make the next thirty years even better.

Thank you, and I look forward to your questions.