A BOLDER FUTURE FOR DC SCHOOLS.
What is the Bold Schools initiative?
EmpowerK12 believes that DC can be the first urban city to close performance gaps this decade when schools take bold action to serve their students furthest from opportunity. Students at Bold Performance Schools achieved proficiency rates 19.5 percentage points higher than similar schools and have improved student achievement 3-4 times faster than the state average since 2022.
Why identify Bold Performance Schools?
Bold Performance Schools serve a high at-risk student population and have combined math and English language arts proficiency rates dramatically higher than schools with similar demographics. Citywide, 48% of DC students met the career-ready benchmark in math and 58% in English language arts (ELA) this past spring 2025. For economically disadvantaged students, those numbers are 31% in math and 43% in ELA. Track DC’s education recovery using the EK12 dashboard. Bold Schools serve at least 30% students from economically disadvantaged households and have proficiency rates exceeding pre-pandemic expectations for schools serving similar students.
2025 Bold Performance Schools’ Proficiency for All Students Compared with Other Schools
How are 2025 Bold Performance Schools selected?
Schools are determined using the 2025 Comprehensive Assessments of Progress in Education (CAPE) data and their Percent Proficient Above Expected (PPAE) calculations that project what percentage of students are expected to be proficient given a school’s demographics. Bold Performance Schools have proficiency rates for students at least 10 percentage points higher in math and reading combined (PPAE of 10+) than how schools with similar demographics and grade levels performed.
Proficiency Improvement of Economically Disadvantaged from 2022 to 2025 for Bold Performance Schools Compared to all DC
2025 Bold Performance Schools
DC Bold Schools is an initiative of EmpowerK12 (EK12).
EK12 analyzes data utilizing rigorous methodologies to help all education stakeholders understand how our schools are performing on a variety of metrics, including how well schools serve at-risk students, which is central to the organization’s mission. Learn more about EK12’s mission and how we support bold school improvement through access to rigorous data analytical tools, training educators to turn data into action, and by fostering collaborative improvement by identifying real-time bright spots across a broad network of schools.