2024 End of Year News Roundup: Education
Throughout the last year the city saw several initiatives to improve the state of education in the city. We’ve collected some highlights from mainstream news sources to see what they were talking about. Local parents with children enrolled in DCPS are still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects on attendance and educational grade level standards. Amid lowering crime rates across the city people still seem to be concerned about crime. What questions do you have about education in Washington DC? Tell us here and we’ll investigate for you!
DC unveils social-emotional learning standards to address students’ well-being
WTOP News
January 16th, 2024
In January a new set of standards were introduced to address the emotional state of DC students and help them to “manage emotions and resolve conflicts.”
5 DCPS families file class action lawsuit over disability accessible buses
ABC 7
March 10th, 2024
Several families in DC are filing class action lawsuits against OSSE’s Department of Transportation due to the lack of accessibility in the buses meant to take their children to school. “According to the class action suit, in the first five months of the school year there were over 1,000 delays and cancellations,” resulting in many of the students having disjointed schedules, sometimes missing hours of school, slipping grades, and having to pay for ride shares for more reliable transportation methods.
One parent, first interviewed in 2022, spent about $80 a day in rideshare costs to get her son to school because of repeated incidents of the busses not coming to pick her son up in the morning, a cost she said OSSE intially said they would not reimburse.
DC approves financial literacy standards to help prep kids for life after high school
WTOP News
March 22nd, 2024
Earlier this year the DC Board of Education passed an initiative to educate students on financial literacy to help prepare them for life after graduation.
Educationdc.net
May 29th, 2024
During a DCPS budget oversight hearing in mid-April, council member Christina Henderson questioned the OSSE director at a about a “transition year period” policy primarily directed toward students in special education (SPED) programs and how it would force students to go back to their neighborhood schools with no regard to lottery selections. Henderson made the comment that this will seemingly “re-segregat[e] schools.” Education.net cites a comment from Henderson via email stating that “DCPS’s policy represents a violation of school choice for SPED students.”
D.C. teachers reach tentative labor deal after a year of talks
WUSA 9
October 1st, 2024
After over a year of negotiations, The Washington Teachers’ Union and DCPS have a contract in the works created with the goal of improving teacher wages, structured breaks to prevent staff and student burnout, and curriculum prep. As of October the contract was tentative, once it has been sent to the Council of the District of Columbia it will await final approval.
DCPS
October 7th, 2024
DC was awarded a $49.8 million grant to improve literacy throughout the city. Over the next 5 years DC will use the funds to provide training to educators and develop plans aimed to increase literacy.
Howard University likely to earn highest research status, only HBCU to do so
Washington Post
November 12th, 2024
Howard is expected to regain R1 status after previously holding the classification in 2005, making it the first HBCU to be classified as such.
Amid budget cuts, American University may restructure School of Education
Washington Post
November 17th, 2024
American University plans to reorganize their School of Education after a $60 million loss toward funding. This may look like dissolving the program into another school at the University. AU’s school of education partners regularly with DC Public Schools and the status of these partnerships were an issue of concern after the news of restructuring broke. This news also comes at a time where the state of education is threatened under a new administration that has spoken to their own restructuring of higher education across the country.
D.C. truancy, chronic absenteeism drop to lowest levels since pandemic
Washington Post & WJLA
November 13th, 2024
Truancy rates in DC seem to be back to pre-pandemic numbers falling “from 37 to 30 percent” this year after what Mayor Bowser deemed a crisis just last year. Absences, however, are still up in DC. In April the UPLIFT amendment was introduced in an effort to help reduce the number of absences throughout the district.
DCPS
November 13, 2024
Community programs have been awarded $10 million for the 2025 fiscal year to ensure the safety of students as they travel to and from school in DC through the Safe Passage, Safe Blocks program. Highlights of the program include de-escalating violence, monitoring popular routes, and regularly engaging with community members.
Join the conversation in 2025 by following some of the community organizations and resources on education issues in DC:
Coalition for DC Public Schools
Advocates for Justice and Education
Senior High Alliance for Parents Principals and Educators
DC Area Educators for Social Justice
Digital Equity in DC Education
Have another education advocacy organization to add to the list? Submit their information here!
