Original Research by School Decision on Macarthur Hs
MacArthur HS is a regular public school in the District of Columbia Public Schools system, serving only ninth and tenth grades. The school sits on MacArthur Boulevard in the northwestern part of the city, an area characterized by some of the highest home values in the district. Based on publicly reported data, the school appears to be a recently opened campus, which helps explain the limited academic track record available so far.
The enrollment is small for a high school, with the vast majority of students concentrated in ninth grade and a much smaller tenth-grade cohort. That imbalance likely reflects the school's newness, with upper grades not yet filled out. A parent looking at this school should understand it is still in an early stage of building its full grade span, which means the student experience today may look different from what it will become in a few years.
The student body is predominantly Black, with white and Hispanic students forming the next largest groups. Small numbers of Asian students and students of two or more races round out the enrollment. We looked for free-or-reduced-price lunch data, special education counts, and English learner data, and none were available in the provided records. Without those figures, it is hard to characterize the socioeconomic mix or the level of specialized support services the school currently provides. A parent may want to ask the school directly about these areas.
State assessment results were not available for MacArthur HS in the data provided. The school serves only grades 9 and 10, and its status as a newly operational campus may mean that testing data has not yet been reported or compiled. Without proficiency or growth results, there is no academic performance record to evaluate at this time. Similarly, the school has no graduation rate, which is expected given that it does not yet serve grades 11 or 12. This is a structural gap tied to the grade band, not a sign of underperformance. No course access, staffing, discipline, or attendance data were provided either, so we cannot speak to those dimensions of the school environment.
What we can speak to is the housing market surrounding the school, which is among the most expensive in the District. Homes in this zip code carry typical values well above both the DC-wide and national benchmarks, and rents are similarly elevated. A family considering a move to this attendance zone should expect a high cost of living. The gap between monthly mortgage costs and rents here is wide, reflecting the premium that buyers pay to own in this part of the city. Publicly reported context on Washington describes it as a government-driven city where the federal presence anchors employment, and the L'Enfant Plan's layout creates distinct neighborhoods rather than a single traditional downtown. The school's location along MacArthur Boulevard places it in a quieter, residential corner of the city, away from the monumental core but still within reach of the city's transit and civic resources.
At the district level, DCPS has recently implemented a district-wide cell phone policy beginning in the 2025-2026 school year, tied to the Heads Up! Distraction-Free Learning Amendment Act, which restricts phone use during the school day across all schools. The district is also operating under a strategic plan called A Capital Commitment, covering 2023 through 2028, which focuses on academic success, student connectedness, and postsecondary preparation. These district-wide shifts will shape the environment at MacArthur HS as it grows.
For a parent weighing this school, the main takeaway is that it is a small, early-stage public high school campus in an affluent part of the city, with a diverse student body but very little academic data available yet. Families who value a smaller setting and are comfortable with an unproven academic record may find it worth exploring directly, particularly to understand how the school plans to build out its upper grades and what supports are in place for students.
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