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Local
D.C. Public Schools Marks Gains Washington D.C. Public Schools posted larger gains on 2013 national math and reading tests than any other major urban school system, but its performance continues to trail the largecity average, according to a federal study released Wednesday. Chancellor Kaya Henderson said that while achievement gaps are not closing as quickly as anyone would like, the school system’s overall gains are evidence that key policies are working. “While we’re not at the big-city
Republican Concedes Va. AG Race
Masking a Gap The District’s gains mask enormous achievement gaps in D.C. between black and white students — gaps that are about double the national urban average and are larger than those in every other big city, including New York, Chicago and Miami. In fourth-grade reading, for example, black students averaged a score of 192 compared to white students’ 260, a gap of 68 points — double the average urban gap of 34 points. (T WP)
average, we are coming on strong,” Henderson said. The study is based on the 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress, national math and reading tests that are administered every other year to a representative sample of fourth- and eighthgraders. State-by-state results were released last month, but large cities have agreed to have their results
published separately since 2002, with 21 participating this year. The District’s school system was the only city to make statistically significant gains in both subjects at both grade levels, posting gains of between five and eight points. Still, while D.C. is no longer dead last among large cities, it is still in the bottom half. The proportion of students who
scored high enough to be considered proficient or advanced also trailed the big-city average. Among fourthgraders, one-fourth were proficient or above in reading and one-third were proficient or above in math. The school system’s progress mirrors the results released last month, which showed significant gains — among D.C.’s largest in the history of the national exams. Those results included D.C. charter schools, though, raising questions about how much the traditional school system contributed to the growth. But the data released Wednesday show that DCPS gains equaled or exceeded those of D.C. charter schools in each tested subject and grade level. EMMA BROWN (THE WASHINGTON POST )
Stronger Than Ever
Rep. Frank Wolf will not seek re-election but work on humanitarian issues. RICHMOND
Rep. Wolf Announces He Will Not Run in 2014 U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., announced Tuesday that he will not run for re-election in 2014, ending a distinctive three-decade career in Congress and instantly making his bellwether Northern Virginia seat a prime battleground in next year’s midterm elections. His decision came as a surprise: As recently as last week, leaders in both parties fully expected him to run for an 18th term. (THE WASHINGTON POST) NORTHERN VIRGINIA
Report: Racial Divide in School Suspension Rate
Richmond VISITATION RICHARD A. LIPSKI (FOR THE WASHINGTON POST)
Republican Mark Obenshain has conceded the race for Virginia attorney general to Democrat Mark Herring, who has built an insurmountable lead in a recount. Obenshain acknowledged at a news conference Wednesday that Herring had widened his lead beyond the mathematical possibility of closing the gap or surpassing him. Herring’s campaign claims an 866-vote lead. Obenshain petitioned for a recount after he trailed Herring by 165 votes out of more than 2.2 million ballots cast on Nov. 5. At that point, it had been the closest statewide race in modern Virginia political history. Herring’s win completes a Democratic sweep of the top of the statewide ballot — the first since 1989. Democratic Gov.-elect Terry McAuliffe led the sweep. STEVE SZKOTAK (AP)
MANUEL BALCE CENETA (AP)
But the system still trails behind other big cities, study finds
In Brief
DAN DURANTE, trim and fit and 70 years old, challenges the football team
and cheerleading squad at Liberty High School in Bealeton, Va., to a pullup competition Saturday. None of the kids were able to match — or come near — Durante’s 39 pullups in 53 seconds. The event was a fundraiser for the football team.
$200K
Peepin’ the Panda The National Zoo’s giant panda cub Bao Bao will make her public debut Jan. 18 after fans have watched her grow for months on the popular panda cams. The zoo said that members of Friends of the National Zoo will have an early preview from Jan. 11 to Jan. 17. The cub and her mother, Mei Xiang, will determine how much time they spend on public view, since they will also have access to the den where they spent most of the past few months. (THE WASHINGTON POST )
The amount of a city grant announced Wednesday morning
for Friends of Rhode Island Avenue, which will invest in improvements along the eastern end of Rhode Island Avenue, from Third to 10th streets and from 18th to 24th streets NE. The money comes from the city’s Main Streets program, which has been tapped to help develop seven other city corridors. (THE WASHINGTON POST )
Black male students in Virginia are twice as likely to be suspended from public schools as white male students, according to a report released Wednesday that says punishment is often doled out for such minor offenses as talking loudly and disrupting class. The report was jointly done by Dewey Cornell, an education professor with the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education, and JustChildren, a child advocacy program of the Legal Aid Justice Center. (TWP) PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY, MD.
$11.50 Minimum Wage Becomes Law in County Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker III on Tuesday signed into law a bill raising the county’s minimum wage to $11.50 by 2017. At a ceremony Tuesday morning where he was joined by members of the Prince George’s County Council, Baker said increasing the hourly rate was “the right thing to do” and “essential to meeting basic needs.” The current minimum wage is $7.25. (TWP)