District of Columbia Public Schools, DC

Original Research by School Decision on District of Columbia Public Schools

District of Columbia Public Schools is the traditional public school system for the nation's capital, serving students from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade across a wide footprint of neighborhood schools, education campuses, and specialized programs. The district enrolls a large student body spread across more than a hundred schools, including elementary buildings, middle schools, comprehensive high schools, and education campuses that combine grade bands. The school names tell their own story of the city: Murch, Miner, Takoma, Lafayette, and Janney on the elementary side; Deal, Hart, and Jefferson among the middle schools; Roosevelt, Dunbar, Coolidge, Ballou, Anacostia, Eastern, and Jackson-Reed at the high school level. Specialized options include Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Benjamin Banneker HS, School Without Walls, Bard HS Early College DC, McKinley Technology HS, Phelps Architecture Construction and Engineering HS, and Ron Brown College Preparatory HS, giving families a range of themed and selective pathways alongside their zoned schools.

The student population is predominantly Black, with a large Hispanic enrollment and a smaller White population. Asian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, American Indian or Alaska Native, and multiracial students round out the enrollment. Free-or-reduced-price-lunch data was not available in the provided data, and IEP and English learner rates were also missing, so those dimensions of student need are not represented here. The district's own enrollment figures show substantial pre-kindergarten participation, with numbers tapering somewhat in the middle grades before expanding again at the high school level.

On the most recent state assessment, the DCCAPE, DCPS shows a clear pattern in math: proficiency is strongest in third grade and declines steadily through eighth grade. Fewer than half of tested students reach proficiency at any grade level, and the slide is most visible in the upper elementary and middle grades. English language arts tells a different story. Proficiency is more stable across grades, hovering in a moderate band from third through eighth grade, with a few grades landing in the mid-forties on the proficiency scale. Science results, drawn from a prior assessment cycle, were low at both the elementary and middle school benchmark grades. A parent evaluating academic preparation would want to look closely at the math trajectory and the science results, and may want to ask the school about supports in place for those subjects. No graduation rate, trend data, or nationally standardized context was available in the provided material, so those gaps are named rather than filled.

Housing across the district covers an enormous range. Weighted home values sit well above the national benchmark and above the state benchmark, reflecting the high-cost Washington market, but the spread is extreme. Some ZIP codes carry values at the very top of the range, while others sit far below, which mirrors the broader pattern of neighborhood inequality in the district. Rents show a similarly wide spread. Year-over-year home values have softened modestly across much of the district, and rents have held roughly flat. Affordability is a real consideration: estimated monthly mortgage costs exceed estimated rent by a meaningful margin, and buying requires income well above the national median. Families weighing DCPS should know that housing costs vary sharply by ward and neighborhood, and the school a child attends is often tied to where the family can afford to live.

The district is operating under A Capital Commitment 2023-2028, a five-year strategic plan that, as publicly reported, focuses on academic success, student connection to school, and post-secondary readiness. Beginning in the current school year, DCPS implemented a district-wide cell phone policy tied to the Heads Up! Distraction-Free Learning Amendment Act, restricting phone use during the school day across all schools. In January, the district also opened a new middle school addition at Leckie Education Campus in Ward 8, adding middle-grade capacity in Southeast Washington. These are concrete, visible moves that give a sense of where the district is directing its attention.

No locale brief or comparison fact-set was provided, so the district is not positioned against neighboring systems here. Civil rights data, course access, staffing, attendance, and discipline information were also absent from the payload. What the data does support is a picture of a large, diverse urban district with a broad portfolio of school options, moderate and uneven academic results, a clear weakness in math and science attainment, and a housing market that shapes access as much as any admissions policy does.

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District Context

Officially reported figures, 2024-25.

Enrollment

51,294

Grades

PK–12

Schools

117

Student body

Hispanic 22%

Black 55%

White 17%

Asian 2%

Two+ 3%

Am. Indian / AK Native 0%

Hawaiian / Pac. Isl. 0%

By economic status

Percent proficient by grade, as reported

Economically disadvantaged

Not disadvantaged

ELA

Gr 3

14%

—

Gr 4

21%

—

Gr 5

18%

—

Gr 6

20%

—

Gr 7

25%

—

Gr 8

24%

—

Math

Gr 3

14%

—

Gr 4

14%

—

Gr 5

12%

—

Gr 6

—

Gr 7

—

Gr 8

—

Schools in this District

117 schools are officially reported under this district.

Duke Ellington School of the Arts

Malcolm X ES at Green

Ludlow-Taylor ES

Leckie Education Campus

LaSalle-Backus ES

Langdon ES

Lafayette ES

Watkins ES (Capitol Hill Cluster)

Wheatley Education Campus

Walker-Jones Education Campus

Cardozo Education Campus

Bruce-Monroe ES at Park View

Lorraine H. Whitlock ES

Powell ES

Plummer ES

School Without Walls HS

School Without Walls at Francis-Stevens

Eliot-Hine MS

Browne Education Campus

Benjamin Banneker HS

Peabody ES (Capitol Hill Cluster)

Payne ES

Patterson ES

Oyster-Adams Bilingual School

Stuart-Hobson MS (Capitol Hill Cluster)

Luke C. Moore HS

Ballou STAY HS

Roosevelt STAY HS

McKinley Technology HS

Kelly Miller MS

Columbia Heights Education Campus

Phelps Architecture Construction and Engineering HS

Langley ES

Capitol Hill Montessori School at Logan

Jefferson MS Academy

School-Within-School at Goding

River Terrace Education Campus

MacFarland MS

Ron Brown College Preparatory HS

Excel Academy

Ida B. Wells MS

Bard HS Early College DC (Bard DC)

Thaddeus Stevens Early Learning Center

Military Road Early Learning Center

MacArthur HS

Academic Performance

Percent of students meeting or exceeding state standards, by grade.

Mathematics

6 grades reported

40%

Grade 3

37%

Grade 4

34%

Grade 5

32%

Grade 6

29%

Grade 7

26%

Grade 8

English Language Arts

6 grades reported

36%

Grade 3

45%

Grade 4

40%

Grade 5

44%

Grade 6

46%

Grade 7

44%

Grade 8

Science

2 grades reported

21%

Grade 5

10%

Grade 8

Housing & Real Estate

Data as of April 2026 | District-weighted from constituent ZIP codes

Home Values

Typical home value$669,764

Year-over-year change-3.4%

Range across 22 ZIP codes$228K to $1.4M

vs. state typical1.15x

vs. national typical1.82x

Home value trend (12 months)

ZIP code home values (22 ZIP codes)

ZIP	City	Value	YoY	Weight
20019	Washington	$357K	-7.4%	10.0%
20011	Washington	$622K	-3.5%	8.8%
20032	Washington	$331K	-8.6%	8.6%
20002	Washington	$615K	-3.7%	8.4%
20020	Washington	$361K	-6.2%	7.5%
20016	Washington	$1.1M	-0.6%	7.2%
20015	Washington	$1.4M	-0.4%	5.7%
20007	Washington	$1.3M	+3.0%	5.1%
20008	Washington	$835K	-0.6%	5.1%
20018	Washington	$551K	-3.8%	4.9%

Showing top 10 of 22 ZIP codes by land area weight

Rental Market

Typical monthly rent$2,279/mo

Year-over-year change-0.3%

Range across 22 ZIP codes$1,565 to $3,238/mo

Rent trend (12 months)

ZIP code rents (22 ZIP codes)

ZIP	City	Rent/mo	YoY	Weight
20019	Washington	$1,937	+1.6%	10.0%
20011	Washington	$2,278	+1.5%	8.8%
20032	Washington	$1,565	+5.7%	8.6%
20002	Washington	$2,288	-3.6%	8.4%
20020	Washington	$2,051	+4.7%	7.5%
20016	Washington	$2,910	-4.0%	7.2%
20015	Washington	$2,489	-3.5%	5.7%
20007	Washington	$2,730	-1.8%	5.1%
20008	Washington	$2,085	-4.1%	5.1%
20018	Washington	$2,124	-1.9%	4.9%

Showing top 10 of 22 ZIP codes by land area weight

Affordability

Est. monthly mortgage (20% down at 6.48%)$3,380/mo

Home price / national median income8.0x

Annual rent / national median income32.7%

Est. mortgage exceeds rent by$1,100/mo

Comparison

State typical home value$580,439 (-3.0% YoY)

National typical home value$368,198 (+0.6% YoY)

State ZHVI trend (12 months)

National ZHVI trend (12 months)

Economic Context

30-year fixed mortgage rate6.48%

National unemployment rate4.3%

National median household income$83,730

CPI: Rent of shelter (index)447.05

30-year fixed mortgage rate (12 months)

National unemployment rate (12 months)

National median household income (12 months)

CPI: Rent of shelter (index) (12 months)

Sources: Zillow Home Value Index and Zillow Observed Rent Index (Zillow Group), Realtor.com via Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED)

Data Currently Unavailable

Civil Rights Data (CRDC)

This profile is derived exclusively from publicly available federal and state datasets. It may not reflect the most current information available. We encourage parents and families to supplement this data with information published directly on the school’s website, which may include more recent figures, additional programs, or updated enrollment data.