DC Code § 38-1853.09 (2021)
2021 District of Columbia Code|Title 38 - Educational Institutions|Chapter 18N - Scholarships for Opportunity and Results|§ 38-1853.09. Evaluations

(a) In General.— (1) DUTIES OF THE SECRETARY AND THE MAYOR.— The Secretary and the Mayor of the District of Columbia shall— (A) jointly enter into an agreement with the Institute of Education Sciences of the Department of Education to evaluate annually the opportunity scholarship program under this division; (B) jointly enter into an agreement to monitor and evaluate the use of funds authorized and appropriated for the District of Columbia public schools and the District of Columbia public charter schools under this division; and (C) make the evaluations described in subparagraphs (A) and (B) public in accordance with subsection (c). (2) DUTIES OF THE SECRETARY.— The Secretary, through a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement, shall— (A) ensure that the evaluation under paragraph (1)(A)— (i) is conducted using an acceptable quasi-experimental research design for determining the effectiveness of the opportunity scholarship program under this division that does not use a control study group consisting of students who applied for but did not receive opportunity scholarships; and (ii) addresses the issues described in paragraph (4); and (B) disseminate information on the impact of the program— (i) on academic achievement and educational attainment of participating eligible students who use an opportunity scholarship; and (ii) on students and schools in the District of Columbia. (3) DUTIES OF THE INSTITUTE ON EDUCATION SCIENCES.— The Institute of Education Sciences of the Department of Education shall— (A) assess participating eligible students who use an opportunity scholarship in each of grades 3 through 8, as well as one of the grades at the high school level, by supervising the administration of the same reading and mathematics assessment used by the District of Columbia public schools to comply with section 1111(b) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311(b)); (B) measure the academic achievement of all participating eligible students who use an opportunity scholarship in the grades described in subparagraph (A); and (C) work with eligible entities receiving a grant under this division to ensure that the parents of each student who is a participating eligible student that uses an opportunity scholarship agrees to permit their child to participate in the evaluations and assessments carried out by the Institute of Education Sciences under this subsection. (4) ISSUES TO BE EVALUATED.— The issues to be evaluated under paragraph (1)(A) shall include the following: (A) A comparison of the academic achievement of participating eligible students who use an opportunity scholarship on the measurements described in paragraph (3)(B) to the academic achievement of a comparison group of students with similar backgrounds in the District of Columbia public schools and the District of Columbia public charter schools. (B) The success of the program under this division in expanding choice options for parents of participating eligible students and increasing the satisfaction of such parents and students with their choice. (C) The reasons parents of participating eligible students choose for their children to participate in the program, including important characteristics for selecting schools. (D) A comparison of the retention rates, high school graduation rates, college enrollment rates, college persistence rates, and college graduation rates of participating eligible students who use an opportunity scholarship with the rates of students in the comparison group described in subparagraph (A). (E) A comparison of the college enrollment rates, college persistence rates, and college graduation rates of students who participated in the program in 2004, 2005, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 as the result of winning the Opportunity Scholarship Program lottery with such enrollment, persistence, and graduation rates for students who entered but did not win such lottery in those years and who, as a result, served as the control group for previous evaluations of the program under this division. Nothing in this subparagraph may be construed to waive § 38-1853.04(a)(3)(A)(iii) with respect to any such student. (F) A comparison of the safety of the schools attended by participating eligible students who use an opportunity scholarship and the schools in the District of Columbia attended by students in the comparison group described in subparagraph (A), based on the perceptions of the students and parents. (G) An assessment of student academic achievement at participating schools in which 85 percent of the total number of students enrolled at the school are participating eligible students who receive and use an opportunity scholarship. (H) Such other issues with respect to participating eligible students who use an opportunity scholarship as the Secretary considers appropriate for inclusion in the evaluation, such as the impact of the program on public elementary schools and secondary schools in the District of Columbia. (5) PROHIBITING DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION.— (A) IN GENERAL.— Any disclosure of personally identifiable information obtained under this division shall be in compliance with section 444 of the General Education Provisions Act (commonly known as the 'Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974') (20 U.S.C. 1232g). (B) STUDENTS NOT ATTENDING PUBLIC SCHOOL.— With respect to any student who is not attending a public elementary school or secondary school, personally identifiable information obtained under this division shall only be disclosed to— (i) individuals carrying out the evaluation described in paragraph (1)(A) for such student; (ii) the group of individuals providing information for carrying out the evaluation of such student; and (iii) the parents of such student. (b) Reports. — The Secretary shall submit to the Committees on Appropriations, Education and the Workforce, and Oversight and Government Reform of the House of Representatives and the Committees on Appropriations, Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate— (1) annual interim reports, not later than April 1 of the year following the year of the date of enactment of this chapter [April 15, 2011], and each subsequent year through the year in which the final report is submitted under paragraph (2), on the progress and preliminary results of the evaluation of the opportunity scholarship program funded under this chapter; and (2) a final report, not later than 1 year after the final year for which a grant is made under § 38-1853.04(a), on the results of the evaluation of the program. (c) Public availability. — All reports and underlying data gathered pursuant to this section shall be made available to the public upon request, in a timely manner following submission of the applicable report under subsection (b), except that personally identifiable information shall not be disclosed or made available to the public. (d) Limit on amount expended. — The amount expended by the Secretary to carry out this section for any fiscal year may not exceed 5 percent of the total amount appropriated under § 38-1853.14(a)(1) for the fiscal year.  (Apr. 15, 2011, 125 Stat. 206, Pub. L. 112-10, Div. C, § 3009; Feb. 1, 2012, 126 Stat. 6, Pub. L. 112-92, § 4; May 5, 2017, 131 Stat. 135, Pub. L. 115-31, Div. E, title IX, § 908(a)(1).)  Section References This section is referenced in § 38-1853.05, § 38-1853.06, § 38-1853.08, § 38-1853.11, and § 38-1853.12. Effect of Amendments Pub. L. 112-92, in subsec. (a)(3)(A), inserted “in a manner consistent with § 38-1853.08(h)”; and, in subsec. (a)(3)(C), inserted “if requested by the Institute of Education Sciences,”. Editor's Notes Section 908(a)(2) of Div. E, Title IX, of Public Law 115-31 provided that: "(2) TRANSITION OF EVALUATION.— "(A) TERMINATION OF PREVIOUS EVALUATIONS.— The Secretary of Education shall— "(i) terminate the evaluations conducted under § 38-1853.09(a)), as in effect on the day before May 5, 2017, after obtaining data for the 2017-2018 school year; and "(ii) submit any reports required for the 2017-2018 school year or preceding years with respect to the evaluations in accordance with § 38-1853.09(b). "(B) NEW EVALUATIONS.— "(i) IN GENERAL.— Effective beginning with respect to the 2018-2019 school year, the Secretary shall conduct new evaluations in accordance with the provisions of § 38-1853.09(a), as amended by Pub. L. 115-31, Div. E, Title IX. "(ii) MOST RECENT EVALUATION.— As a component of the new evaluations described in clause (i), the Secretary shall continue to monitor and evaluate the students who were evaluated in the most recent evaluation under such section prior to May 5, 2017, including by monitoring and evaluating the test scores and other information of such students."