Staff person in charge: Kathleen Coughlin
Committee Chair: Robert Henderson (Ward 5).
Committee Members: Allister Chang (Ward 2), Brandon Best (Ward 6), Jacque Patterson (At-Large, Vice President), Eboni-Rose Thompson (Ward 7, President, ex-officio*)
About
The College, Career, and Life Readiness (CCLR) Committee is responsible for researching, reviewing, and promoting policies that enhance the District’s efforts to adequately prepare students to meet the challenges and opportunities of today and tomorrow. The committee aims to educate the D.C. community, gather feedback, and provide policy recommendations on issues that impact students’ readiness for college, career, and life, including:
- Academic standards
- High school graduation requirements
- Literacy instruction
The work of the CCLR Committee complements the State Board’s statutory duties. Per D.C. Code § 38–2652(a)(2) and (3), the State Board has approval authority over education standards and graduation requirements. The committee's goal is to allow the State Board to engage deeply and thoughtfully in these duties while also working to ensure student success at all stages of their education journey.
Statewide Academic Standards
The State Board approves the DC’s statewide academic standards for each subject area. The State Board is responsible for making sure that those standards:
- Specify what students are expected to know and be able to do
- Contain coherent and rigorous content
- Encourage the teaching of advanced skills
- Are updated on a regular basis
For more information on the State Board’s earlier work on academic standards, please see the archived Education Standards Committee (2022) page and the State-Level and Systemic Policy Committee (2023) page.
High School Graduation Requirements
For information on the State Board’s earlier work on high school graduation requirements, please see the archived High School Graduation Task Force (2017-18) page.
Literacy
The College, Career, and Life Readiness Committee is invested in ensuring District students have access to high-quality reading instruction. To make that happen, teachers need up-to-date and research-based training, lesson materials, and assessments. The CCLR Committee will work to promote and extend the work of OSSE’s Literacy Task Force and their recommendations which were published in September 2023.
Getting Involved
We encourage D.C. parents, teachers, students, and other community members to attend our online committee meetings which will be posted in advance on the events page of our website and through OpenDC. They are uploaded afterward to the State Board’s YouTube page.
The committee also invites anyone interested in speaking on these topics to testify at one of the State Board’s monthly Public Meetings. To sign up as a public witness, please notify State Board staff by emailing [email protected] or filling out this sign-up form at least 48 hours before the meeting. Written testimony may be submitted at any time to [email protected].