Scrutinizing Special Education: An Investigation into DC Public Schools
The Department of Education has launched an investigation into special education services provided to students in DC Public Schools (DCPS). This probe by the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) will determine whether or not DCPS’ handling of special education violates federal law. The investigation will assess whether the district is failing to evaluate or reevaluate students with disabilities, leaving families to rely on due process complaints to secure services.
Context of the Investigation
The announcement of the investigation comes at a time of scrutiny for DCPS, with concerns raised about special education rights. DCPS has faced a slew of complaints and suits filed in regards to special needs students. In 2023, DCPS settled a 2021 lawsuit filed by incarcerated high school students with disabilities who claimed they were denied an education while incarcerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. When the pandemic hit, D.C. Public Schools stopped providing in-person education to students in the city jail. Another suit from 2024 claimed buses that pick up students with disabilities in D.C. are sometimes late or never show up at all, don’t provide accommodations and can’t be reliably tracked.
Concerns and Complaints
Education advocates have raised the alarm about special education rights in the District. Danielle Robinette, senior policy attorney at the Children’s Law Center, said in written testimony that DCPS families too often must fight tooth and nail to get their child the services and supports to which they are entitled under the law.
Data from the 2018-19 school year found D.C. schools received 245 due process complaints per 10,000 children served compared to the national average of 30. And in the 2020-21 school year, the district got 127 due process complaints per 10,000 children served compared to a national average of 33. The D.C. Advisory Committee noted that DCPS has improved its complaint process over time but the number of complaints is still much higher than national averages.
DCPS Response
DCPS has stated its commitment to providing high-quality education and support to all students, including those receiving special education services. In a statement to News4, DCPS said that the district will fully cooperate with the Office for Civil Rights’ (OCR) review and remains dedicated to continuously improving our special education programs and reducing barriers for families. "We stand by our ongoing efforts to ensure that all students have access to the resources they need to thrive."
Read also: Best Public Health Degrees
Potential Outcomes
OCR’s investigation could lead to mandated corrective actions for DCPS, setting a precedent for how special education disputes are handled.
Other Investigations
Prompting an investigation into an extensive cheating scandal rocked Atlanta schools, public schools in the nation’s capital first came under fire for allegedly cheating on standardized tests. However, a comprehensive investigation into the Washington D.C. cheating issue has revealed that while cheating did occur in some classrooms, the issue was centralized to a small number of classes, rather than hundreds of schools, as previously thought. Still, evidence of any cheating raises questions about the validity of standardized testing and how those scores are used to determine funding, teacher raises and performance evaluations.
A report at USA Today states that just three D.C. schools have been found guilty of cheating on standardized tests known as the DC-CAS in April 2011. The reports were limited to three classrooms within these three schools, which represents a very small number of the 5,089 classrooms that actually took the tests. The findings were announced by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education.
The three schools were classified as “critical” as a result of the investigation, which meant there was solid evidence found of fraud or test tampering in the test-taking process. The three schools cited were Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary, Langdon Education Campus and Public Charter Perry Street Prep, according to WUSA9. Teachers and test proctors in the classrooms were guilty of cheating; specifically, they gave students answers on the tests and provided students with unauthorized help throughout the testing process.
The official investigation was launched into the D.C. school system in response to an investigation by USA Today in March, 2011, according to the Washington Times. USA Today raised questions about the high number of erasures on standardized test forms, which typically switched answers from wrong to right. As a result of the USA Today investigation, the D.C. Inspector General’s office and the Department of Education launched their own independent investigation of the problem, using outside firm Alvarez & Marsal.
Read also: Learn About Public Universities
The investigation, which has been in process for 15 months to date, pared down the search to 70 classrooms throughout the district. Investigators interviewed 200 teachers and administrators, as well as 80 students, to create an accurate picture of what the test environment looked like at all the D.C. schools in question.
During that investigation, the following findings were made:
- 14 schools were completely cleared of any cheating charges
- 11 schools had minor issues
- 9 schools had moderate issues
- 3 schools had critical issues involving test cheating
Standardized Testing
Cheating is just one of the concerns to come to the forefront when discussing standardized testing today. As schools and states put more clout behind scores in terms of school funding and teacher evaluations, the temptation to cheat becomes much greater.
"Empowerment Club"
The complaint asks OCR to open an investigation into an "Empowerment Club" in District of Columbia Public School (DCPS).The club is a "student affinity group" designed for Black female students, according to PDE. A flyer included in the complaint advertises the club for girls in first through fifth grade who identify as "Black, African, African-American, biracial, or part of the African diaspora and nonbinary students." PDE asks OCR in its complaint to determine whether the "Empowerment Club" violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race in programs receiving federal funding. The group also alleges the club may be in violation of the 14th Amendment, pointing to the portion of the amendment prohibiting the denial of "equal protection of the laws" to any person.
Differing Perspectives
Judith Sandalow, chief executive of the Children’s Law Center, said, “We see this as a local issue and don’t believe a widespread federal investigation will improve outcomes for D.C. students."
Read also: Empowering Families in Petersburg
tags: #dc #public #schools #education #department #investigation
