K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: Graduates from low-performing D.C. schools face tough college road. “Past valedictorians of low-performing District high schools say their own transitions to college were eye-opening and at times ego-shattering, filled with revelations that — despite taking their public schools’ most difficult classes and acing them — they were not equipped to excel at the nation’s top colleges.” And yet DC’s per-pupil spending is enormously high.