The top reported proficiency rate is 52% in English language arts. The lowest is 44% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Burroughs Es
Burroughs Elementary School sits on Monroe Street in Northeast Washington, serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as part of District of Columbia Public Schools. It is a neighborhood regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and its enrollment is modest for an elementary campus, with a notably large pre-kindergarten cohort relative to the upper grades. The student body is predominantly Black, with a substantial white enrollment and a smaller Hispanic presence. A handful of students identify as Asian or multiracial. The school does not report free-or-reduced-price lunch counts, IEP rates, or English-learner figures in the data available here, so the economic and special-population picture is incomplete.
On the most recent DC assessments, Burroughs shows a mixed academic profile. In English language arts, roughly half of tested students in grades three through eight met or exceeded expectations during the current school year, a result that sits in a solid middle range for a DC public elementary school. Math proficiency was lower, with just under half of students clearing the bar. Science results tell a different story. On the fifth-grade DC Science assessment from an earlier school year, proficiency was in the lowest reported range, with no students in the tested group scoring proficient or above. The tested group was small, which means a few students can move the percentage sharply, but the result is still a clear soft spot. A parent considering Burroughs may want to look into this further with the school, asking how science instruction is structured across the upper grades and what supports are in place. No multi-year trend data was available, so it is hard to say whether these results represent a stable pattern or a point-in-time snapshot.
The surrounding zip code offers a housing market that is somewhat more affordable than the DC benchmark, though still pricey by national standards. Home values in the area have softened recently, with a year-over-year decline, and rents have dipped slightly as well. Renting here costs meaningfully less per month than carrying a mortgage at current rates, which may matter to families weighing whether to buy or rent while their children are in elementary school. The broader economic backdrop includes a national unemployment rate holding steady and mortgage rates remaining elevated, conditions that have cooled buying demand across much of the region.
Burroughs operates within DCPS, the citywide district, and several district-level changes may shape the school environment in coming years. DCPS rolled out a new cell phone policy for the current school year, restricting phone use during the school day across all campuses in line with a city council act aimed at distraction-free learning. The district is also mid-way through a five-year strategic plan focused on academic success, student connectedness, and post-secondary readiness, though the plan's specific effects at Burroughs are not detailed in the available data. A recently opened middle school addition at Leckie Education Campus in Ward 8 expands middle-grade capacity elsewhere in the district, which may be relevant for Burroughs families thinking about the transition after fifth grade, though the data does not specify which middle schools Burroughs fifth-graders typically feed into.
Washington itself is a city shaped by the federal government, with employment concentrated in agencies, international organizations, lobbying firms, and associations. The monumental core and the National Mall anchor civic life, but neighborhoods across the quadrants each carry their own character. Burroughs sits in the Northeast quadrant, away from the downtown federal cluster, in a residential area where housing costs run somewhat below the city average. The city's transit network, libraries, and parks are distributed across neighborhoods rather than centered in one downtown, which means families near Burroughs access civic amenities in their own part of the city.
What is missing from the available data is worth naming. The school's Title I status, magnet designation, discipline records, course access, staffing ratios, and attendance figures were not reported. Civil-rights data was absent. No program offerings, such as arts, languages, or extracurriculars, were listed. No neighbor comparison set was provided, so Burroughs could not be positioned against nearby schools in its ward or across the district. These gaps mean the picture here is partial. What the data does show is an elementary school with decent ELA results, weaker math and science outcomes, a diverse student body, and a location in a part of Washington where housing has become slightly more accessible in the past year.
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