As a black person it pains me to say its largely the percentage of poor blacks in DC that causes a lot of that last place finish. Many generations of low/no opportunity, discrimination etc. The fact is whites in DC have the highest score of all "states" on that website. So OP by your selection criteria (this website) DC has the best public schools in the country.

(Or maybe as others have said above, income and test performances correlate.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are comparing DC-- a city-- to states like MD and VA. Not apples to apples.

Shouldn't DC be higher because of more spending per student? I could imagine a child in Appalachia would have much lower spending and resources.

Exactly. Plus DC has more people or the same amount of people as several states and we have a state board of education too.

Anonymous wrote:I'm a little confused -- people claim that there are good public and public charter schools in DC, but the National Center for Education Statistics ranks DC public schools (including the 109 charters) below national averages in math, reading, science and writing.

http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/states/

The only report that ranks DC charter schools separately is issued by the DC Public Charter School Board, which is hardly an independent source.

I'm not trying to be snarky, I'm actually looking for real facts -- where are people getting their data to support assertions that these public schools are high performing?

Irrelevant comparison. What I'd love to see is how DCPS ranks vs other large urban districts. Anyone has a good link?

Anonymous wrote:The way to see how income plays into this particularly strongly in DC is to filter the NCES data by National School Lunch Eligibility.

Select 4th grade, reading, national school lunch eligibility, 2013.

DC has a 50-point gap between eligible/not eligible for free lunch and the highest scores in the country for those in the "not eligible" category.

This. It's is quite telling.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are comparing DC-- a city-- to states like MD and VA. Not apples to apples.

Shouldn't DC be higher because of more spending per student? I could imagine a child in Appalachia would have much lower spending and resources.

Ugh. You have such a long learning curve. Just search these threads for the exact same topic.

The amount of spending in DC reflects the needs of the students. Many, many DCPS students live in objectively horrid situations and require considerably greater resources.

Anonymous wrote:They are comparing DC-- a city-- to states like MD and VA. Not apples to apples.

Shouldn't DC be higher because of more spending per student? I could imagine a child in Appalachia would have much lower spending and resources.

They are comparing DC-- a city-- to states like MD and VA. Not apples to apples.

They really don't compare. Part of it is academics, but mostly DCPS schools are just different. You can't really compare even a great urban school to a suburban school. Take Wilson, for instance. Yes, they have most of the same course offerings, sports, activities; and many of their students likely out-test their suburban counterparts. But their space is limited, inside and out, their resources are stretched. That being said, the students are navigating a city, and it's disfunction to get there - that gives them something a W, Langley, or McLean school does not. It really comes down to what you feel is important, and what you are willing to live with.

Anonymous wrote:DCPS fits more in a state school ranking than a district ranking. Most of the schools in DCPS totally suck. Some schools are good enough. A few are stellar. The top ones are competitive with anything that's out there.

What do you mean it fits more in a state school ranking? And where are you getting the data that some of the schools are good/stellar? Is that just a word of mouth thing because I haven't seen any actual independent rankings to support that claim. Just looking for something tangible...

The way to see how income plays into this particularly strongly in DC is to filter the NCES data by National School Lunch Eligibility.

Select 4th grade, reading, national school lunch eligibility, 2013.

DC has a 50-point gap between eligible/not eligible for free lunch and the highest scores in the country for those in the "not eligible" category.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS fits more in a state school ranking than a district ranking. Most of the schools in DCPS totally suck. Some schools are good enough. A few are stellar. The top ones are competitive with anything that's out there.

This. Essentially the good ones are really good and the bad ones are really bad.

How do the good ones compare to a W school or McLean or Langley ?

Anonymous wrote:DCPS fits more in a state school ranking than a district ranking. Most of the schools in DCPS totally suck. Some schools are good enough. A few are stellar. The top ones are competitive with anything that's out there.

This. Essentially the good ones are really good and the bad ones are really bad.

DCPS fits more in a state school ranking than a district ranking. Most of the schools in DCPS totally suck. Some schools are good enough. A few are stellar. The top ones are competitive with anything that's out there.

I'm a little confused -- people claim that there are good public and public charter schools in DC, but the National Center for Education Statistics ranks DC public schools (including the 109 charters) below national averages in math, reading, science and writing.

http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/states/

The only report that ranks DC charter schools separately is issued by the DC Public Charter School Board, which is hardly an independent source.

I'm not trying to be snarky, I'm actually looking for real facts -- where are people getting their data to support assertions that these public schools are high performing?