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Dunbar HS

Washington · DC · District of Columbia Public Schools · Public

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📚AP rigor: 76th percentile nationally 📖10 AP courses

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 10 AP courses offered — Elite
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 76th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 34% by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 82% (Bottom 29% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts ACGR, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.

💡

How Dunbar HS compares for families

Stronger-than-average college-prep profile.

  • StatewideAP rigor in the top 24% nationally with 10 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: Gonzaga College High School, McKinley Technology HS, Benjamin Banneker HS and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.
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🎓 Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Elite — exceptional AP + advanced course breadth

76th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
10
Math ✓ · Science ✓
Advanced math classes
11
0 calculus · 11 advanced
Lab science classes
18
9 physics · 9 chemistry
Other rigor signals
✅ Dual-enrollment program

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 · 2020-21

Bottom 34% by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
35
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
3.9
takers per 100 students in grades 9-12
Compared against
18,426
US high schools reporting SAT/ACT participation

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?

Bottom 29% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
82%
Range: 80–84%
4-year cohort size
170
Students in the 9th-grade entry class tracked over 4 years
Compared against
17,988
US high schools reporting 4-year ACGR

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

% inexperienced teachers (1st-2nd yr)
18.9%
Typical mix. Watch the trend — high turnover can compound.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
43.4%
Elevated. Teacher absence directly affects classroom continuity and student outcomes.

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

Share of students absent 15+ days
55.6%
Well above the national average (~16%). At this level, chronic absence becomes a leading driver of enrollment loss as families rotate to other schools.
Students absent 15+ days
496
Federal definition: absent (excused or unexcused) for at least 15 of ~180 school days — about 10% of the school year.

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. For school leaders: an Enrollment Trend Audit traces this dynamic forward →

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020–2021. Rate = students chronically absent ÷ 2024 total enrollment.

Counselor capacity

Student : Counselor
297:1
Above the ASCA 250:1 target but below the US median (~430:1). Capacity is workable.
Counselor FTE
3.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
49
Full-time-equivalent classroom teachers.

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

Grade 12 went from 98 in 2021 to 191 in 2024 — over 3 years.
+94.9%

Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of +7.0%/year, projecting from 2024's 892 students:

2025
955
2027
1,093
2029
1,251

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 359 students projected to be gained by 2029 represent ≈ $11,978,035/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.

Nearby high schools — the local competition

The closest high schools families here also consider, and where their enrollment is heading.

SchoolTypeMilesHS enrollmentTrend
Gonzaga College High School
Washington
Private 0.4 956 -0.6%
McKinley Technology HS
Washington
Public 0.7 723 +4.6%
Benjamin Banneker HS
Washington
Public 0.7 703 +30.9%
Girls Global Academy PCS
Washington
Public · charter 0.8 183 +18.1%
Garnet-Patterson STAY HS
Washington
Public 1.0 432 +8.0%
KIPP DC - College Preparatory PCS
Washington
Public · charter 1.0 643 -25.9%
Templeton Academy
Washington
Private 1.0 65
BASIS DC PCS
Washington
Public · charter 1.0 233 +8.9%

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