D.C. schools lead U.S. in academic recovery, but absenteeism persists
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D.C. schools are leading the country in post-pandemic academic recovery, according to a new report.
The big picture: Despite the top national ranking, D.C. students are still performing below pre-pandemic levels, and chronic absenteeism remains a serious problem.
Driving the news: A new district-level Education Scorecard report from Stanford's Educational Opportunity Project offers a national snapshot of how school systems have recovered — or struggled — from 2022 through 2025.
- The report combines state test data from roughly 35 million students in grades 3–8 across more than 35 states and D.C.
- D.C. public and charter schools ranked No. 1 nationally in both math and reading growth between 2022 and 2025.
- Students gained the equivalent of 0.67 grade levels in math and 0.34 grade levels in reading since 2022.
- Still, students remain below pre-pandemic performance in both subjects.
Zoom out: Student achievement is still lagging in much of the country, with declines cutting across race, geography and income levels.
- Reading scores last year were lower than a decade ago in more than 80% of U.S. school districts with available data.
- Math scores were down in roughly 70% of districts.
What they're saying: "We made some really big bets coming out of the pandemic," D.C.'s State Superintendent Antoinette Mitchell told Axios.
- D.C. invested heavily in high-impact tutoring, literacy reforms and teacher support using federal recovery dollars — programs and initiatives Mitchell said the city has continued to fund after federal aid expired.
Follow the money: D.C. received roughly $600 million in federal pandemic relief for K–12 schools, per the report — about $6,800 per student, among the highest per-pupil investments in the country.
- The report found many gains in high-poverty schools driven by that support.
The intrigue: Mitchell says D.C. has positioned itself as an "oasis for teachers" with retention at an all-time high and salaries among the highest in the nation — averaging over $95,000 annually.
Yes, but: Recovery remains uneven.
- Chronic absenteeism peaked above 46% in 2022 and remains just under 40%, well above pre-pandemic levels.
- DCPS ranks in the 27th percentile nationally in math achievement and the 45th percentile in reading achievement, despite leading the nation in growth.
Between the lines: Mitchell said absenteeism is tied to a myriad of causes, including mental health challenges, housing instability, transportation barriers and "school culture" being welcoming to all.
- At the same time, D.C. schools face growing enrollment uncertainty. A recent Washington Post analysis found steep declines in pre-K applications, particularly in neighborhoods with large immigrant populations, amid fears around immigration enforcement and federal layoffs.
- Mitchell said D.C. does not have data linking those impacts to attendance declines.
The bottom line: "Our job is not done," Mitchell said. "We know that when kids are in school, they learn, and when they're not in school, they don't."