The top reported proficiency rate is 84% in English language arts. The lowest is 67% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Ross Es
Ross Elementary sits on R Street in Washington's northwest quadrant, part of the District of Columbia Public Schools system. It serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade and carries a small enrollment for its grade band, which means class groupings are tight and the community tends to feel intimate. The student body is predominantly white, with smaller Hispanic, Black, multiracial, and Asian populations rounding out the roster. Free-or-reduced-price lunch figures were not available in the data we received, so the economic profile of the families here cannot be characterized from what was provided. The same gap applies to special education and English learner counts; those figures were missing and a parent may want to ask the school directly.
On the academic front, Ross posts strong proficiency results. In the most recent state reporting, math proficiency for grades three through eight landed well above what most DC schools achieve, and English language arts was stronger still. These are the kind of numbers that signal consistent, school-wide command of core skills rather than a spike in one subject. Science results, drawn from a prior year and limited to fifth grade, showed a solid majority of tested students reaching proficiency. The tested group in science was very small, which means a single child's performance shifts the percentage meaningfully, so that figure should be read with that caveat in mind. No multi-year trend data was available, so we cannot say whether these results represent steady performance or recent improvement.
Because Ross ends at fifth grade, there is no graduation rate to report, and the school does not offer the high school level coursework or career pathways that a secondary school would. Program offerings beyond the standard curriculum were not provided in the data, so families looking for language instruction, arts enrichment, or gifted services should ask the school what is available. Discipline data, staffing ratios, and attendance figures were also absent from what we received.
The surrounding neighborhood is one of the more expensive residential markets in a city that is already costly. Home values in the school's zip code sit above the District-wide benchmark and well above national figures, though both the local and city markets have softened slightly in recent months. Renting is meaningfully cheaper than carrying a mortgage here, which shapes who can settle in the attendance zone. The price-to-income ratio is high, so ownership tends to be out of reach for families relying on a single median income.
Washington itself is a federal government town at its core, and Ross sits in a dense, walkable part of the city far from the monumental spread of the National Mall. The broader DCPS system is working under a five-year strategic plan called A Capital Commitment, running through 2028, and has implemented a district-wide cell phone restriction for the current school year aimed at reducing classroom distraction. Those policies reach Ross along with every other school in the system.
For a family already in or able to move into this corner of northwest Washington, Ross offers a small, academically proficient elementary option with strong math and reading outcomes. The gaps in the publicly available data, particularly around family economics and special populations, are wide enough that a visit to the school would fill in what the numbers do not.
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