Our Impact

We successfully urged the Mayor and DC Council to prioritize improving school attendance. As a result, the D.C. Council passed the Pilot Truancy Reduction Act of 2024. This initiative introduced a new approach to reducing truancy in schools.

Instead of penalizing students who missed school, the program works with the Department of Human Services (DHS) to provide support. Five high schools with the highest truancy rates were part of the pilot, and students with 15 or more unexcused absences were referred to DHS for help rather than facing legal action.

Our advocacy efforts also helped secure $3.38M in the FY25 budget to expand truancy prevention at DHS. This funding will ensure that resources are available to support students at the start of the school year, giving DHS the ability to track interventions and outcomes across participating schools.

By tracking progress throughout the school year, we’ve laid the groundwork for testing this approach and determining if it should be expanded to more schools in the future.

We took the first big step toward transforming math education in D.C. by successfully advocating for the introduction of the B25-0800, Mathematics Education Improvement Amendment Act of 2024 by Councilmember Zachary Parker and co-introduced by several of his colleagues. This bill sets up a taskforce that will dig into the root causes of low math performance and recommend practical solutions to improve outcomes for students. Currently, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) is convening a Math Taskforce to develop recommendations for improving math.

While this is just the beginning, we’re not slowing down. We're fighting to secure funding for game-changing initiatives like High-Impact Tutoring, High-Quality Instruction Materials and professional development, parent and caregiver support, and math teacher pipeline development —so that every student has the chance to excel in math and beyond.

We made huge strides in changing how kids learn to read. Thanks to the Early Literacy Education Task Force Recommendations Amendment Act of 2024 introduced by Councilmember Brooke Pinto and supported by Chairman Phil Mendelson along with his colleagues on the D.C. Council, we secured $566k in FY25 and $2.9M in FY 26-28 to give kindergarten teachers at 20 schools the training and coaching they need to improve reading instruction.

Additionally, we secured $2.2 million for High-Quality Instruction Materials, thanks to an early investment by Mayor Muriel Bowser. This investment will provide teachers with the materials they need to help students build strong reading skills from the start.

Together, these efforts are setting students up for brighter futures by laying the foundation for literacy success across the city. Moving forward, we’re advocating for fully funding these recommendations.

We fought to expand opportunities for students beyond high school. Mayor Muriel Bowser funded with the support of the D.C. Council significant investments to expand dual enrollment opportunities, including $17M to expand the Advanced Technical Center at Penn Center; $600K to support the opening of a new Advanced Technical Center at the Whitman-Walker Max Robinson Center in Ward 8; and $5M to Reimagine High School, support the Advanced Technical Center in Ward 5, Career Ready Internship, Advanced Technical Internship, and dual enrollment seats. Additionally, they funded the establishment of the Office of Education through Employment Pathways to implement a data system to provide key insights into education and workforce outcomes.

Additionally, Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie and his colleagues on the D.C. Council funded $150K for the subtitle, “Reporting Requirements for Career and Technical Education and Dual Enrollment,” which includes a youth-focused career preparation study.

Now, we’re urging the Mayor and D.C. Council to expand dual enrollment and early college opportunities and make them more accessible as well as invest in the publishing of the Education Through Employment Data System dashboards.

Along with our partners, we successfully advocated for safer, well-maintained schools across D.C. Together, we secured a 3.1% annual increase to the public charter facilities allowance, totaling $17.5 million across the financial plan. This essential funding ensures that schools have the resources needed to maintain safe and effective learning spaces for all students. Now we are urging the Mayor and D.C. Council to maintain this funding in FY 2026 and beyond.