The District’s absenteeism numbers for the last academic year show students are still missing school at rates far higher than before the pandemic.

D.C. is one of six jurisdictions in the country to get the $21 million federal GEAR UP grant through which middle schoolers in lower-income communities will get support over a six-year period to get into and graduate from college.

District officials say that while results from this year’s statewide assessments are “encouraging,” students are still recovering from pandemic-era learning loss.

The new standards, which will go into effect in the ’24-’25 school year, aim to be anti-racist and include histories on a wider variety of underrepresented groups. The current standards have been in place since 2006.

Officials say the number of students enrolled at D.C. public and charter schools has hit a 15-year high since counting began in 2007.

The first batch of standardized test results since the pandemic began confirms that the city’s most at-risk students fell furthest behind in the past two years.

Hanseul Kang was appointed by D.C. Mayor Bowser in 2015.

“They told us, ‘we’re here to investigate whether you’re operating an unlicensed daycare.'”

School officials and politicians are optimistic that PARCC scores will provide a new baseline for preparing students for their future.

So is truancy.