The following provides an overview of the data sources and methodology in this chapter. Please see the specific downloadable files for more details about the specific data and methodologies used.
Student-level enrollment and home addresses: SY2013-14 through SY2023-24 OSSE audited enrollment. The following audited enrollment business rules were applied to the audited enrollment files for SY17-18 through SY23-24: 1) The universe of DCPS students include audited UPSFF residents + Non-resident tuition paying + Residency unverified and 2) The universe of public charter students include audited UPSFF residents. Student level data was geocoded by the Office of the Chief Technology Officer with all District-appropriate neighborhood geographies and DCPS boundary rights from the Electronic Boundary Information Rights appended to each student. Home addresses reflect students’ residences provided at the time of registration. Registration can occur between the spring prior to the start of the school year up until the enrollment audit, approximately October 5th of the current school year.
Distance to school: The DME calculated the distance between students’ addresses per the audited enrollment file and where they attended school at the facility level as of the audited enrollment file. Distances for SY13-14 through SY21-22 were calculated using ArcGIS’s geo-spatial network analyst tool that takes into account Washington, DC’s streets and walkways provided by the DC Office of Planning. Distances for SY22-23 and SY23-24 were calculated using Valhalla's network analysis tools that take into account Washington, DC's streets and walkways per OpenStreetMap. The file excludes non geocoded students or those students that could not be assigned a ward or neighborhood cluster.
School facility addresses: School facility addresses were verified with District of Columbia Public Schools and the DC Public Charter School Board. School facility addresses were geocoded by the Office of the Chief Technology Officer with all District-appropriate neighborhood geographies included. The DME related the OSSE Audited Enrollment, SY2013-14 through SY2023-24, to individual facilities based on grades served. In instances where multiple facilities served the same school’s grade configurations then the distance to the facility with the highest enrollment was used.
DCPS geographic feeder patterns: every compulsory-aged student (ages 5-18) who lives in Washington, DC has the right to attend at least one DCPS school per grade band. A right-to-attend school can be identified as a student's in-boundary school (based on their home address) or feeder pattern school (based on completing the terminal grade in their current school). DCPS offer two types of feeder patterns: geographic and programmatic (organized by a specialized program of study such as dual language). Geographic feeder patterns are organized by DCPS high school. For SY22-23 to SY23-24, DCPS had 10 by-right or boundary high schools. Each of the by-right high schools have at least one by-right DCPS middle school or education campus with feeder rights based on completion of 8th grade, and each of the by-right middle schools has several by-right DCPS elementary schools with feeder rights based on completion of 5th grade. In addition, some DCPS citywide schools with no boundary (e.g., Excel Academy) have feeder rights to a DCPS middle or high school. Find more information about DCPS feeder patterns for SY14-15 through SY24-25.