DC Students Post Gains on 2025 State Assessments: Largest Single-Year Improvement in a Decade

Today, the DC Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) released results from the 2025 state assessment in math and English language arts (ELA). The results reveal something remarkable: DC students achieved the largest single-year proficiency gains since the District transitioned from paper-based to computer-based testing in 2015.

See Washington Post’s coverage, official OSSE press release, and CAPE data reporting webpage

With a composite gain of 3.6 percentage points across both subjects, this year's improvement surpasses even the strong pre-pandemic growth rates that once earned DC recognition as the fastest-improving urban school district in the nation. These results demonstrate that when city leaders commit to sustained, evidence-based investments and educators receive the right support, transformational change is possible.

Understanding the Results: Two Proficiency Benchmarks

OSSE reports on multiple proficiency standards on the school report card since 2016-17. Our dashboards include both metrics as options:

CAPE 3+ (General Career-Ready Benchmark): The percent of students with adequate command of content and on track for general career readiness
CAPE 4+ (Selective College-Ready Benchmark): The percent of students meeting or exceeding expectations to be on track for success at selective colleges and universities

For this analysis, we focus on the CAPE 3+ standard, which is often referred by educators as the minimum standard for being considered “on grade level.” It's worth noting that 38% of students scored at the advanced college-ready level (CAPE 4+) in ELA and 26% in math, which reflects the highest annual improvement in percent of students on track for success in selective colleges and universities in more than a decade.

Reading Recovery, Math Momentum Building

The 2025 results tell two important stories. In English language arts, DC has essentially completed its pandemic recovery journey with proficiency rates comparable to 2019 levels for all students (58% in 2025, compared to 59% in 2019) and for students from economically disadvantaged families (43% in 2025, 45% in 2019). This recovery reflects the District's strategic investments in structured literacy training for thousands of teachers and tutors, a science-based approach that is clearly working.

Percent of Students Meeting the Career Ready Proficiency Benchmark in English Language Arts

Math presents a slightly different narrative. While a 5-percentage point gain represents significant progress, proficiency rates at 48% trail the pre-pandemic level of 55%. Full recovery in math will require multiple years at this pace, but the momentum is undeniable. Our recommendations to accelerate math outcomes are further below.

Percent of Students Meeting the Career Ready Proficiency Benchmark in Math

What's Driving These Historic Gains?

The 2025 results aren't the product of any single intervention—they reflect comprehensive, data-driven approaches that address the whole child, support stronger instruction across the education ecosystem, and maximize the number effective instructional hours students receive.

Evidence-Based Instruction Takes Center Stage

The District's commitment to structured literacy has paid dividends. More than 14,000 DC educators have completed awareness training in reading difficulties, with OSSE providing high-quality, on-demand professional development. The near-complete recovery in reading proficiency validates the “Science of Reading” strategy schools are implementing.

In math, OSSE facilitated math bootcamps for teachers, provided evidence-based instructional practice guides, and equipped 40 local education agencies with a high-quality digital curriculum and learning tool, Zearn. These investments are beginning to show results, particularly in schools that have fully embraced these resources.

High-Dosage Tutoring Scales Successfully

Building on the local success documented in Stanford University's recent study, DC's high-impact tutoring initiative continues to accelerate student learning. Districts, schools, and tutoring providers participated in CitySchools Collaborative's "equity by design" framework and continuous improvement approach to create tutoring models that work based on the research. While more students need access to tutoring than currently receive it, the existing programs are demonstrating measurable impact. In 24-25, students with below average fall baseline math performance who received more than 900 minutes of tutoring in math as part of a CitySchools Collaborative supported program demonstrated exceptional growth rates, equivalent to receiving more than 50 additional days of instruction.

Addressing the Whole Child

Significant improvements in chronic absenteeism rates this year cannot be overlooked as a contributing factor. When students feel safe, loved, and prepared for learning, they show up, and when they show up consistently, they learn. DCPS’s Becoming initiative and ongoing efforts at many charter schools focus on creating joyful learning environments and building strong relationships between students, educators, and families. Scientific evidence demonstrates the importance of these conditions for academic success.

Data-Driven Decision Making

These results reflect a fundamental shift in how many DC charter school districts and DCPS use data—from compliance reporting to teacher empowerment. High-growth schools have invested in user-friendly dashboards and data literacy training to help teachers understand and act on student learning patterns, and their weekly data meetings are collaborative problem-solving sessions where teachers share strategies and celebrate wins. When we visit DC’s highest-performing Bold Performance Schools, leaders and teachers describe how they continuously monitor student progress and modify their use of instructional time to intervene and accelerate. When educators have access to data and the agency to act on it, student achievement follows.

The Path Forward

While celebrating these historic gains, we must maintain perspective. Math proficiency remains years away from full recovery, and significant achievement gaps persist across student groups, even as all demographic categories showed improvement. The current generation of students, particularly those who experienced virtual learning during the critical 2020-21 school year, continues to need intensive support.

Continue scaling what works

The District should expand access to high-impact tutoring, aiming to reach thousands more students with small-group or one-on-one tutoring for 900 or more minutes. The structured literacy training that has proven so successful should continue, with similar systematic approaches applied to mathematics instruction.

Deepen math strategy through comprehensive teacher development

The path forward in mathematics requires a multi-faceted approach that strengthens educator expertise and addresses math confidence at every level. This means providing teachers with graduate-level coursework that deepens their content knowledge while remaining aligned to grade-level standards. Math coaches, who serve as critical instructional leaders, should receive intensive professional development to ensure they can effectively support their colleagues. Beyond individual teacher growth, the District should foster cross-sector collaboration through annual math summits that bring together hundreds of educators, quarterly learning walks that spotlight exemplary classrooms, and regular opportunities for DCPS and charter teachers to learn from one another. Family engagement must also play a central role, with citywide math competitions and parent toolkits helping to build a culture where mathematics is celebrated at home and in the community. Additionally, expanding access to Algebra I by 8th grade will set more students on a path to advanced mathematics and STEM careers.

Maintain investment levels

The 2.74% increase in the Uniform Per Student Funding Formula (UPSFF) for FY26, following last year's historic 12.4% increase, provides the resources necessary to sustain these interventions. This funding stability is essential for maintaining momentum. Credit goes to Mayor Bowser and the DC Council for their consistent commitment to education investment and for maintaining DC's nationally recognized equitable funding model, which ensures resources reach the students who need them most. This sustained political and financial support creates the foundation upon which all other improvements can build.

Focus on instructional time and extended learning

Schools should continue tracking and maximizing effective instructional time, but this effort must extend beyond the traditional school day. Districts should monitor student participation in extended learning opportunities including high-impact tutoring, Saturday academies, summer school, educational field trips, and family engagement programs like PowerMyLearning's Family Playlists that help families practice math at home with young learners. Equally important is the continued focus on reducing chronic absenteeism through a balanced approach that combines joyful school environments where students want to be, attendance incentives that celebrate showing up, meaningful consequences when needed, and targeted supports for students facing barriers to regular attendance. When students are present and engaged—both during the school day and in enrichment opportunities—learning accelerates.

A Moment of Recognition

These results reflect the dedication and resilience of DC's educators, students, and families. After years of pandemic-related challenges, the District has not just returned to its pre-COVID trajectory of steady improvement—it has accelerated beyond it. The 3.6 percentage point composite gain represents thousands of individual student success stories and countless hours of hard work by teachers, tutors, and support staff.

To all of our educators: thank you for your unwavering commitment to our students. Your efforts are producing real, measurable change in young lives.

As we enter the 2025-26 school year, we have both momentum and clarity about what works. The challenge now is to sustain and scale these successful interventions while continuing to innovate and adapt based on data and evidence. If we maintain this focus and commitment, next year's results could be even more remarkable.

Explore the complete 2025 DC CAPE results through our data dashboard and learn more about how your school performed.