DC Public Education Fund - Fundraising Priorities and Initiatives

DC Public Education Fund (DCPEF) is committed to ensuring the success of DC Public Schools' (DCPS) transformation efforts by supporting three reform areas: human capital, data and accountability, and compelling schools. In collaboration with DCPS, we identify, seek partnerships for, and help project manage a select set of initiatives that we believe will have the greatest impact on student learning. Information on our fundraising priorities and initiatives are included below.

Fundraising Priorities

Human Capital: Recruit, develop, reward, and retain the most highly effective educators in the country.
We believe that teacher quality is the most important lever for improving student outcomes. To this end, DCPEF funds initiatives to help DCPS attract and retain the most highly qualified teaching corps in the country. In addition, we support DCPS teachers by providing needs-based professional development and other resources. DCPEF also helps ensure that the principals and central office staff who support teachers and students are of the highest caliber by funding performance management and professional development. Read more…

Data and Accountability: Support decision-making with accurate information about how students are performing and how the district as a whole is performing.
Using data to drive decisions is a top priority for DCPS. DCPEF funds initiatives that support this strategy, including providing DCPS constituents with better access to quality data along with tools and training to use this information effectively. These initiatives will allow teachers to better understand where their students need additional instruction, provide parents with online access to information on their children and DCPS schools, and ensure principals better understand the strengths and weaknesses of their teaching staff and make decisions accordingly. These data will also enable DCPS – and the public at large – to hold administrators, principals, central office staff, and teachers accountable for outstanding results. Read more…

Compelling Schools: Create schools that provide a robust foundation in academics, strong support for social and emotional needs, and a variety of challenging programs and appealing themes.
DCPS is committed to closing under-enrolled schools, improving student achievement at underperforming schools, and promoting greater diversity in school programming. DCPEF funds initiatives that will upgrade and revolutionize DCPS’ portfolio of schools so that students and parents can choose from a compelling set of options when decided where to enroll in DCPS. Read more…

Fundraising Initiatives

Human Capital Initiatives
1. IMPACT: DCPS’ pioneering school-based personnel evaluation system that provides school-based personnel with a clear understanding of what defines excellence in their work, along with constructive and data-based feedback about their performance and a variety of supports to increase their effectiveness. IMPACT is designed to recognize high performers, while also identifying the areas in which low- and mid-range performers need support to improve, and is based on the DCPS Teaching and Learning Framework. IMPACT is a powerful tool that will help ensure DCPS has effective educators providing instruction for its students. To support this endeavor, DCPEF has raised, and continues to raise, funds to support training and other resources to assist with curriculum development and implementation. Fight For Children was the first funder of this work. Click here for more information on their gift. For more information about IMPACT, please visit DCPS’ website.

2. Data and Professional Development Platform: A self-service, teacher-centered web platform that will provide teachers and other school staff with targeted and user-friendly tools to improve their skills. The platform will make videos of effective teaching, resources aligned to DCPS standards, and a range of professional development options available to educators. It will incorporate student and teacher assessment data to make meaningful recommendations for teacher professional development based on demonstrated needs. The platform will provide a central point of access for all professional development tools and opportunities available to DCPS teachers, and will be based on the Teaching and Learning Framework and IMPACT rubrics.

3. Anchor Assignments: Common assessments created by teachers to improve rigor of instruction across DCPS schools. The process of creating these assessments, discussing the contextual lessons for the assessments, and grading the assessments serves as robust, meaningful professional development for teachers participating in the program. DCPEF is providing materials and other resources to expand the Anchor Assignments model to more schools across the District. Teachers from 10 schools participated in the pilot year, with plans to grow to 25 schools in 2010-11. The Leon Lowenstein Foundation is supporting this initiative.

Data and Accountability Initiatives
1. Office of Data and Accountability Strategic Planning: The Office of Data and Accountability (ODA) is responsible for ensuring that educators have access to data necessary to make informed decisions, tools to translate data into action, and knowledge that they will be accountable for the results they produce. All DCPS employees need access to high quality data to be effective – from teachers who make adjustments to their lessons based on assessments of student learning, to central office administrators who manage resources based on information about DCPS needs. To support ODA’s mission-critical work, DCPEF is providing resources to build the office’s capacity to respond quickly to changing demands and deliver on its responsibility to support DCPS educators with data and tools. This initiative is currently supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Click here for more information on their gift.

2. School-Based Data Capacity Building: To use data effectively to improve student outcomes, district leaders, school leaders, and teachers need access to clear and robust information on student performance. Additionally, educators must have the tools and ability to integrate data-driven strategies into their everyday routines. With funding provided by DCPEF, the Office of Data and Accountability and the Office of the Chief Academic Officer are collaborating with The Achievement Network, a Boston-based not-for-profit organization that works directly with schools, to provide an avenue for teachers to collaborate around the effective use of data in their classrooms. Specifically, this initiative provides schools with tools and activities, such as assessments to measure student learning against DCPS standards, coaching for teachers on how to effectively use data to structure their lessons, and procedures to embed data-driven practice as a consistent part of schools’ everyday routine, that will help teachers better use data to raise student achievement. This initiative is currently supported by the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation. Click here for more information on their gift.

3. School Scorecards: School Scorecards will be a template for communicating school performance data to DCPS constituents, thereby improving transparency and accountability in DCPS. Additionally, School Scorecards will be framed specifically with principals and parents in mind, so these key constituencies will have an easier time gathering information about DCPS schools. This tool will combine quantitative and qualitative measures – including standardized test scores, student progress over time, and school environment indicators – to offer a comprehensive and nuanced view of school performance. DCPEF has supported data analysis key to scorecards development and is seeking support for future costs associated with training and engaging families in the work.

Compelling Schools Initiatives
1. DC Catalyst Project: An innovative, themes-based school transformation approach created to engage students, develop educators, and enhance communities. Themes adopted by Catalyst schools include Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM), Arts Integration, and World Cultures. DCPS believes that the adoption of these themes in 13 elementary, middle and K-8 schools throughout the District will result in more focused attention on student engagement and rigorous curricula, which, along with extensive professional development, will lead to drastically improved student achievement in the Catalyst schools. DCPEF is providing professional development, materials, and central office support for the DC Catalyst Project. For more information, please visit DCPS' Catalyst Schools page.

2. DC Collaborative for Change Capacity Building: The DC Collaborative for Change (DC3) is a cohort of 10 elementary and K-8 schools from across the District who collaborate and share resources, both human and financial, with the goal of increasing student achievement across all DC3 schools. This collaboration builds capacity across the cohort to learn from each others’ best practices and develop rigorous curricula. DCPEF is supporting DC3 through enhanced classroom libraries and consulting on capacity building.

3. Secondary School Reform Planning: A process of strategic planning and data analysis to identify the most significant levers to improve academic outcomes for middle and high schools in DCPS. Out of this process, DCPS will create a strategic plan for improving secondary school outcomes in DCPS over the next three to five years. DCPEF is providing strategic planning support for this initiative.

4. Youth Engagement Academy: The Office of Youth Engagement (OYE) spearheaded an effort to create an alternative high school to meet the needs of students at high risk of dropping out. The Youth Engagement Academy, which opened in 2008, was designed based on the Big Picture Learning model with extensive support from Big Picture, a nationally recognized cohort of successful alternative high schools. DCPEF is providing professional development and coaching to support teachers and administration at the academy.

5. Reggio Emilia Program at Scott Montgomery: Support for implementation of an early childhood program encouraging learning through exploration, art and self-directed play. DCPEF is supplying materials and professional development for this program.

6. School Support Fund: The School Support Fund provides small grants for creative programs at individual schools that are aimed at advancing student learning and achievement. This fund is used to provide resources to complement the core work at DCPS schools. For example, DCPEF has supported tutoring at Kelly Miller Middle School, a landscaping project at Ludlow-Taylor Elementary School, and school culture activities (including field trips and professional development) at Wheatley Education Campus. DCPEF administers these grants on behalf of donors who identify the target programs but does not accept applications from schools or programs seeking funding.

Other Initiatives
1. Race to the Top Planning: The federal government committed an unprecedented amount of funding to education as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The $4.53 Billion Race to the Top Award competition represents a tremendous opportunity for the city of Washington, DC to align its innovative education reform initiatives across its vibrant public school sector – representing a new level of collaboration between traditional and charter schools. DCPEF provided funds for strategic planning and grant-writing support to allow the District to develop and submit a bold, yet attainable, proposal. To read DCPEF's support letter for the District’s Race to the Top application, click here. To read the District’s application and related documents, click here.