The top reported proficiency rate is 8% in English language arts. The lowest is 5% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Rocketship Pcs - Rise Academy
Rocketship PCS - Rise Academy is a public charter elementary school in Southeast Washington, serving prekindergarten through fifth grade. It operates under the Rocketship Education DC PCS charter network, a charter-only local education agency in the District. The school sits on Raynolds Place SE, in a residential part of the city east of the Anacostia River.
The enrollment is modest for an elementary campus spanning prekindergarten through fifth grade, with the largest single cohort in prekindergarten. The student body is nearly entirely Black, with a very small number of students identifying as Hispanic or multiracial. Information on free and reduced-price lunch eligibility, special education enrollment, and English-learner status was not available in the data we received, so we cannot characterize those dimensions here. A parent wanting to understand the school's full student profile may want to ask the school directly about those populations.
Academic results from the most recent DC state assessments are low. In math, the share of third- through eighth-grade students meeting or exceeding expectations was in the low single digits. In English language arts, the proficiency rate was only slightly higher but still in the same very low range. Science results from an earlier year for fifth grade showed a similarly small share of students reaching proficiency, with nearly all tested students falling below that bar. Participation in the science assessment was high. No multi-year trend data was available, so we cannot say whether these results represent a decline, a plateau, or a starting point the school is working from. The proficiency figures are the most concrete academic evidence in the payload, and a parent weighing this school would want to understand from the school itself what its improvement trajectory looks like and what interventions are in place.
Because this is an elementary school serving no high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report. That is expected for the grade band and not a gap in the data. Similarly, the school does not report Advanced Placement, dual-credit, or career-pathway metrics, which aligns with serving students through fifth grade.
The data we received did not include information on discipline, course access, staffing ratios, attendance, or school locale classification. Title I status was also not reported. Without staffing figures, we cannot speak to class sizes or teacher experience. Without discipline data, we cannot speak to suspension rates or school climate as measured by the state. These are areas where a parent would need to go directly to the school or the DC Public Charter School Board for a fuller picture.
The surrounding zip code's housing market offers a different picture from much of the District. Typical home values in this area sit well below the DC-wide benchmark and closer to the national figure. Home values here have been declining over the past year, while rents have moved modestly upward. For families considering buying or renting near the school, this means the area is among the more affordable parts of the city, though rising rents and a cooling ownership market create their own pressures. Mortgage rates remain elevated by recent historical standards, and the broader unemployment picture is stable.
Washington itself is, publicly reported sources note, a federal-government-centered city with embassies, international organizations, and a large lobbying and association sector concentrated in and around the central core. The school's location in Southeast places it away from that monumental and professional core, in a part of the city that has historically seen less investment than neighborhoods west of the Anacostia. The city's layout, designed under the L'Enfant Plan with broad diagonal avenues and a quadrant system, means civic life is distributed across many neighborhoods rather than concentrated in a single downtown.
We looked for parent-relevant changes at the Rocketship Education DC PCS district level, such as curriculum shifts, policy changes, or facility decisions, and found little that met that threshold. The district brief search returned no clear recent developments with lasting parent impact, so we left that section out rather than guess.
What the available evidence describes is a small Southeast DC charter elementary school serving a nearly entirely Black student population, with state assessment proficiency rates that are low across all reported subjects and limited public data on staffing, climate, and student support services. Families considering this school would benefit from asking the school directly about its academic improvement plan, its approach to early literacy and math intervention, and the supports it offers beyond what the state assessment data captures.
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