[8] Facilities reform legislation in the District of Columbia has led to many school openings and closings.

[11] However, these numbers are not meant to be misleading; the 62.8% freshman graduation rate of Black students in 2008 was above the state average.

[12] For the school year ending in spring 2007, the DCPS was governed by the District of Columbia State Board of Education, with eleven members, including two students who had the right to debate but not to vote.

The board established DCPS policies and employed a superintendent to serve as chief executive officer of the school district, responsible for day-to-day operations.

However, this reform to District of Columbia Public Schools was encouraged by his predecessor and constituents at large.

After the standard Congressional review period expired on June 12, 2007, the Mayor's office had direct control of the Superintendent and the school budget.

On June 12, Mayor Fenty appointed Michelle Rhee the new Chancellor, replacing Superintendent Clifford B. Janey.

In 2010, a randomized controlled trial conducted under the auspices of the Department of Education examined the impacts of the OSP students, finding that it raised graduation rates.

[15] In 1939, writing on behalf of the Board of Education of the District of Columbia now the District of Columbia State Board of Education, Ballou denied a request by contralto Marian Anderson to sing at the auditorium of the segregated white Central High School.

When Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from that organization in protest, author Zora Neale Hurston criticized her for remaining silent about the fact that the board had also excluded Anderson.

The District of Columbia has no home rule; it is controlled by congressional committees, and Congress at the time was overwhelmingly Democratic.

Although Anderson later performed at an open-air concert at the Lincoln Memorial, the board retained its policy of exclusion.

[16] The Council of the District of Columbia enacted the DC Public Education Reform Amendment Act of 2007.

The "Commission" is the Interagency Collaboration and Services Integration Commission, which includes the Mayor, Chair of the Council of the District of Columbia, Chief Judge of the D.C. Superior Family Court, Superintendent of Education, Chancellor of DCPS, Chair of DCPCSB, and fourteen others.

After the 2007–2008 school year, about one-fifth of the teachers and one-third of the principals resigned, retired, or were terminated from DCPS.

A GAO-conducted study[17] recommended that the Mayor direct DCPS to establish planning processes for strikes and look to performance reviews from central offices to strengthen accountability.

One example is implementing a requirement that students entering ninth grade sit down with a school counselor and construct a course plan to reach graduation.

Students attending River Terrace and Emery Education Campus moved to the Langley Building.

[18] In accordance with Section 1116, a provision of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), entitled "Academic Assessment and Local Education Agency and School Improvement", the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) of the District of Columbia oversees compliance with Adequate Yearly Progress Archived July 26, 2011, at the Wayback Machine (AYP).

[19][20][21] Many schools fail to meet AYP, even though DCPS educators offer support and tools to students to be academically successful.

[citation needed] DCPS has created an evaluation tool to assess schools by more than their standardized test scores.

[citation needed] According to the U.S. Census Bureau, DCPS had a budget of $1.2 billion and spent $29,409 per pupil in FY 2009–10.

In 2012, the Cato Institute's Andrew J. Coulson showed that DCPS's reported per-pupil expenditures figures were based on incomplete data.

Informed by Coulson's observations, the U.S. Census Bureau revised its data collection methods and reported that per-pupil expenditures were $28,170.

[citation needed] In FY 2009–2010, the District received 6.7% of its total elementary and secondary education revenues from federal sources.

Collaborative for Change,' or DC3, a joint effort of some of the District's highest- and lowest-performing schools that have been granted autonomy as a tool for innovating with curriculum and professional development.

)"[29] Bell HS; Lincoln MS Below is a partial list of superintendents and chancellors of the D.C. Public School system.