The top reported proficiency rate is 75% in English language arts. The lowest is 38% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Washington Latin Pcs - Ms
Washington Latin PCS - MS is a public charter middle school in Washington, D.C., serving grades five through eight from its campus on 2nd Street NW in the 20011 zip code. As a charter school operating under the Washington Latin PCS network, it offers a classical, liberal-arts-oriented education and participates in the MySchoolDC lottery for admissions. The school sits within a network that has been expanding; Washington Latin opened a second campus, the Anna Julia Cooper Campus, in 2022, and that campus received permanent site designation from the DC Public Charter School Board for the 2025-26 school year after moving from a temporary Edgewood location to a reimagined former monastery and ballet academy site in Ward 5. This growth roughly doubles the number of lottery seats available to families seeking this model of education, and it creates a second geographic access point in the city.
The school's enrollment is modest for a middle school, with each grade level carrying a similar share of students, suggesting a balanced and stable structure across the four grades it serves. The student body is racially mixed. White students form the largest single group, with Black students the second largest, followed by Hispanic students. Smaller populations of Asian students and students identifying as two or more races round out the enrollment. Information on free or reduced-price lunch eligibility, individualized education program participation, and English learner status was not available, so a parent looking for details on how the school serves economically disadvantaged students or students with special needs would want to ask the school directly.
On state assessments, Washington Latin's academic results are a clear strength in English language arts. The most recent results, from the 2024-25 school year, show a strong majority of students meeting or exceeding expectations in ELA, a level that stands well above typical urban charter middles. Math proficiency is solid, with a majority of students proficient, though the distance between ELA and math performance is worth noting. Science results come from an earlier testing cycle, 2022-23, and present a more mixed picture. Grade five science proficiency was strong, with a majority of tested students scoring proficient. Grade eight science proficiency, from the same year, was quite low, with only a small fraction of students reaching proficiency. This is a soft spot a parent may want to look into further with the school, particularly to understand whether the gap reflects a one-year issue, a curricular challenge, or a change in how science is taught and assessed between the elementary and middle grade bands. No multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to say whether these results are improving, holding steady, or declining over time.
Because the school does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report. This is expected for a middle school and does not reflect a gap in the school's performance.
The surrounding neighborhood is in the upper part of Northwest Washington, in a zip code where typical home values sit above the D.C. state benchmark and well above the national benchmark, with values showing a modest year-over-year decline. Rents in the area are in line with the broader D.C. market and have edged up slightly. The broader housing context includes elevated mortgage rates nationally, which affects affordability for families considering buying near the school. Washington itself, publicly reported as a federal-government-driven city with a large daytime population swelled by commuters from Maryland and Virginia, is cosmopolitan and distributed across many neighborhoods rather than centered on a single downtown. The school's location in a residential part of the city places it away from the monumental core, in an area where housing costs are a real consideration for families.
In sum, Washington Latin PCS - MS offers a classical education model with strong literacy outcomes, a diverse student body, and a stable grade-level structure within a growing charter network. The math results are respectable, and the ELA results are a standout. The eighth-grade science results from the most recent available year are a weakness worth asking about. Families drawn to a liberal-arts charter philosophy and a lottery-based, mixed community may find this a good fit, especially if they value strong reading and writing instruction. Those seeking detailed information on special populations or economic diversity will need to go directly to the school, as those data points were not available in the records reviewed.
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