The DC Education Research Collaborative held its first meeting of 2025 with a deep dive into current research projects, a brainstorming session to guide potential future projects, and an update on its 2025 membership. Members shared updates, reflecting our shared commitment to strengthening DC’s education landscape.

Governance and Operations Update

The Collaborative is filling four vacancies on the Advisory Committee from a pool of more than 100 applicants. These members will play a crucial role in shaping the research agenda and ensuring the Collaborative remains responsive to the needs of DC’s education community. New members will be in place by the April meeting.

Director’s Report and Research Pipeline

Collaborative director Dara Shaw provided updates on major research initiatives:

• Career development opportunities available to DC Public Schools students. The work is now six months into the first year, and a landscape analysis is under way.
• Equitable discipline and student conduct. Data transfer is in progress for the work, which will analyze discipline rates and trends across DC schools.
• Predicting college success. Researchers are identifying key indicators that predict college enrollment and completion for DC students.

Shaw also gave an overview of the Collaborative’s activities in support of the DC education research ecosystem. Members then engaged in a deep discussion so that researchers could focus the Collaborative’s current and future work on four broad topics: (1) access to opportunity and high-quality schools and programs (including current and future funding, per pupil revenue distribution, and the placement, opening, and closure of special programs); (2) attendance, truancy reduction, and student engagement; (3) math and reading achievement; and (4) safety and well-being (including physical and mental health and safety, and justice).

Community and Research Partner Updates and Celebrations

Collaborative member Office of Education through Employment Pathways, an office of the Deputy Mayor for Education, presented findings from their recent report, “Pathways to Opportunity: Alignment between University of the District of Columbia Programming and Labor Market Demand.” Other members briefly highlighted successes, initiatives, and releases from the past month, including EmpowerK12’s dashboards on National Assessment of Educational Progress results, the DC Policy Center’s annual State of DC Schools report, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education’s launch of its statewide school climate survey, and the work of the Mathematics for Educators cohort at Trinity University.

What’s Next?

The Collaborative will continue amplifying research findings and community insights through its website and LinkedIn page. Stay tuned for upcoming partner spotlights, research updates, and ways to get involved.

📅 Join us at our next meeting! Visit the DC Education Research Collaborative website for details on our work, upcoming meetings, and recent publications.