DC school will pay students in effort to reduce truancy

A Washington, D.C., charter school will pay some of its students in an attempt to lower absences.

Digital Pioneers Academy, located between Washington’s Navy Yard and Capitol Hill neighborhoods, said it will randomly select 40 of its seniors to be paid $50 a week in an effort to reduce absenteeism.

Those selected have no obligations or requirements to receive the money, but similar projects have shown the attendance rates of recipients have improved their attendance, albeit slightly.

D.C. struggles heavily with truancy. In the 2024-25 school year, District officials reported about 37% of its students were struggling with chronic absenteeism, a figure that jumps up to 52% when looking exclusively at high-schoolers. 

The report defines chronic absenteeism as “students being absent (excused or unexcused) for at least 10 percent of the days in which they are enrolled.”

Digital Pioneers Academy was no exception. Over half of its registered high school students missed 10 or more days of school without an excuse last year.

"What’s great about the project is it is research based so they are going to be able to track how do kids spend their money," said Mashea Ashton, the school’s founder. "We are going to double down on financial literacy for all of our kids."

The school will hold a lottery in early October to decide which students will get the benefits. The school says over half of its senior class has already registered for the drawing.

The initiative is part of a greater nationwide research project. The Rooted School Foundation began “The $50 Study” in 2020. The initial test sites were in New Orleans and Indianapolis, where students received over $500,000 in cash support, according to the study.

In the previous iterations, students who were selected received a reloadable debit card that would get fresh funds at the start of each week. Some of the other students at the schools were the control group, getting a $10 Amazon gift card each month.

The project is being spearheaded by researchers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and the University of Pennsylvania. It is funded solely through philanthropic donations and does not utilize taxpayer funds to pay students.

Those researchers said students who got the $50 per week attended roughly 1.23 more days of school per semester than students who did not receive the funds. 

DC Council member Zachary Parker is especially interested in the results of Washington’s experiment. Parker has introduced multiple bills in the past surrounding giving students money to try to combat DC’s attendance issues. He also plans to introduce more legislation again next month that would create a citywide effort to give students money.