First Lady Mrs. Obama at Capital City

"With the education you’re getting here at Capital City, you have everything you need to follow every last one of your dreams."

— Former First Lady Michelle Obama during her 2014 visit for our Senior College March to the Mailbox

Every year, the DC Public Charter School Board (PCSB) releases School Quality Reports. These are the results of an annual, multiple measure evaluation used to track school performance across the city. Our middle school and high school both achieved Tier 1 in 2019!

Tier 1 photo of Middle School principal and students

Our Middle School improved to Tier 1 in 2019.

Tier 1 photo of High School principal and students

Our High School has achieved Tier 1 since 2013.

After four years of annual gains in PARCC proficiency in both ELA and Math, the Lower School dropped to Tier 2 in 2019. However, our internal assessment indicators are more positive and show us we can reach our goal of Tier 1 for all campuses.

Capital City’s PCSB School Performance Reports for 2019 are available to download:


Note: there are no 2020 or 2021 Tier ratings due to the coronavirus pandemic.

For more information, download our 2022 - 2023 Annual Report submitted to PCSB here.

Beginning in the 2014-2015 school year, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) became the testing standard for Washington, D.C. The graphs below show the percentage of our students demonstrating readiness for college and careers by scoring at level 4 or above, and students approaching readiness, on PARCC. Note: there are no 2020 or 2021 PARCC scores due to the coronavirus pandemic.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS/LITERACY

% Proficient 
(Levels 4 and 5)

ELA 4+

% Approaching+
(Levels 3, 4 and 5)

Approaching readiness on PARCC ELA

MATHEMATICS

% Proficient
(Levels 4 and 5)

Readiness on PARCC Math

% Approaching+
(Levels 3, 4 and 5)

Approaching readiness on PARCC Math

Complete results for our LEA and three campuses can be viewed on OSSE’s website.

Below are high-level takeaways from the results. While we are pleased to see some gains suggesting we are headed in the right direction, such as with our English Learners, overall we know we must focus our efforts to accelerate learning for all students. Our three-year strategic plan that was launched during the 2022-23 school year, and our school’s vision, S.O.U.L., will continue to be a guide for our initial recovery from the pandemic, and includes goals focused on improving student outcomes, specifically in Literacy and Math. We are also working with leadership and teachers to unpack this data further to inform shifts in planning and instruction. This includes a school-wide focus on data-driven instruction and differentiation, explicit instruction to meet learning needs, targeted interventions, standards-based grading calibration, and culturally responsive curriculum that promotes academic success.

LOWER SCHOOL:
Although not our pre-pandemic level, we saw an increase in the percentage of Lower School students approaching expectations (scoring 3+): 11.6 percentage point increase in ELA and 7.8 percentage point increase in Math. In Math, 3+ performance in the Lower School was comparable to the charter average (47.2% compared to 46% for the sector) and 4th grade students outperformed the charter average by 6.5 percentage points (51.8% compared to 45.3% for the sector). Additionally, our Economically Disadvantaged students (formerly At Risk) outperformed the sector and state in 3+ Math performance (39% compared to 33.9% and 31.8%, respectively).

MIDDLE SCHOOL:  
Performance in Middle School was comparable to school year 2021-22 results in both ELA and Math. However, 8th grade Algebra I students outperformed the sector and the state in scoring 3 or higher (70.7% compared to 61% for the sector and 64.7% for the state). We also saw an increase in the percentage of our English Learners scoring 3+ and 4+ in ELA (38.0% scored 3 or higher compared to 26.9% in 2022; 14.1% scored 4 or higher compared to 8.5%) and scoring 3+ in Math (25.0% compared to 14.4% in 2022).

HIGH SCHOOL:
High School students scoring 3 or higher in ELA increased by 4 percentage points from last school year and was similar to other public charter high schools in the District (45.7% compared to 48.7%). This was also a 10.5 percentage point increase since pre-pandemic testing, showing steady growth for our students. Students with Disabilities outperformed the sector and state in ELA, both in 3+ and 4+ (28.9% scored 3 or higher compared to 18.8% for the sector and 20% for the state; 8.9% scored 4 or higher compared to 5.4% and 7.4%, respectively). We also saw a slight increase in math scores from last school year (up 2 percentage points). 

Cynthia Diaz, Capital City alum

Cynthia, Class of 2015, graduated from Marymount University in 2019 with a Bachelor in Business Administration.

"Capital City prepared me for college in numerous ways. Projects such as National History Day and Senior Expedition helped me develop research, critical thinking, public speaking, and teamwork skills," Cynthia reflected. "If there’s something Capital City aims to do, it’s push students out of their comfort zone, so they can blossom into strong leaders and thinkers. This, along with the abundant support of faculty that really care, makes Capital City a great foundation for rising college students."

Our students are completing high school, matriculating, and graduating college at higher rates than the rest of the nation.

College Acceptance

100% college acceptance

Since our first graduating
class in 2012

High School Graduation

High School graduation rates

Capital City five-year graduation rate compared to DC average

College Graduation

College graduation rates

Capital City six-year graduation rate compared to national average

We have had Posse scholars, Trachtenberg scholars, a QuestBridge National College Match, a Milken scholar, a Samuel Halperin awardee, many Economic Club of Washington awardees, and many Conway scholars.

Thomas, alumni, at college graduation

Thomas, a Posse Scholar, graduated from Sewanee: The University of the South in 2022 with a degree in Computer Science and minor in Business. He currently works as a Consultant with plans to become a High School Computer Science Teacher. "What I loved about Capital City was that everyone who works there wants you to succeed. Every teacher has their own methodologies that they utilize to get you to where you need to go, and the student comes out well rounded because of that."

OTHER MEASURES OF SCHOOL SUCCESS

families reenroll

Families who chose to re-enroll their
child(ren) for the 2021-2022 school year

Daily attendance rate

Average daily attendance of students
during the 2021-2022 school year