D.C. public school students just logged the biggest academic comeback in the country between 2022 and 2025, according to a new national analysis. The twist: even with the surge, most kids are still testing below pre‑pandemic levels, and chronic absenteeism is acting like a weight on the system’s ankles.
The report's headline: D.C. tops growth charts
The Education Scorecard, a joint analysis by researchers at Harvard, Stanford and Dartmouth, ranks the District of Columbia first among states for growth in both math and reading between 2022 and 2025. The report finds the average D.C. student gained about 0.67 grade equivalents in math and roughly 0.34 in reading since 2022, yet both subjects remain slightly below 2019 benchmarks, according to Education Scorecard.
Leaders credit tutoring, curriculum and teacher support
City leaders and school officials are pointing to a now-familiar toolkit as the engine behind the rebound: high‑impact tutoring, overhauled literacy curricula and sustained support for teachers. In the report’s district case study, DCPS Chancellor Dr. Lewis D. Ferebee wrote, "We remain focused on sustaining what works," highlighting small‑group instruction, tiered supports and real‑time coaching as core strategies, as described in the district case study in Education Scorecard.
Federal dollars and teacher pay mattered
Analysts and local officials say federal pandemic relief money gave D.C. crucial running room. The city received about $600 million in K–12 relief, or roughly $6,800 per student, which helped pay for tutoring, summer learning programs and curriculum work, according to reporting by Axios. Axios also reports that teacher retention in the District is near record highs and average teacher pay ranks among the top tiers nationally, a combination officials credit with keeping classrooms stable while academics recover.
Programs on the ground
On the ground, that strategy includes the Capital Math Collective, a $20 million public‑private partnership that is scaling up math centers, coaching and tutoring across the city, along with expanded structured‑literacy efforts supported by federal grants and CLSD awards. Those initiatives, and the broader High‑Impact Tutoring rollout, are detailed by the DC Public Education Fund.
Attendance still drags on progress
Chronic absenteeism, however, is still throwing sand in the gears. Reporting on the Scorecard’s findings shows the share of chronically absent students dropped from above 46% in 2022 to just under 40% in 2025, yet it remains roughly 10 percentage points higher than before the pandemic. Nationally, researchers warn that reading recovery is uneven, with only a handful of states and D.C. posting meaningful reading gains between 2022 and 2025, a trend outlined by the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Keeping the momentum
Researchers and civic leaders say the next test is whether D.C. can lock in these gains once one‑time federal aid runs out, by baking tutoring into the school day, keeping strong supports in place for teachers and getting more students in their seats every morning. Urban education groups argue D.C.’s approach now offers a rough playbook for other big-city systems, but they caution that steady local funding and cross‑sector buy‑in will be needed if the rebound is going to last, according to the Council of the Great City Schools.
