Last week, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) released their 2023 DC School Report Cards. 

The DC School Report Card is designed to provide community members and families with high-quality information and school performance data for all public schools in the District of Columbia. Summative school performance scores are calculated using a number of measures and are a way to provide a transparent assessment of school quality across the city. 

When the Report Cards were introduced in 2018, they also included a new STAR Framework rating system for all schools to provide a transparent way of measuring school quality across the city, assigned based on school summative scores calculated using a number of measures. However, OSSE has not assigned STAR ratings since 2019 given the impact of the pandemic on many of the measures used.

 We are thrilled to share three very exciting takeaways from this release:

1. Our Edgewood Middle Campus, our founding campus, received the highest summative score of ANY middle school in the city.
2. Our Anacostia Middle Campus, our newest campus, received the highest summative score of ANY school east of the river.
3. Our Benning Middle Campus is in the top 10% of middle schools in the city.

Paired with our 2023 PARCC results, we continue to see evidence that our focus on strong academic recovery is resulting in substantial gains for our students, and that we are on the trajectory for more sustained growth. We are setting the bar high for ALL of our Preppies, and we are putting in the hard work to help them reach or exceed that bar.

For more on the DC School Report Card, please click here.

Three DC Prep campuses – Anacostia Middle Campus, Anacostia Elementary Campus, and Edgewood Middle Campus – were among the schools recently recognized by EmpowerK12 for outsized gains among their at-risk students. Anacostia Middle Campus was named a 2023 EmpowerK12 Bold Performance School, while Anacostia Elementary Campus and Edgewood Middle Campus received Honorable Mentions.

EmpowerK12 is a nonprofit organization whose research highlights bright spots in education at the system, school, and classroom levels. The Bold Performance recognition is awarded to schools serving a large number of at-risk students (those in foster care, experiencing homelessness, or whose families qualify for TANF and SNAP) who have combined Math and ELA proficiency rates that are dramatically higher than schools serving populations with similar demographics. This year, Bold Performance Schools had 2023 PARCC proficiency rates that were an average of 15.1 percentage points higher than other schools with similar demographics, and 11.5 percentage points higher than pre-pandemic averages than other schools with similar demographics.

“The 2023 Bold Performance Schools’ performance in math and reading demonstrate that DC’s priority student groups can reach lofty goals we set for them,” EmpowerK12 said in their 2023 DC Bold Performance Schools report.

DC Prep campuses have been awarded this recognition multiple times in past years. Benning Elementary Campus and Edgewood Middle Campus were both recognized as Bold Performance Schools from 2016 to 2019, while Benning Middle Campus was honored in 2019.

We are honored by this recognition and proud of our students, staff, and DC Prep community! Click here to read the full report.

In DC Prep’s 20th year of operation, the DC Public Charter School Board (PCSB) unanimously voted to continue DC Prep’s charter for another five years.

Every DC charter school network or single-site charter school must complete the DC PCSB’s charter review process every five years. After 15 years in operation, each school or network is required to submit a renewal application requesting to renew its charter for another 15-year term.

The charter review includes an assessment of:

1. Fulfillment of charter goals and academic achievement expectations;
2. Compliance with the school’s charter and applicable laws; and
3. Fiscal management and economic viability

At the DC PCSB’s January 23, 2023 board meeting, DC Prep presented highlights from the last five years, including how we have responded to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Several DC Prep alumni and parents testified during the Public Comment portion of the meeting, speaking to their positive and impactful experiences as part of the DC Prep community. DC PCSB Board Chair Lea Crusey remarked, “I think others will agree that the testimonies really suggest that this is a network that wants to persist beyond good.”

Thank you to all of our students, families, and staff for choosing DC Prep!  

For more on the DC PCSB’s renewal process, visit https://dcpcsb.org/charter-reviews-and-renewals. 

DC Prep has been named a 2022 Cognia™ School System of Distinction for excellence in education. 

Cognia Schools and School Systems of Distinction are those that “effectively implement high-quality instruction, show consistent organizational effectiveness, maintain a commitment to continuous improvement, and demonstrate energetic and sustained commitment to learners.” This honor is bestowed on less than 10% of schools and school systems across the world that Cognia, a global nonprofit accrediting organization, reviewed in SY2021-22.

In our most recent Accreditation Engagement Review, DC Prep earned an Index of Education Quality (IEQ) score of 387 out of a possible 400 points. The five-year average of institutions in Cognia’s accreditation network is 278-283.

Cognia’s rigorous Accreditation Engagement Review process is based on research-based performance standards and includes a third-party review by education experts of evidence, interviews, and classroom observations. The evaluation covers Leadership Capacity, Learning Capacity, and Resource Capacity, as well as a demonstrated commitment to continuous improvement. 

“DC Prep is to be commended on their recognition as a School System of Distinction,” said Dr. Mark A. Elgart, president and CEO of Cognia. “Cognia Accreditation is already a mark of distinction recognized around the world. Being named a School System of Distinction further recognizes the commitment to education quality DC Prep has for its learners.”

On September 16, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona announced our Benning Elementary Campus (BEC) as a 2022 National Blue Ribbon School, recognizing BEC as one of the District of Columbia’s exemplary schools. 

The U.S. Department of Education describes National Blue Ribbon Schools as “models of effective school practices for state and district educators and other schools throughout the nation.” Each year, the District may nominate up to three (3) public or non-public schools for consideration to the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program. Nationwide, a maximum of 420 schools are considered each year.

This is the second time DC Prep has been recognized by the National Blue Ribbon School Program; Edgewood Elementary Campus (EEC) received the award in 2013.

To learn more about the U.S. Department of Education’s National Blue Ribbon School Program, visit their website at https://nationalblueribbonschools.ed.gov/. 

Congratulations to our BEC community for this national recognition!

In its most recent accreditation review, DC Prep earned an Index of Education Quality (IEQ) score of 387 out of a possible 400 points. The five-year average of institutions in Cognia’s accreditation network is 278-283.

All DC public charter schools must undergo the accreditation process every five years to remain eligible for operation in the city. The accreditation process is conducted by an independent third-party accreditation organization to evaluate a school or network’s performance against a number of performance standards evaluating leadership, learning, and resource capacity.

Cognia (formerly AdvancED) conducted DC Prep’s accreditation review this year, during which the accreditation team analyzed submitted written evidence and conducted focus groups to interview network leadership, principals, members of the Board of Directors, and a small number of students, families, and teachers. 

The Index of Education Quality (IEQ) is “a holistic measure of overall performance based on a comprehensive set of standards and review criteria.”