What happens after graduation for students of D.C.’s schools? What about students who don’t graduate? On Monday, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education and the Office of Education Through Employment Pathways (ETEP) launched an interactive dashboard that offers a first of its kind look into those questions and others exploring the economic mobility of the District’s students.
Through 10 briefs, users can peer into median income based on education attainment, the employment rate of grads and the industries D.C. alumni work in. Administration and support positions top the list for all students, but health care comes first for those who go beyond a bachelor’s degree.
“This cross-agency view helps us understand how pre-K-12 education, higher education and workforce programs shape access to families sustaining careers,” ETEP IT Director Seth Shapiro said. “Our work provides actionable insights for program providers, policymakers, agency leaders, educators and the public.”
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The data shows that former students who attain more than a high school diploma earn around $20,000 more than those with just a high school degree, which Shapiro believes demonstrates that higher sectors of education “reliably pays off” in rising-wage industries.
However, he notes the majority of former D.C. students are concentrated in “flat-wage industries,” which tend to have less opportunity for growth. Former D.C. students who have post-baccalaureate degrees have a median annual income of nearly $54,000 — closest to the D.C. living wage of $55,000.
“While wages do increase to higher levels with higher levels of education, many local learners still do not reach the living wage threshold,” Shapiro said. “By visualizing the gap, we can better identify where additional supports and interventions may be needed.”
The data is not an exhaustive list of the potential economic mobility of all D.C. students. The data includes the class of 2016 and students enrolled after that time, and employment data includes information only for alumni working in D.C., not including federal workers. Currently, datasets include only public and charter school students.
The datasets are being used to inform D.C.’s Compact for 2043 initiative, which by 2043 seeks to have a 90% graduation rate and for 100% of students to have a post-graduation plan across all District public schools. DCPS’ graduation rate was just under 78% for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Relevant data collected by ETEP will also be used by D.C., Maryland and Virginia’s multi-state Student Pathway Report, which in its first phase is tracking student movements and outcomes across the capital region.
A total of seven agencies worked in the development of the software. Community stakeholders, including members of the all-parent governing board, Parents Amplifying Voices in Education (PAVE), had a say in the dashboard’s scope. They expect the database to grow as more information becomes available.
“We see our education system as a reflection of all of us as a community, and we believe data shines the spotlight on how we can better love our most precious members, our children,” PAVE founder Maya Martin Cadogan said. “Data is key to understanding what is and isn’t working, and when done well, data helps all of us set aside our biases to work together.”
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