Duke Ellington School of the Arts
Washington · DC · District of Columbia Public Schools · Public
Similar nearby schools
Most similar nearby schools
School Without Walls HS → Cardozo Education Campus → KIPP DC - College Preparatory PCS → Benjamin Banneker HS → Ballou HS → McKinley Technology HS → Goodwill Excel Center PCS → H.D. Woodson HS →🧭 A parent's read
- 97% graduate on time. Nearly every student who starts 9th grade here finishes in four years — the strongest baseline signal a school can post.
- Course rigor in the top 18% of US high schools. 13 AP courses plus advanced math and lab-science depth — measured against every high school in the country, not just the neighborhood.
Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.
📋 At a glance
- 📚 13 AP courses offered — Elite
- ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
- 🔢 1 calculus classes · 2 physics · 9 chemistry
- 🎓 AP rigor: 82nd percentile nationally
- 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 49% by test-taker volume
- 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 97% (90th percentile nationally)
Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts graduation data, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.
How Duke Ellington School of the Arts compares for families
Stronger-than-average college-prep profile.
- ▸ StatewideAP rigor in the top 18% nationally with 13 AP courses.
- ▸ LocallyDC trails the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (−12 points). Stronger local schools matter even more.
- ▸ vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: School Without Walls HS, Cardozo Education Campus, KIPP DC - College Preparatory PCS and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.
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Objective, government-grade data — no school pays us for placement.
🎓 Academic rigor
AP + advanced-course offerings
Elite — exceptional AP + advanced course breadth
82nd percentile nationally
Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). CRDC reports what's offered + enrolled — it doesn't collect AP exam pass rates (College Board owns that data and doesn't release it school-level).
SAT / ACT participation
CRDC federal data · 2020-21Bottom 49% by test-taker volume
Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). Volume — not score — is what's reported here. A higher count means more students at this school are entering the college admissions pipeline. Note: 2020-21 was COVID-disrupted; some districts (especially those that stayed remote longer) report unusually low or zero takers.
🎓 4-year graduation rate · federal EDFacts
What % of students graduate on time?
90th percentile nationally
Source: federal EDFacts ACGR (Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate), 2019 vintage via Urban Institute. EDFacts publishes a range (low-high) to preserve privacy on small cohorts; we display the midpoint.
👩🏫 Teacher workforce · federal CRDC
Teacher experience & reliability
Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2017-18 — the most recent vintage that publishes per-school teacher quality fields; the 2020-21 sweep had them suppressed). "Inexperienced" = teachers in their first or second year. "Chronic absence" = teachers absent 10+ days/year.
Chronic absenteeism
Why this matters to enrollment: Chronic absence is the most reliable early indicator that a student will leave a school — either by transferring out, dropping out, or matriculating to a charter or private alternative. At this level, today's absentees become next year's enrollment loss and the year-after's revenue loss.
Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020–2021. Rate = students chronically absent ÷ 2024 total enrollment.
Counselor capacity
Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020-2021. Counselor ratio = the school's most recent total enrollment ÷ counselor FTE. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends a 250:1 maximum; the US national median across schools with on-staff counselors is roughly 430:1.
Enrollment trend & projection
Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).
If the recent trend holds…
At its recent rate of +0.8%/year, projecting from 2024's 589 students:
An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.
Revenue upside
At $33,365 per student in district revenue, the 23 students projected to be gained by 2029 represent ≈ $767,395/year in additional funding.
District total revenue ÷ enrollment, NCES F-33. Public funding largely follows enrollment, so a shrinking class is a recurring budget hit.
Most similar nearby high schools
The schools most like this one — same type, blended on distance and size — and where their enrollment is heading. These are the schools families here weigh against each other.
| School | Type | Miles | HS enrollment | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| School Without Walls HS Washington |
Public | 1.6 | 606 | +1.5% |
| Cardozo Education Campus Washington |
Public | 2.3 | 561 | +26.1% |
| KIPP DC - College Preparatory PCS Washington |
Public · charter | 4.1 | 643 | -25.9% |
| Benjamin Banneker HS Washington |
Public | 2.4 | 703 | +30.9% |
| Ballou HS Washington |
Public | 6.4 | 597 | -6.1% |
| McKinley Technology HS Washington |
Public | 3.6 | 723 | +4.6% |
| Goodwill Excel Center PCS Washington |
Public · charter | 1.9 | 440 | +3.3% |
| H.D. Woodson HS Washington |
Public | 8.0 | 579 | +21.1% |