D.C. Public Schools and charter students’ standardized test scores in English and math have improved, with English results slightly better now than in the pre-COVID era, the city reported Thursday.
The District’s annual English language arts exam found that 34.8% of students in grades three to five tested proficient this year, up from 32.5% in 2024. Middle school students improved from 36.4% to 40.2% proficient, and high school students improved from 33.6% to 38.8% over the same period.
Proficiency rates on the mathematics exam improved from 28.4% to 31.2% of grade schoolers, from 22.4% to 26.4% of middle schoolers and from 11.4% to 15% of high schoolers.
In a statement, Mayor Muriel Bowser credited “sustained investments” in public education for the progress.
“We have fantastic educators who work every day to engage and challenge our students, and in just a few days, they will welcome students back for a new school year and another opportunity to build on this progress,” said Ms. Bowser, a Democrat.
DCPS campuses have struggled in recent years with subpar test scores, migrant-driven enrollment surges and larger graduating classes. According to the District of Columbia Public Charter School Board, 99,652 students attended public schools in 2024–25, including roughly 48,000 enrolled in D.C. charter campuses.
In an annual analysis of attendance data, the nonpartisan D.C. Policy Center reported in July that 56% of DCPS teens were “chronically absent” in 2023-24, meaning they missed at least 10% of the academic year.
That’s down slightly from 60% in 2022-23, the first full year of in-person learning after D.C. Public Schools ended pandemic virtual learning arrangements, but still worse than pre-pandemic rates.
According to some parental rights advocates, a growing distrust of what public schools teach has played a role in keeping attendance and scores low.
“The question is, why would they want to go to school when it has nothing of value or interest to offer them?” said Kimberly Fletcher, president of the conservative Moms for America.
Most D.C. public and charter school students continued to fall short of basic math and reading proficiency in Thursday’s numbers, despite the city spending more per student than most large school districts in the country.
The District’s standardized exam grades students on a scale of 1-5, with 4 and 5 indicating they met or exceeded expectations, and 3 suggesting they approached expectations.
According to the report, 86 out of the city’s 223 tested schools saw no improvement in English scores this year, and 82 made no progress in math.
Nevertheless, 137 schools boosted English proficiency by at least 1 percentage point, and 141 did the same in math. The city also emphasized that more students scored 3s on this year’s exams than in the past.
The mayor’s office noted that local funding for public schools has doubled from $1.4 billion to $2.8 billion over the past 10 years. That includes a spike of nearly 60% in spending per student that accelerated during pandemic school lockdowns.
“In response to the pandemic, we prioritized and invested in initiatives to support and advance academic recovery,” State Superintendent of Education Antoinette Mitchell said in a statement. “These efforts, and the hard work of our students and educators, have resulted in improvements across the District.”
