January 16, 2018

Dear Ballou High School Staff,

Thank you for your patience as DC Public Schools (DCPS) and the Office of the State Superintendent of
Education (OSSE) conducted their investigations into the allegations regarding attendance and
graduation at Ballou High School. OSSE released their report today, and I want to share with you some
of its key findings.

There was no evidence of directives to change grades from Ballou or DCPS administration. However,
Ballou staff felt significant pressure to pass students who were not attending class. In addition, Ballou
staff did not follow the DCPS grading policy as it relates to attendance or the credit recovery policy.
More than half of the students graduating received a diploma despite exceeding the number of
absences allowed to earn a passing grade in a class. DCPS administration did not provide sufficient
training, support, or accountability for teachers and staff to ensure the policies and procedures were
followed at Ballou.

As I’ve said before, we take the results of this investigation and the investigation underway by DC Public
Schools seriously. It is on us, as a district, to ensure that every DCPS student graduate is prepared for
college, career, and life. It is our mission and our responsibility to ensure student learning.

We must also move forward at Ballou High School because that is what’s best for students. At Ballou,
staff didn’t follow grading and credit recovery policies. This responsibility lives with the school leader, so
starting immediately, an interim principal will lead Ballou for the remainder of the school year. In May,
the Ballou community will have the opportunity to participate in the selection of the new, permanent
principal. Dr. Reeves has been reassigned to another function within the district, and will not return to
Ballou.

I want to thank you for your commitment to the Ballou High School community, and especially our
students at Ballou High School. We know that every student at Ballou High School can be successful.
Going forward, we are implementing the following policy changes districtwide:

High School Diploma Verification: We are not a district where students will pass courses or
graduate when they have not earned their diploma. Students must be in rigorous courses, and
demonstrate competency in those courses. Going forward, DCPS will do a transcript review, and
verify—starting with this year’s graduating class—that all students earned their diploma.

Credit Recovery: We believe firmly that every student can be successful, and as a district, we
will never give up our students. We must provide strong supports for students and multiple
pathways to success, and we must provide those pathways while holding students to a high bar.

1 2 0 0 F irs t St re et , NE | W ash in gt o n, DC 20002 | T 202. 442. 5885 | F 202. 442. 5026 | dcps .dc. gov
 DCPS will create the nation’s strongest credit recovery program so that when students need a
second chance, that chance is earned and does not hold our students behind. Beginning
immediately, students retaking courses must reach 80 percent mastery in order to earn credit.
In addition, we will train counselors and school leaders on how students enter credit recovery
and how it should be recorded on student transcripts. For Spring 2018, schools must follow
DCPS’ current credit recovery process. The credit recovery team will provide support to schools.
Multiple pathways—like evening classes, online classes, or other methods—are critical to
student success. All students can learn, and we will ensure our expectations for rigor are
maintained as we provide students the support they need.

Attendance: We have an attendance crisis in this city. It is our responsibility—our entire city’s
responsibility—to ensure that every student is coming to school and that we remove the
barriers that too many of our young people face. We have the mandate to prepare every young
person for success, and that begins with supporting every student in getting to school. Going
forward, we will alert families for any class period that a student misses, and we must partner
with families and the community to ensure students come to school every day.

Grading: At Ballou, policies were not clearly communicated to staff, including a lack of training
for staff. As leaders, you have already retrained staff on the grading policy. For Spring 2018, we
must make sure that every school is implementing the full grading policy. The DCPS secondary
team and instructional superintendents will follow up to provide additional support. In May,
DCPS will implement a new grading policy that includes teacher feedback, and we will ensure all
school leaders and teachers are trained on the new policy.

IMPACT: We will make sure that our teacher evaluation program—which Stanford University
and the University of Virginia showed leads to four months of extra student learning in both
math and reading—is a tool for continued student success, not a tool implemented absent
teacher voice.

Let me reiterate that DCPS takes these findings seriously, and we will implement policies that help
students succeed and hold everyone accountable to make the system work for our students.

Today is an opportunity to remind our city of who we are as a district and the responsibility we have for
our students. DCPS is a district that puts students first, focuses on equity and excellence, and has the
courage to improve. Nearly every measure points to our continued trajectory as the fastest improving
urban school district, from increased scores on NAEP from the federal Department of Education, to our
recent PARCC gains that outpaced the entire city. We will ensure that every student who graduates has
earned their diploma at every school, and we will create the country’s strongest credit recovery program
so that when students need a second chance, that chance is earned and does not hold our students
behind.

1 2 0 0 F irs t St re et , NE | W ash in gt o n, DC 2 0002 | T 202. 442. 5885 | F 202. 442. 5026 | dcps .dc. gov
Thank you for your continued commitment to our students. Questions can be directed to Deputy
Chancellor Wanda Legrand at DeputyChancellor@dc.gov.

Respectfully,

Antwan Wilson
Chancellor

1 2 0 0 F irs t St re et , NE | W ash in gt o n, DC 2 0002 | T 202. 442. 5885 | F 202. 442. 5026 | dcps .dc. gov