Impact
Bold experiments.
Lasting results.
DC Ed Fund backs cutting-edge initiatives with the potential to generate systemic change. Our investments have transformed DCPS into the fastest-improving school district in the nation.
Our founding
The DC Public Education Fund was founded in 2007 to help DC Public Schools address its most pressing challenges through organized philanthropy.
Pursuing excellence
Our first investment fund raised $65M to support IMPACTplus, the nation’s first performance and compensation system to attract, evaluate, and incentivize the highest performing educators.
Student experience
We expanded our efforts to address what students were learning in their classrooms. The Cornerstones initiative introduced the city’s first curriculum strategy stacked with powerful lessons and experiences, all in pursuit of closing the opportunity gap.
Expanding our vision
Since the beginning, we have raised over $150M in seed capital to launch a series of new start-up initiatives that continue to raise the bar for what’s possible in public education.
Proof of concept
Today, DCPS still holds the title of being the nation’s fastest-improving school district, much of it accelerated by DC Ed Fund-supported investments.
Targeted investments to achieve DCPS’ most ambitious goals.
Standing Ovation
Standing Ovation was designed as a way to honor the achievements of DCPS’ top teachers, leaders, and school communities. For more than ten years, this unique DC tradition has played a critical role in elevating the teaching profession and celebrating what’s working in urban education.
DCPS Becoming
As a nation and as an urban public school system, we are emerging from an unprecedented year having fought through unprecedented experiences. DC Public Schools (DCPS) learned so much as a school community on how to reinvent teaching and learning regardless of conditions. We also witnessed the structural racism in America and the lopsided outcomes that stem from racial inequities. DCPS is at an inflection point, a moment in its history, where returning to a pre-pandemic posture is not an option. Instead, DCPS is shattering the status quo by acknowledging the journey it must take and the work that has to be done in order to be better, stronger, all in pursuit of becoming an antiracist and whole child centered organization. To learn more about the new DCPS Becoming $20M fund, contact us.
Reading Clinic
The DC Reading Clinic launched in 2018 to meet two critical needs at once: offering intense, one-on-one decoding sessions for DCPS’ most struggling readers, and providing clinical apprenticeships for DCPS educators to become literacy experts. The Clinic now operates in three locations across the city.
Check it outRate of expected reading growth for DCRC students
Rate of Clinic-trained teacher who would recommend the experience to their peers
Number of students who have been affected by a Reading Clinic-trained teacher to date
Learning Together to Advance our Practice (LEAP)
LEAP built on the early success of IMPACTplus taking the quality of instruction from good to great. At the core, LEAP is about helping teachers become true subject-matter experts so that every student across the city experiences rich, engaging, and challenging instruction every day. Teachers engage in intense, weekly cycles of development in small content-specific professional learning communities in their buildings.
Check it outLEAP leaders enrolled annually
Seminars completed since launch
Coaching sessions completed since launch
Cornerstones
Cornerstones introduced high-quality, powerful lessons and student experiences across every grade, every ward, and every content area including ELA, math, science, social studies, art, health, PE, and world languages.
Check it outCornerstone experiences designed and implemented
Number of 2nd graders to-date that have learned how to ride a bike
Number of students nationwide who have experienced Cornerstones