The District of Columbia public school year began on Aug. 21 with what seemed to be good news. However, test scores still show that Black students are still significantly behind their White counterparts.

The results of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) taken by District students earlier this year shows gains across almost all grade levels and subject areas for the second year in a row. This news was trumpeted by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) when she spoke at Watkins Elementary School’s modernization opening on Aug.17.

D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Antwan Wilson, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, D.C. Deputy Mayor of Education Jennifer Niles, State Superintendent of Education Hanseul Kang, and the Director of the D.C. Public Charter School Board Scott Pearson recently announced D.C. students’ standardized test scores increased year over year. (Courtesy photo)

“Students in our public schools continue to make noteworthy gains on PARCC, with a greater number of students each year demonstrating the problem-solving and critical thinking skills needed to be successful in college, their careers and life,” the mayor said. “This year’s results show that we are moving in the right direction and that we must continue to make critical investments in the people, programs, and initiatives that are accelerating education reform and helping all of our students succeed.”

Bowser was joined by D.C. Deputy Mayor of Education Jennifer Niles, State Superintendent of Education Hanseul Kang, D.C. Schools Chancellor Antwan Wilson and Scott Pearson, the director of the DC Public Charter School Board.

The mayor noted that there were score increases in every ward and credited the professional development programs and changes in the curriculum that have occurred over the past few years. English Language Arts (ELA) and math scores overall increased four and two percent, respectively. Black students increased their ELA scores by 2.7 percent and math at 1.2 percent.

Despite the gains, African Americans still lag behind Whites, who had increases of 7.7 percent in ELA and 4.5 percent in math. In summary, 22 percent of Blacks showed proficiency in ELA compared with 82 percent of Whites while in math, African Americans 18.6 percent showed proficiency while Whites posted 75.7 percent.

D.C. Schools Chancellor Antwan Wilson, who attended the Watkins event with Bowser, said “We must do more to increase the scores of Black students.”

Bowser agreed with Wilson, saying that “we are now focused on closing gaps.”

Rising test scores wasn’t the only positive news. Wilson noted that the schools were nearly ready in terms of personnel. “We have hired 20 principals and 16 of those are new,” he said. “We are 99 percent staffed for our 115 schools.”

The District’s public school system has 115 schools, about 50,000 students and 4,350 educational professionals that include principals and teachers and their aides. In addition to Watkins, the District government has modernized the famed Duke Ellington School for the Arts.

On Aug. 18, Bowser said that District school children will be eligible to ride Metrobus and Metrorail free during the school year because of the Kids Ride Free program. The mayor championed the program when she was a Ward 4 D.C. Council member and a member of the WMATA board and has been an advocate of it since.