(Washington, DC) – Mayor Muriel Bowser has signed a Mayor’s Order outlining actions that DC Government is taking to put all residents on the path to the middle class through access to data-informed education and workforce programming and supports, formally establishing the Office of Education Through Employment Pathways (ETEP).
“Building on legislation authorized by Mayor Bowser last year to centralize District data on the pre-K-to-workforce continuum, our new Office of Education Through Employment Pathways will provide unprecedented visibility into the impact of education and workforce programs on residents' long-term outcomes,” said Deputy Mayor for Education Paul Kihn. “It will revolutionize what we know about our work and students, and will allow us to more carefully consider what programs to continue, which to scale, and how well our system is setting residents on the path to the middle class.”
Per the Mayor’s Order, the ETEP, within the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education (DME), will:
- Lead the development and implementation of the Education Through Employment Data System, which brings together information from seven government agencies across DC’s education, workforce, social services, and juvenile justice systems for the first time.
- Create a Public Stakeholder Advisory Board of community voices to inform the priorities of this effort, and to shape the public-facing resources to maximize the usefulness for families.
- Establish a Policy Board consisting of representatives from 13 DC agencies to make recommendations on the priorities and implementation of this work.
To date, Mayor Bowser has invested more than $100 million in reimagining high school with a focus on increased access to authentic college and career experiences, and specialized coursework. These investments include the Advanced Technical Center, where the 2022-23 class earned 740 college credits; school year internships; dual enrollment programs; middle school career exploration; and other career and technical education learning opportunities amid increasing graduation rates across DC Public Schools and the public charter sector by 14 percentage points in the past decade. The forthcoming Education Through Employment Data System will provide critical information about the education and employment outcomes of students who benefit from this programming, which will be used to accelerate and focus these efforts.
“To achieve our goal of strong pathways to college and career for all young people, we need education through employment data to measure our progress,” said Monica Dodge, Executive Director of the ETEP. “This work will share insights on how many DC students are employed in good jobs in the region, how graduates of higher education and workforce programs compete in the local job market, and ways to continue to expand pathways to opportunity for residents across all eight wards.”
To drive systemwide progress toward closing gaps across racial and ethnic groups in the District, the ETEP will engage with community stakeholders to ensure that the focus areas of this effort and the information publicly available are most actionable for DC families. In alignment with the Office of Racial Equity’s guidance, this effort will also prioritize disaggregated data by race and ethnicity and examine the factors leading to varying outcomes across demographics.
The ETEP will publish its first public analysis in spring 2024, focused on access to career and technical education programming, and will continue to share insights on the impact of DC’s education and workforce system. The Education Through Employment Data System will generate insights for DC government stakeholders by the end of Fiscal Year 2025. More information can be found at dme.dc.gov/etep.
