Officials in the District of Columbia released results from a citywide high school exam Tuesday, and the results were abysmal. Students in half of the city’s public high schools scored 0 percent achievement ratings in geometry.
Of the 17 schools in the city, just two were able to post double-digit math achievement ratings, the other 15 fell somewhere between 0 and 8 percent, according to Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) test results.
The PARCC test was designed by 11 different states and the District to provide a test of college and career readiness for students. The test was administered for the first time in the 2014-2015 school year to more than five million students.
Among the D.C. public school students, 12 percent are considered “college and career ready” in math, while 27 percent are deemed proficient in English.
Jack Jacobson, president of the State Board Of Education, said the test scores are about what he expected for the first time the test was administered.
“The PARCC scores we are seeing today reflect the higher standards necessary for our students to be successful in their future,” he said in a statement. “The results from PARCC’s preliminary data show us the stark reality of where our students are. These scores are a call to action for the District.”
The test numbers were largely propped up by a few of D.C.’s premiere magnet schools, where students are required to go through rigorous application processes before admission.
School Without Walls High School, which is located on the campus of George Washington University, had a math achievement rating of 76 percent, meaning more than three quarters of students met or exceeded 10th grade expectations.
Similarly, Benjamin Banneker High School had an achievement rating of 32 percent. All of the other schools had achievement ratings below 10 percent, with the majority scoring flat zeros.
In English, just five schools had scores above 30 percent, with the rest falling between zero and 17 percent.
D.C. public school officials were quick to dismiss the scores, saying the scores serve mostly as a “baseline,” but admitted that city schools still have a long way to go.
“We have seen consistent growth in every metric of success and I expect to see the same with PARCC in the coming years,” D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson said in a statement. “I am confident that DCPS is on the right track for ensuring all of our young people are college and career ready, and that we will see our scores improve each year.”
The test scores showed a wide racial discrepancy, with white students far outpacing their black and Hispanic peers.
According to the test scores, 82 percent of white students met expectations for learning in English, 20 percent of black students and 25 percent of Hispanic students met expectations.
In math, 52 percent of white students met expectations, while just four percent of black students and eight percent of Hispanic students met expectations.
While achievement ratings are low, D.C. students still feel good about the education they are receiving. According to the release from D.C. public schools, 81 percent of D.C. public school students reported being satisfied in 2015, an increase over the 77 percent who said they were satisfied in 2014.
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