The top reported proficiency rate is 20% in English language arts. The lowest is 1% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Hart Ms
HartMiddle School sits on Mississippi Avenue in Southeast Washington, part of the District of Columbia Public Schools system. It serves grades six through eight and operates as a regular public school, not a charter or magnet. The building draws almost entirely from the surrounding Ward 8 neighborhoods, and its enrollment is small for a DCPS middle school, with students spread fairly evenly across the three grade levels.
The student body is nearly entirely Black, with a small Hispanic presence and a handful of students identified as two or more races. The school does not report free-or-reduced-price-lunch counts, individualized education program rates, or English learner figures in the data available here, so it is hard to gauge the full scope of economic disadvantage or special-population needs from the provided materials. What is visible is that this is a tightly localized school serving a community where housing values run well below the District-wide benchmark and somewhat below the national figure. Recent trends show home values in the school's zip code declining further, while rents have risen modestly. Relative to much of Washington, this is a more affordable corner of the city, but that affordability comes with the economic pressures that long characterize Ward 8.
On state assessments, Hart's results are low. In the most recent reported year, roughly one in five students met or exceeded expectations in English language arts. In math, the proficient share was far lower, with only a small fraction of students clearing that bar. Eighth-grade science results from a prior year were even more sobering, with only a couple of students testing proficient out of a tested group that was nearly fully participating. These are not numbers a family can easily set aside. They reflect a real and persistent gap between where students are and where the state expects them to be. A parent considering Hart may want to look into this further with the school, asking what interventions, tutoring, or extended-learning supports are in place and how the school plans to accelerate growth for students performing below grade level.
The available data does not include program offerings, course access, staffing levels, attendance patterns, or discipline records, so there is little to report on the richness or limits of the school's academic and extracurricular life. We looked for information on advanced coursework, arts, athletics, and support services and found none in the provided materials, so those questions remain open rather than answered.
Within the district, DCPS has recently implemented a district-wide cell phone restriction beginning in the current school year, tied to legislation promoting distraction-free learning. The district is also operating under a multi-year strategic plan focused on academic success, student connectedness, and post-secondary readiness. In Ward 8 specifically, DCPS recently opened a new middle school addition at nearby Leckie Education Campus, expanding middle-grade capacity in Southeast. These are district-level developments that may shape the broader educational landscape Hart families experience, though the provided data does not connect them directly to Hart's own programming.
Hart does not have a graduation rate, which is expected because it serves only middle grades and does not award diplomas. There is also no neighbor comparison data available for this school, so we cannot position it against nearby middle schools in the way the comparison fact-set would normally allow.
For a family weighing Hart, the central question is whether the school's current academic supports are strong enough to help students close substantial proficiency gaps before high school. The surrounding community offers relative housing affordability for Washington, but the academic data points to a school working under steep challenges. Families with access to school visits or conversations with leadership should ask specifically what is being done differently this year to move results and how students who are struggling are being supported day to day.
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