DC STATE ASSESSMENT (CAPE) DASHBOARD
Explore the latest DC school performance data in math and English language arts for grades 3-10.
LAST UPDATE: August 2025 with data from OSSE state assessment raw data files that can be found here.
Welcome to the 2025 EmpowerK12 DC state assessment results dashboard with updated formatting that allows users to see results for multiple years. Our default student group view is set to "economically disadvantaged students" as the performance and improvement of those students is central to our mission. We also default the CAPE proficiency metric to percent of students achieving at levels 3 and above (CAPE/PARCC 3+), representing students who are on track for general career readiness, a metric displayed in the DC School Report Card.
To use this dashboard, begin by making selections from the filters at the top for the student group and proficiency metric you want to explore. Additional details about dashboard elements below.
DC State Assessment Dashboard
1 Percent of tested population who are students designated as at-risk. Some schools with a very high or low percentage of the tested student population designated as at-risk may have had data for the Students Designated At-Risk group suppressed. In that case, we utilize the school’s entire enrollment population in 2021-22 as the “% At-risk".
Low At-Risk = Schools with 0-30% of tested or enrolled population are students designated as at-risk
Avg At-Risk = Schools with 30-70% of tested or enrolled population are students designated as at-risk
High At-Risk = Schools with 70-100% of tested or enrolled population are students designated as at-risk
In 2023, OSSE switched from reporting “At-risk” to “Economically Disadvantaged” student groups. The universe of students in these two groups nearly overlaps. The only difference are the few students in high school who were overage for their grade and not economically disadvantaged. The number of students in that group is too small to affect citywide rates, so we continue to use the “at-risk” label. It is possible that at a select few high schools the difference could be more significant.
The student group “English Learners” includes both active ELL students and those in monitored status after exiting direct services. This follows the DC school report card reporting guidance.
Another key change is that OSSE suppressed actual results when the proficiency rate was less than 5%. Aggregated values for results by ward utilize a weighted average of school level results of unsuppressed data, which provide an estimate of the ward level proficiency rate. Grade band data utilizes a weighted average of results by enrolled grade from the state level data file.
Why we focus on CAPE/PARCC 3+ (career ready benchmark)?
We believe all students should have the opportunity to graduate high school and be competitive for selective college admissions, which is the standard that CAPE/PARCC 4+ represents. We also believe it is important to ensure that all students have an adequate command of the English language and math to succeed in life regardless of postsecondary pathway, the standard that CAPE/PARCC 3+ more closely represents and what educators believe reflects “being on grade level.” In fact, before PARCC level 3 was originally called “Adequate Command of Content” in the development process to reflect “career-ready expectations.”
Also, the effects of the pandemic were more acutely observed when looking at the CAPE/PARCC 3+ proficiency rates with larger proficiency rate declines for 3+ than 4+ and achievement gaps that widened more at 3+ than 4+. Monitoring improvements for both proficiency rates help us track whether all of our students are improving, not just higher performers.
DC schools demonstrated the largest single-year gains for both proficiency measures in more than a decade in 2025!