DC alternative schools face bottom-5% ratings in 2026

In the District, OSSE said in an Oct. 14 update that it will use a new alternative-school accountability system for December 2026 school-improvement designations.

The change matters for DC families and educators because alternative schools can now be measured with metrics tied to their missions, while still facing a bottom 5% cutoff used for improvement status.

OSSE said the public will see alternative-specific results on the DC School Report Card in December 2026. Those measures include an English language arts and math weighted index, academic persistence, secondary completion and the transition from eighth to ninth grade.

The framework applies to the District’s alternative schools, which serve students through nontraditional models. OSSE has described those campuses as having distinct student populations and missions, including pathways connected to persistence, completion and transitions between grades.

The system still has a threshold for whether a campus receives a full accountability score. Alternative schools must be eligible for more than 50 points; otherwise, only the underlying measures will appear publicly on the report card.

OSSE has already given local education agencies embargoed accountability scores and data files using 2024-25 school year information. The agency said those spring 2026 files were meant to help school leaders understand the methodology and were not posted publicly.

Alternative campuses will be eligible for school-improvement labels in the next three-year designation cycle, scheduled for December 2026. Those labels include Comprehensive Support and Improvement, Targeted Support and Improvement, Additional Targeted Support and Improvement, and Comprehensive Support and Improvement — Low Graduation Rate.

For the comprehensive designation, traditional and alternative schools with eligible accountability scores will be ranked together. OSSE said 10 schools are designated in each three-year cycle: eight elementary or middle schools and two high schools.

Targeted support will work differently. Alternative schools can receive that annual designation if student-group scores fall below the same bottom 5% threshold used in the initial comprehensive-support year. A school with that designation for two straight years can receive the additional targeted label in the third year.

Graduation-rate designations will continue to turn on a federal 67% cutoff for four-year and five-year graduation rates. OSSE said that category does not adjust for alternative-school populations that may have historically been under-credited.

The update is part of OSSE’s effort to meet federal accountability rules under the Every Student Succeeds Act while recognizing schools that serve students through nontraditional pathways. For residents, the practical effect will be a different public yardstick for campuses focused on persistence and completion, rather than only the measures used for traditional schools.

In December 2026, the DC School Report Card is expected to publish alternative-specific metrics, including academic persistence, secondary completion and eighth-to-ninth-grade transition measures.

In December 2026, OSSE is scheduled to use the new alternative accountability calculations for the next three-year school-improvement designation cycle.

In that December 2026 cycle, residents and school communities can check whether any alternative schools fall into the combined bottom 5% list for comprehensive support or below the 67% graduation-rate threshold for CSI-Grad.