The top reported proficiency rate is 31% in Math. The lowest is 14% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Lasalle-backus Es
LaSalle-Backus Elementary School sits on Riggs Road in Northeast Washington, a regular public school in the District of Columbia Public Schools system serving prekindergarten through fifth grade. It is a neighborhood elementary of modest size for its grade band, with a student body that is roughly half Black and slightly less than half Hispanic, with small shares of white, Asian, and multiracial students. The school sits within a DCPS system that has been rolling out a district-wide cell phone restriction beginning in the 2025-2026 school year, part of a city effort to reduce classroom distraction. DCPS is also operating under a five-year strategic plan called A Capital Commitment, which focuses on academic success, school connection, and post-school readiness across the system.
On the most recent state assessments, LaSalle-Backus posted proficiency rates that leave real room for growth. In math, roughly three in ten tested students met or exceeded expectations. In English language arts, the share was slightly lower. A parent looking at these results would want to ask the school directly what improvement efforts are underway and how individual grade-level cohorts are progressing. Science results, drawn from an earlier testing cycle for fifth graders, were lower still, with only a small fraction of tested students reaching proficiency. No multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to say from the provided data whether these results represent improvement, decline, or stability. State testing data does not extend to prekindergarten through second grade because those grades are not assessed.
Several pieces of context a parent might expect are missing from the available data. Free-or-reduced-price lunch counts were not reported, so the economic profile of the student body cannot be characterized from these records. Special education and English learner rates were also absent. Discipline data, staffing levels, attendance figures, and course or program offerings were not provided. A family evaluating LaSalle-Backus would benefit from asking the school for these details directly, particularly around student supports and enrichment.
Because LaSalle-Backus serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report. That metric applies to high schools and does not exist for this grade band.
The surrounding housing market gives a family something concrete to weigh. Home values in the school's zip code run well above the national midpoint, though they sit closer to the District's broader average. Values have softened recently, with a modest year-over-year decline. Renting remains meaningfully cheaper than carrying a mortgage at current rates, and rent-to-income ratios sit in a range that many families would find manageable relative to local incomes. Still, the price-to-income ratio is high, which reflects the broader Washington market where federal employment, international organizations, and a large professional sector sustain demand. The area is well connected by Metrobus and Metrorail, and the school's Northeast location puts it within a part of the city that has seen sustained residential development as neighborhoods beyond the monumental core grow.
Washington itself is a government-driven city, with federal jobs anchoring the employment base and embassies, think tanks, associations, and lobbying firms adding to it. The city's layout, designed by Pierre Charles L'Enfant, spreads civic life across quadrants and neighborhoods rather than concentrating it in a single downtown. For a family at LaSalle-Backus, that means school life is embedded in a neighborhood context rather than a central business district, with access to parks, libraries, and transit distributed across the city.
What the data paints is a small, predominantly Black and Hispanic neighborhood elementary school in a city where housing costs are high and the school district is actively working on focus and engagement through its strategic plan. The academic results, as reported, are below where most families would want them, and several key data points about student needs and school supports are absent from the public record provided here. A family considering LaSalle-Backus would do well to visit, ask about academic improvement strategies, and request the information that was not available here.
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