The top reported proficiency rate is 26% in English language arts. The lowest is 12% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Perry Street Preparatory Pcs
Perry Street Preparatory PCS is a public charter school in Northeast Washington, serving students from prekindergarten through eighth grade. It sits on Perry Street in the Brookland area, a part of the city where housing values run somewhat below the DC statewide benchmark, and both home prices and rents have been edging downward recently. For families renting in the area, costs are moderate by District standards, and for buyers, the local market has softened slightly, which may widen access compared to tighter pockets of the city.
The school's enrollment is small for a campus spanning prekindergarten through middle school. Its student body is predominantly Black, with a smaller Hispanic presence and very few students from other racial or ethnic backgrounds. This composition reflects the surrounding neighborhood more than the city as a whole, since Washington's population is spread across many distinct areas rather than clustered around a single center. The federal government dominates employment across the District, and the city's layout, with its quadrant system and distributed neighborhoods, means schools like Perry Street serve as local anchors rather than downtown institutions.
On state assessments, the most recent results place Perry Street well below where most families would want to see proficiency. In English language arts, roughly a quarter of tested students met or exceeded expectations. In math, the share was substantially smaller, with only a small fraction reaching proficiency. These are recent results from the current school year, and they represent a clear academic challenge. A parent evaluating this school will want to ask directly what improvement strategies are in place and how leadership is responding to these numbers.
Science results from an earlier testing cycle are even more concerning. In both fifth grade and eighth grade science, proficiency was reported in the lowest possible band, with no students reaching the proficient threshold in either grade. Participation rates were solid, so the results reflect the students actually tested rather than a testing gap. This is a soft spot that warrants direct conversation with the school. A parent may want to look into how science instruction is structured and what supports are being added.
Because Perry Street does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report. That gap is expected for a prekindergarten through eighth grade campus and does not reflect anything about the school's performance.
Several pieces of information that would help a family round out the picture are missing. Free or reduced-price lunch data was not available, so the economic profile of the student body cannot be characterized from what was provided. Special education and English learner rates were also not reported, which limits the picture of student support needs. No program offerings were listed, so it is unclear whether the school provides electives, arts, world languages, extracurriculars, or other enrichment. Discipline data, staffing figures, and attendance rates were absent as well. Civil rights data was not provided, so there is no lens on suspensions, access to courses, or related indicators. A family considering this school should request these details directly, since they matter to day-to-day experience.
The school operates as its own charter management organization, so questions about governance, strategic direction, and recent changes all route to the school's own leadership rather than to a separate district office. The district-level search did not surface any recently reported changes meeting a lasting-impact threshold for parents, so there is no specific shift to flag here. Families would do well to attend board meetings or ask leadership about priorities and any planned adjustments.
Washington itself is a cosmopolitan, transit-served city with extensive public infrastructure, including Metrorail and Metrobus, and the Brookland area where Perry Street is located has its own neighborhood identity within the broader quadrant system. The school's setting is urban, and families commuting from other parts of the city would rely on public transit or driving, since the campus is not in the monumental core but in a residential stretch of Northeast.
Taken together, Perry Street Preparatory is a small, community-rooted charter campus with a tight-knit student body and a clear academic shortfall visible in its state results. The strongest reason to look further would be a conversation with school leadership about how those numbers are being addressed, what supports exist for students performing below grade level, and what the daily program actually looks like beyond what the data captures. Without program details and several missing demographic indicators, the public picture is incomplete, and a family would be right to fill those gaps before deciding.
See more original research from School Decision →