Original Research by School Decision on Dc Department of Corrections
The DC Department of Corrections school is an alternative education program serving grades 9 through 12 inside a correctional facility in Southeast Washington. It operates under the DC Jail Education Program district and is designed for a specific population: incarcerated young adults working toward a high school diploma. This is not a school families choose through a lottery or a neighborhood assignment. It is a program that meets students where they are, in a setting shaped by the justice system, and its purpose is to keep education accessible to young people whose path has been interrupted.
The school serves a very small student body, with enrollment distributed across the four high school grades. Nearly all students are Black, with a small number identifying as Hispanic. The program is run through a partnership with the Maya Angelou Schools and See Forever Foundation, publicly reported as launching in the fall of 2021. It provides free, restorative education to eligible incarcerated young adults who have individualized education programs, giving them a route to pursue a diploma rather than aging out of the system without one. The district reports that students have earned diplomas each year since the program began, with the most recent year showing the highest count so far. Enrollment has also grown over that period, suggesting the program is reaching more eligible young people over time.
Academic performance data was not available for this school. No state assessment results, multi-year trend data, or standardized metrics appear in the records we received. This is common for alternative schools operating inside correctional settings. The student population is small, transient, and tested under circumstances that differ from typical public schools, so the absence of scores should not be read as a measure of quality. A parent or guardian connected to a student here would want to ask the school directly about individual academic progress, credit recovery, and post-release transition planning, since those details are not captured in the data we have.
Information on free or reduced-price lunch eligibility, special education rates beyond the IEP-eligibility requirement for enrollment, and English learner status was also missing. Civil rights data, course access details, staffing ratios, attendance figures, and discipline records were not provided. Program offerings such as AP courses, dual enrollment, or career pathways were not listed, and given the setting, a parent should not expect the same breadth of electives or extracurriculars available at a comprehensive high school. The comparison fact-set that positions other schools among their county peers was not generated for this entity, which makes sense given its unique placement outside the standard district framework.
The school sits on D Street SE, in a part of Washington close to the Capitol building and the city's monumental core. Washington functions as a federal company town, with government as the dominant employer and major international organizations, lobbying firms, and associations concentrated nearby. The housing market in this zip code is expensive, well above both the DC state benchmark and the national figure, with rents also sitting at the higher end. For families connected to this program, housing costs in the surrounding area may be a practical concern, particularly for those traveling for visits or coordinating reentry support.
The district brief offers the most useful window into what this school actually does. The Maya Angelou Academy at DC Jail is staffed by certified educators, classroom aides, counselors, and support personnel. It operates within the Department of Corrections facilities themselves. The model is restorative, meaning it is built around reengaging students who have been disconnected from school and helping them rebuild credit and confidence. The growth in enrollment and the steady accumulation of diplomas since launch suggest a program finding its footing and expanding its reach.
What this school fits is narrow and specific. It serves young adults in custody who are eligible under IEP criteria and who want to continue their education. For a parent, guardian, or advocate working with a young person in this situation, the relevant questions are practical: how credits transfer in and out, what happens to enrollment after release, and how the school coordinates with a student's next placement. The data we have does not answer those questions, but the program's existence and its reported diploma outcomes indicate that the pathway is there.
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