Education remains a top funding priority for the District of Columbia, thanks to the work of Mayor Bowser and the DC Council. In late June, the Council finalized its changes to the mayor’s proposed fiscal year 2025 budget, building on the mayor’s already historic investments in DC students. Public education made up roughly 20 percent of the District’s proposed spending for FY 2025, which begins this October. Final numbers will be available from the Council’s budget office soon. This amount includes a 12.4 percent increase to the uniform per student funding formula (UPSFF), which is used by the ..read more

Today Education Forward DC, in partnership with Transcend, released Supporting Student and Staff Well-Being: School Pilots in Action, a white paper exploring what four public schools in the District of Columbia learned through piloting different approaches to supporting student and staff mental health and well-being. Ed Forward DC funded this initiative to support schools in testing evidence-based approaches to improving their school-based mental health programs. Selected schools received direct funding from Ed Forward DC for their pilots and participated in a Community of Practice led by Tran ..read more

Join us for the release of updated data examining students’ well-being, building on the work started last year to understand better how students are fairing during the return to in-person learning. Then hear from a panel of school leaders as they share what they have learned in the last year from piloting innovations to support student and educator mental health and well-being. Wednesday, May 15, 2024 Zoom Register here The post WEBINAR: Data to Action: Insights from Well-being Data and School-Based Mental Health Pilots appeared first on Education Forward DC ..read more

We’re failing a key group who may be key to our students’ success: Black male educators. “Black men are coming into education more than any other demographic,” said Rictor Craig, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the National Association of Black Male Educators (NABME). “But they are leaving the profession at higher numbers than their white and female peers. That’s cause for pause and soul searching.” Black men at the front of the classroom and in school leadership benefit everyone, especially young Black men. Research shows that all students benefit academically and socio-emotionally fro ..read more

Education Forward DC’s Managing Partner Margie Yeager delivered the following testimony to the Council of the District of Columbia’s Committee of the Whole at a hearing on DC’s fiscal year 2025 budget for the education sector. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and members of the Council of the District of Columbia. Thank you for the opportunity to speak before you today. My name is Margie Yeager, and, in addition to being a resident of Ward 3 and the parent of three public school students in the District, I am the Managing Partner at Education Forward DC. Education Forward DC envisions a DC where s ..read more

We’re excited to share with you our 2023 Impact Report, detailing our work over the last year investing in leaders who are committed to recovering and reimagining education in DC and confronting the challenges before us by growing high-quality public school options, addressing racial inequities, recruiting and retaining excellent leaders, and fostering equity-centered change. Read the 2023 Impact Report In the last year, Ed Forward DC has undergone changes. And though we have new leadership and new team members, what has not changed is our unwavering commitment to the visionary education leade ..read more

Education Forward DC seeks to identify an organization to develop a business plan and launch plan for a School Support Center in Washington, DC. The organization will work with school leaders and other education stakeholders to determine what services the School Support Center should offer to meet the needs of schools best, enabling them to improve student academic outcomes.  Click here to read the full RFP. Proposals are due November 1, 2023. The post Ed Forward DC issues RFP for School Support Center appeared first on Education Forward DC ..read more

DC students made gains on citywide assessments compared to the previous year, according to data released late last month by the DC Office of the State Superintendent of Education. This increase is positive—particularly for schools that Education Forward DC has recently invested in—and shows the District is on a positive path toward recovery. However, the results are below where students were before the COVID-19 pandemic that forced a switch to virtual learning. This gap between where we are today and our aspiration that every student in DC is prepared to achieve economic success, power, and au ..read more

After years of continued growing investments in DC schools, the District of Columbia could be facing a more challenging fiscal picture at a time when DC students need greater support than ever. Education Forward DC hosted a webinar discussion about these challenges in late June as part of its Better Than Before series. The series has explored various topics aimed at building an exceptional school system through DC’s COVID recovery. The budget enacted for next year saw an increase in investment in the education sector. But, according to Yesim Sayin, Executive Director of the DC Policy Center, s ..read more

Rashida Young joined the Education Forward DC team in April as Partner for Schools, Talent, and Racial Equity. As Partner for Schools, Talent, & Racial Equity, Rashida will lead Ed Forward DC’s grantmaking to support school quality, develop leader and educator pipelines, and address racial barriers to educational success while providing strategic assistance to grantees. “I was drawn to Education Forward DC for many reasons. Growing up, I was keenly aware that I had the opportunity to attend excellent schools, yet not everyone in nearby zip codes had the same opportunity, and that dist ..read more