Historical public education information in the District of Columbia, 2009-2013

Education policy in the U.S.

Public education in the U.S.

School choice in the U.S.

Charter schools in the U.S.

Higher education in the U.S.

Glossary of education terms

Education statistics

This page contains archived information on Washington, D.C.'s public education system, primarily from 2011-2012, but also from other years due to the availability of data at the time it was written. For more recent information, view Washington, D.C.'s public education page.

The Washington, D.C. public school system (prekindergarten through grade 12) operates within districts governed by locally elected school boards and superintendents. In 2012 Washington, D.C. had 73,911 students enrolled in a total of 228 schools in 56 school districts. While the national ratio of teachers to students was 1:16, in Washington, D.C. there were 6,278 teachers in the public schools, or roughly one teacher for every 12 students. There was roughly one administrator for every 127 students, compared to the national average of one administrator for every 295 students. On average Washington, D.C. spent $18,475 per pupil in 2011, which ranked it second highest in the nation. The district's graduation rate was 59 percent in 2012. This was the Regulatory Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate reported to the United States Department of Education for all students in 2011-2012.

State agencies

The Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) is tasked with the goal of raising the quality of education for all Washington, D.C. residents. To accomplish this goal, the OSSE sets district-wide policies, provides resources and support and is accountable for all public education in the district.

The mission statement of the Office of the State Superintendent of Education reads:

“

The mission of the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) is to remove barriers and create pathways for District residents to receive a great education and prepare them for success in college, careers, and life.

”

The Washington, D.C. State Board of Education has nine elected members, one for each ward of the district and one at-large member.

Regional comparison

See also: General comparison table for education statistics in the 50 states and Education spending per pupil in all 50 states

The following chart shows how Washington, D.C. compared to the United States as a whole in the 2011-2012 school year with respect to number of students, schools, the number of teachers per pupil, and the number of administrators per pupil. Further comparisons to the U.S. total or the national average with respect to performance and financial information are given in other sections of this page.

Regional comparison, 2011-2012
State	Schools	Districts	Students	Teachers	Teacher/pupil ratio	Administrator/pupil ratio	Per pupil spending
Washington, D.C.	228	56	73,911	6,278	1:11.8	1:126.5	$18,475
United States	98,328	17,992	49,521,669	3,103,263	1:16	1:295.2	$10,994
Sources: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "State Nonfiscal Public Elementary/Secondary Education Survey", 2011-12 v.1a. National Center for Education Statistics, Table 2. Number of operating public schools and districts, state enrollment, teacher and pupil/teacher ratio by state: School year 2011–12 U.S. Census Bureau, "Public Education Finances: 2011,Governments Division Reports," issued May 2013

Demographics

See also: Demographic information for all students in all 50 states

The following table displays the ethnic distribution of students in Washington, D.C. as reported in the National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data for 2011-2012.

Demographic information for Washington, D.C.'s K-12 public school system, 2011-2012
Ethnicity	Students	State percentage	United States percentage**
American Indian	64	0.09%	1.10%
Asian	1,035	1.40%	4.68%
African American	56,480	76.42%	15.68%
Hawaiian Nat./Pacific Isl.	88	0.12%	0.42%
Hispanic	9,711	13.14%	24.37%
White	5,690	7.70%	51.21%
Two or More	843	1.14%	2.54%
**Note: This is the percentage of all students in the United States that are reported to be of this ethnicity.

Academic performance

Education terms
For more information on education policy terms, see this article.
School board elections portal Glossary of education terms School choice on the ballot Education on the ballot

NAEP scores

See also: NAEP scores by state

The National Center for Education Statistics provides state-by-state data on student achievement levels in mathematics and reading in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Washington, D.C.'s scores fell below the national average in each category during the 2012-2013 school year.

Percent of students scoring at or above proficient, 2012-2013
	Math - Grade 4	Math - Grade 8	Reading - Grade 4	Reading - Grade 8
Washington, D.C.	28%	19%	23%	17%
U.S. average	41%	34%	34%	34%
Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express, "State Tables," accessed May 13, 2014

Graduation, ACT and SAT scores

See also: Graduation rates by groups in state and ACT and SAT scores in the U.S.

The following table shows the graduation rates, average composite ACT and SAT scores, and rankings for Washington, D.C. in 2012 and 2013.

Comparison table for graduation rates and test scores*
State	Graduation rate, 2012		Average ACT composite, 2012		Average SAT composite, 2013
	Percent	Quintile ranking**	Score	Participation rate	Score	Participation rate
Washington, D.C.	59%	Fifth	19.7	32%	1400	91%
U.S. average	80%		21.1		1498
*Regulatory Adjusted Cohort Rate (except for Idaho, Kentucky, Oklahoma, which did not report “Regulatory Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate,” but instead used their own method of calculation). **Graduation rates for states in the first quintile ranked in the top 20 percent nationally. Similarly, graduation rates for states in the fifth quintile ranked in the bottom 20 percent nationally. Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express

Dropout rate

See also: Public high school dropout rates by state for a full comparison of dropout rates by group in all states

The high school event dropout rate indicates the proportion of students who were enrolled at some time during the school year and were expected to be enrolled in grades 9–12 in the following school year but were not enrolled by October 1 of the following school year. Students who have graduated, transferred to another school, died, moved to another country, or who are out of school due to illness are not considered dropouts. The average public high school event dropout rate for the United States remained constant at 3.3 percent for both school year 2010–2011 and school year 2011–2012. The event dropout rate for Washington, D.C. was higher than the national average at 6.1 percent in the 2010-2011 school year, and 5.8 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.

Educational choice options

See also: School choice in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C. had the highest private school attendance in the country with over 21 percent of school age children in the district attending private schools during the 2011-2012 school year. Other school choice options in the district included charter schools, online learning, public school open enrollment and homeschooling.

Education funding and expenditures

Revenue breakdowns

See also: Public school system revenues in the U.S.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, public school system revenues in Washington, D.C. totaled approximately $1.8 billion in fiscal year 2011. The table and chart below present further detail, including revenue sources, for Washington, D.C.

Revenues by source, fiscal year 2011 (amounts in thousands)
	Federal revenue	State revenue	Local revenue	Total revenue
Washington, D.C.	$227,234	N/A	$1,609,988	$1,837,222
U.S. total	$74,943,767	$267,762,416	$264,550,594	$607,256,777
Source: National Center for Education Statistics

\| \n <pbars size=650x300 title="" grid=true ymin=0 ymax=100 legend colorscheme=excel> ,Federal revenue,State revenue,Local revenue Washington D.C.,12.37,0,87.63 U.S. total,12.34,44.09,43.56 </pbars>

Public school revenues by source, fiscal year 2011 (as percents)

Expenditure breakdowns

See also: Public school system expenditures in the United States

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, public school system expenditures in Washington, D.C. totaled approximately $1.9 billion in fiscal year 2011. The table and chart below present further detail, including expenditure types, for Washington, D.C.

Expenditures by type, fiscal year 2011 (amounts in thousands)
	General expenditures**	Capital outlay	Other***	Total expenditures
Washington, D.C.	$1,326,489	$391,623	$190,576	$1,908,688
U.S. total	$520,577,893	$52,984,139	$29,581,293	$603,143,325
**Funds spent operating local public schools and local education agencies, including such expenses as salaries for school personnel, student transportation, school books and materials, and energy costs, but excluding capital outlay, interest on school debt, payments to private schools, and payments to public charter schools. ***Includes payments to state and local governments, payments to private schools, interest on school system indebtedness, and nonelementary-secondary expenditures, such as adult education and community services expenditures. Source: National Center for Education Statistics

\| \n <pbars size=500x300 title="" grid=true ymin=0 ymax=100 legend colorscheme=excel> ,Current expenditures,Capital outlay,Other Washington D.C.,69.50,20.52,9.98 U.S. total,86.31,8.78,4.90 </pbars>

Public school expenditures, fiscal year 2011 (as percents)

Personnel salaries

See also: Public school teacher salaries in the United States

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average national salary for classroom teachers in public elementary and secondary schools declined by 1.3 percent from the 1999-2000 school year to the 2012-2013 school year. During the same period in Washington, D.C., the average salary increased by 10.2 percent.

Estimated average salaries for teachers (in constant dollars**)
	1999-2000	2009-2010	2011-2012	2012-2013	Percent difference
Washington, D.C.	$64,334	$68,901	$69,864	$70,906	10.2%
U.S. average	$57,133	$58,925	$56,340	$56,383	-1.3%
**"Constant dollars based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, adjusted to a school-year basis. The CPI does not account for differences in inflation rates from state to state."

Organizations

Unions

In 2012, the Fordham Institute and Education Reform Now assessed the power and influence of state teacher unions in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Their rankings were based on 37 different variables in five broad areas, including: resources and membership, involvement in politics, scope of bargaining, state policies and perceived influence. Washington, D.C. ranked 33rd overall, or weak, which was in the fourth tier of five.

The Washington Teachers' Union, an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers, represents the district's teachers.

List of local District of Columbia school unions:

• Washington Teachers' Union
• National Education Association

Noteworthy events

In October 2009, Chancellor of Education Michelle Rhee fired 400 school personnel, including 266 educators, in order to close a budget shortfall. Union members claimed the budget shortfall was a manufactured excuse to clear teachers out of Washington, D.C. public schools.

The union sought to compel the public school system to reinstate the 266 teachers pending arbitration of a grievance the union filed under its contract. In November 2009, the D.C. Superior Court denied the union's request for a preliminary injunction.

Studies and reports

State Budget Solutions education study

See also: State spending on education v. academic performance (2012)

State Budget Solutions examined national trends in education from 2009 to 2011, including state-by-state analysis of education spending, graduation rates and average ACT scores. The study showed that the states that spent the most did not have the highest average ACT test scores, nor did they have the highest average graduation rates. A summary of the study is available here. The full report can be accessed here.

See also

• Public education in the District of Columbia
• Washington, D.C.
• Education Policy in the U.S.