Democrats for education reform dc
1. Please share your vision for public education in the District of Columbia, including the top three things you want to accomplish if elected.
I will be a champion for Ward 3 schools, ensuring that our students and teachers receive the support they deserve and need, and I will push hard for investments to address overcrowding in our local schools. At the same time, I will also fight to ensure that every DC parent—not just those in Ward 3—feel confident that their child will receive an excellent education at their local DCPS neighborhood school.
As a child, I struggled due to behavioral issues. Suspensions were frequent. By 6th grade, I had cycled through 5 different schools. I was fortunate that my family was able to keep looking until they found an environment where I could be successful. I was also fortunate to have had teachers along the way that took the time to see me. Kids are more than data points. Strong schools meet the needs of the whole child. DC schools must do a better job of serving students’ social and emotional needs through well-funded school-based mental health services and by supporting teachers through robust trauma-informed professional development.
My perspective on education is influenced by my experience teaching 5th grade. I saw up close how unfunded mandates and top-down solutions conceived in conference rooms rather than classrooms can backfire. I have lived the pressures of being a novice teacher.We must address teacher retention, recognizing that successful schools support and grow educators over time. Burn out isn’t inevitable.
2. DFER D.C. believes that high-quality and safe in-person learning is essential to academic success and student well-being, particularly for those students who are most marginalized. Will you pledge to use your position to ensure all students will be provided with a safe in-person option?
Yes.
3. Currently, the D.C. Council is considering legislation that would weaken the education system and threaten the progress the District has made by altering the oversight of the District’s top education agency, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE). OSSE is critical to ensuring public schools receive federal funding, providing access to high-quality child care, and developing state-level standards aligned with school, college, and workforce readiness expectations. OSSE is currently under the control of the Mayor, and by extension the voters and parents in the District. Every four years, voters have an opportunity to replace the Mayor and by extension the State Superintendent of Education. Parents deserve the right to continue to hold the OSSE accountable.
Do you oppose Bill 24-80, the “D.C. State Education Agency Independence Amendment Act of 2021?” This legislation would make OSSE subordinate to the D.C. State Board of Education (SBOE) and therefore slowdown the agency by: 1) subjecting its work to votes by the SBOE; 2) pulling the agency in different directions by the Office of the Mayor, the SBOE, and the D.C. Council; and 3) creating new standards and procedures to fulfill its responsibilities.
Yes, I oppose Bill 24-80 (D.C. State Education Agency Independence Act of 2021).
I have made clear that I am in favor of strengthening oversight rather than rolling back mayoral control. For voters, there are few issues more central than those relating to public schools. Mayoral control means that these issues play a central role in mayoral elections, which tend to have the most qualified candidates, the most professional campaigns, and be the subject of the most attention. Mayoral control also makes it easy for voters to know exactly whom they should blame if they are dissatisfied and want a new approach.
In contrast, SBOE candidates are often politically inexperienced, first-time candidates. Their positions, by and large, are not heavily scrutinized—except by the warring factions that dominate education debates. Once elected, the mayor operates under a media microscope, while SBOE members remain largely unknown.
Strong oversight is essential in a mayoral control system. We need to do much, much better on that front. But it is undeniable that, while significant equity gaps persist, learning outcomes have improved and there is greater confidence amongst families in the quality of DC’s public schools.
4. Do you oppose Bill 24-101, the “Office of the State Superintendent of Education Independence Amendment Act of 2021.” This legislation would establish OSSE as a standalone agency allowing OSSE to have no oversight and to not be held accountable for supporting the progress we want to see for our students and schools. OSSE needs the guidance and collaboration of every District agency to best accomplish its work and support students and families. Removing oversight from the Office of the Mayor would create less structure and management over our schools and child care facilities, which could lead to poor academic outcomes as well as potentially dangerous environments for our students.
Yes*, I oppose Bill 24-101 (Office of the State Superintendent of Education Independence Amendment Act of 2021).
While I oppose the current bill, as drafted, I support the intent of having an independent state-level oversight body be responsible for auditing schools and LEAs and reporting data and other information in a transparent fashion. I also share concerns about the extent to which electoral politics has distorted decision-making and limited transparency. But given the the number of LEAs in the District, making OSSE that body would be disruptive and counterproductive. I would favor (A) creating an agency, either answerable to the Council or truly independent, to audit and report on academic performance and other issues and (B) empowering the State Board of Education with additional oversight powers to supplement the work of the Council.
Strong, independent oversight is essential in a mayoral control system. OSSE is not the right vehicle, but the goal is important and can be accomplished without disrupting the fundamentals of mayoral control.
5. In 2018, OSSE launched the D.C. School Report Card and STAR Framework, as required by the federal government, to give parents, students, and other important stakeholders information about individual school performance. The rating system provides all families access to clearly communicated, detailed information that provides a single transparent metric for determining how well their child’s school serves all students. Recently, the State Board of Education voted to eliminate the Single Summative Rating and create a dashboard of various metrics instead. Do you support this approach?
No.*
I believe in arming parents with as much data as possible without overwhelming or diluting key takeaways. It is certainly true that a single topline number derived from several different data points is less able to capture and communicate nuance. But it would be a mistake to discount the importance of arming parents, many of whom are not steeped in education policy, with clear metrics that they can use to compare and evaluate schools, a deeply personal and complex decision for each family. The solution is to arm parents with more and better information while, at the same time, ensuring that school profiles are accessible and easy to digest.
We should continue to provide a single summative rating and create an expanded dashboard of various metrics.
6. The District of Columbia uses statewide summative assessments, like the PARCC exam, to provide a baseline understanding of all D.C. students’ academic progress to drive programmatic changes and direct resources to schools that need them most. Because of the pandemic, it has been two years since the District has administered the PARCC exam. Do you believe the statewide annual assessment should be administered in spring 2022 and every year moving forward?
Yes.*
While I understand the concern, I do not share the view that the District should have continued to administer the PARCC exam during the pandemic. The pandemic intensely disrupted learning in our schools. As a result, instructional time was greatly reduced and the quality of instruction was diminished because effective teaching is extremely difficult (and sometimes nearly impossible) in a virtual format. It was wise to not reduce limited instructional time even further by proceeding with logistically difficult task of administering the exam in 2020 and 2021. It would also have been unfair to penalize schools, teachers, and students for the expected drop in performance.
Going forward, it is my hope that we never again have a situation where we would need to suspend administration of the PARCC exam or any other aspect of the school day because of a global health crisis.
7. Adequate resources and funding are necessary to create equitable opportunity for all D.C. students, particularly those that live in underserved communities and wards. During the FY2023 budget process, will you support a 5.9% increase to the Uniform Per Student Funding Formula, an increase to the at-risk weight, and ensure charter facilities allotment is increased to at least 3.1% in FY2023?
Yes.
8. Will you also support efforts to ensure federal funding is spent on innovative evidence-based strategies proven to accelerate student learning and will be transparently and equitably targeted to the students with the greatest need so that opportunity gaps are narrowed?
Yes.
9. Will you work to sustain and expand wrap-around services for students and their families including support for the School-Based Behavioral Health program?
Yes.
10. Regardless of where they live, D.C. students, particularly those from low-income families and students of color, rightfully deserve equal access to educational opportunities that will allow them to flourish as a student and ultimately as an adult. Will you oppose efforts to limit parent educational choices?
Yes.
11. A child’s ability to read directly impacts their future educational gains, attainment of a livable income, and overall quality of life. While D.C. public schools have made progress in fourth-grade reading over the last 15 years, only 30 percent of fourth-graders in D.C. scored at or above proficiency levels on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the Nation’s Report Card, in 2019. When disaggregated, these numbers are much worse for certain student groups. Will you support a policy providing sufficient funding so that all PreK-5 DC leaders and teachers can receive free and accessible structured literacy training with incentives in three years?
Yes.
12. Do you support efforts to provide educators with housing support by creating housing and tax incentives, implementing housing affordability programs, and ensuring eligible educators are connected with the existing programs that can reduce the cost of homeownership?
Yes.
13. Currently, universities in D.C. give favorable treatment to applicants who are related to graduates of that school, thereby increasing the likelihood that they will be accepted while decreasing the chances of acceptance for applicants not related to graduates of that school. Would you support eliminating this policy and increasing socioeconomic diversity?
Yes.
14. Providing all students with opportunities to enter into college free of debt is a top priority of ours, including finding ways to minimize debt. Do you support expanding and deepening dual enrollment opportunities in D.C. public schools and public charter high schools so that students can graduate from high school with credits transferable to college?
Yes.*
I support expanding opportunities for students to engage with challenging academic content. Dual enrollment gives students the ability to dive deeply into subjects that are simply not taught in our schools. As a high school student, I took a college-level introductory history course one summer and I remember finding the experience challenging and deeply rewarding. I wholeheartedly endorse expanding and deepening these opportunities for all students. Helping students learn about course offerings that would interest and excite them should be a priority.
That said, I have deep concerns with how this question frames the goal of such programs. I am deeply concerned about college affordability and support efforts to minimize student debt, but I reject the idea that we should be affirmatively trying to load up high school students with college credits so that they can skip a year or more of college. I find it deeply troubling when we push our low-income kids to approach college and career differently than kids from families with higher incomes or more advanced degrees. Elite colleges and universities do not allow students to shorten their time on campus because of AP exams and dual enrollment courses. Instead these courses enable students to skip introductory courses and dive head first into challenging and exciting coursework. There are other ways to reduce the price of college without shortchanging kids of four years of college.
15. Do you support Bill 24-0338, the “the Redefinition of Child Amendment Act of 2021,” which would redefine the word “child” to ensure that all cases involving children who are accused of criminal code violations begin in the developmentally responsive setting of Family Court?
Yes, I support Bill 24-0338 (Redefinition of Child Amendment Act of 2021).
16. Do you support Bill 24-0306, the “Youth Rights Amendment Act of 2021,” which would make any interrogation of a person under 18 years of age by law enforcement, during a custodial interrogation, inadmissible in court unless given a reasonable opportunity to confer with an attorney and would prohibit consent searches if the subject of the search is under 18 years of age?
Yes, I support Bill 24-0306 (Youth Rights Amendment Act of 2021).
17. Do you support B24-0066, the “Safe Passage to School Expansion Act of 2021,” which would create an Office of Safe Passage, reporting to the Mayor, tasked with coordinating safe passage efforts across agencies developing city-wide and ward specific strategies for student safety, administering grants to community-based organizations implementing safe passage plans and hiring personnel to monitor routes in high-priority areas?
Yes, I support B24-0066 (Safe Passage to School Expansion Act of 2021.
18. Is there anything else you would like to share with us about the values and issues driving your campaign?
I am running to make this a city where everyone can gain their footing, raise a family, and age in place. To make that a reality, we must reduce the cost of housing and childcare and ensure greater access to opportunity.
With respect to schools, I am intensely focused on the need to make a real and sustained effort to reduce high rates of teacher turnover. Schools staffed by experienced teachers have better results, both for students and for novice teachers working alongside veteran educators.
Excessive turnover is a sign that something is not working. It happens in a system where teachers are not sufficiently supported or developed. To counter this, I will champion investments in strengths-based, retention-focused training, coaching, and evaluation practices. Each dedicated teacher brings their own strengths to bear, and effective teacher training and management will use these strengths as starting points to foster growth. For best results, we need to manage and train teachers in a way that fosters their growth as educators. This is particularly true of new teachers, who are at greater risk of becoming alienated and leaving the classroom if they feel unsupported and at sea.
I will propose legislation that will require DCPS to produce and execute a real plan for reducing teacher attrition and require OSSE to publish detailed statistics and analysis regarding teacher and principal turnover at all DC public schools. I will also advocate for creating special “Retention Crisis Funds” for schools dealing with excessive turnover. Retention Crisis Funds, designed to supplement and not replace other dollars, would be reserved specifically for evidence-based initiatives to boost retention. Teacher turnover rates are driven by multiple factors and some issues may be more relevant at certain campuses—a negative, unsupportive relationship with administrators, for instance, will be a factor at some but not all schools. Thus, a first step would be to conduct a school-specific root cause analysis that can inform the specific interventions.