ED - Next Evaluation of the DC OSP - MRAS

The Department of Education (ED), in collaboration with the General Services Administration (GSA), is conducting market research to evaluate the next phase of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program (DC OSP). This initiative, originally established under the 2004 District of Columbia School Choice Incentive Act, represents the first federally funded private school voucher program in the United States. The primary objective of this program is to offer low-income residents of Washington, D.C., particularly those whose children attend underperforming schools, enhanced opportunities to access higher-performing educational institutions.

Since its inception, the DC OSP has undergone several reauthorizations and modifications, including those under the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results (SOAR) Act in 2011 and its subsequent reauthorization in 2017. These legislative actions have maintained core components such as student eligibility criteria and scholarship prioritization while introducing changes like increased scholarship amounts and additional requirements for participating private schools. Currently, scholarships are available up to $8,000 for students in kindergarten through grade 8 and $12,000 for high school students, with adjustments made annually for inflation. The program also mandates that participating private schools adhere to specific nondiscrimination policies and fiscal accountability standards.

The upcoming evaluation aims to assess various aspects of the DC OSP since its last reauthorization. This includes examining how effectively the program has been administered by operators like Serving Our Children, which was awarded a grant in August 2025 to implement key processes such as application management, applicant recruitment, scholarship distribution, and monitoring of awardees' placement in private schools. The evaluation will focus on understanding these operational dynamics as well as measuring outcomes related to student performance and program accessibility.

This market research effort seeks to gather insights into potential capabilities needed for conducting this comprehensive evaluation. It emphasizes understanding current practices within similar educational programs and identifying innovative methodologies that could enhance the efficacy of future evaluations. By engaging with industry experts through this Request for Information (RFI), ED aims to ensure that future evaluations are robustly designed to provide actionable insights into improving educational opportunities for disadvantaged communities within Washington D.C.