District of Columbia Public Schools - Composition and Enrollment

Composition and Enrollment

District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) consists of 139 of the 238 public elementary and secondary schools and learning centers located in Washington, D.C. These schools have a grade span of prekindergarten to twelfth grade and, as of 2000, a kindergarten entrance age of 5 years old. School is compulsory for DCPS students between the ages of 5 and 18. The majority of schools regulated by DCPS have a fall start date between August 18 and September 4, and a school day lasting 6 hours (excluding half-day kindergarten).

The ethnic breakdown of students enrolled in 2012 was 72% Black, 14% Hispanic (of any race), 10% White, and 4% of other races. The District itself has a population that is 42% White, 51% Black and 10% Hispanic (of any race). Gentrification and demographic changes in many DC neighborhoods has increased the White and Hispanic populations in the city, while reducing the Black population. In 2008, DCPS was 84.4% Black, 9.4% Hispanic (of any race), 4.6% White, and 1.6% of other races.

Facilities reform legislation in DC has led to many school openings and closings. The most recent closure announcement is that River Terrace Elementary School and Shaed Education Campus are shutting their doors at the end of the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 school years, respectively. Students attending River Terrace Elementary School will transition with Emery Education Campus to the Langley Building. In addition, the Montessori program is expanding into the Montessori School (PS-5th grade). A part of this will be the Jefferson 6th Grade Academy, which will only house 6th grade students. As of the 2009-2010 school year, there was a total enrollment of 43,866 students and 4,017 classroom teachers. The current student to teacher ratio is 10.92, an improvement from the 2006-07 ratio of 13.5. However, student enrollment was at a peak of 72,850 students with a much larger staff totaling 12,000. The reason for this sudden enrollment drop in DCPS is that the Public Education Reform Amendment Act of 2007 separated DC Public Charter Schools (DCPCS) from District of Columbia Public Schools.

The District of Columbia passed charter school legislation in 1996, which went into effect in September 1999. The legislation gave the District the power to grant charters for 15 years. Although this is longer than the traditional 3-5 year term observed in 31 other states, a required review takes place every 5 years. 4.4% of public school students enrolled in a charter school for the 1999 academic school year; the 28 schools had a total enrollment of approx. 3,000 students. After legislation was enacted in 2007, chartering authority was placed under the D.C. Public Charter School Board and disaffiliated from DCPS. The governance of DCPS was also restructured, and the district was placed under the control of the Mayor. In 2010 about 38% of Washington, D.C. public school students attended 60 charter schools. There are 52 public charter schools in the District, with 93 campuses and 30,000 students. The total number of public charter schools has been reduced from 60 schools on 96 campuses in 2008-09 to 53 schools on 98 campuses as of the 2011-12 school year. However, the addition of grades to the charter schools are still increasing enrollment and decreasing from DCPS’ numbers.