Amani Barnes struggled with her mental health so much during her senior year that, even as a self-described nerd’s nerd, she feared she wouldn’t graduate. But then her counselor and social worker, who had been paired with Barnes all four years at H.D. Woodson High School, stepped in.
“I was struggling with a lot of things,” she said, “but I had a strong support system, and they were behind me the whole way.”
Barnes, 18, graduated in June and is one English paper away from finishing her first semester at Norfolk State University.
By getting her diploma, Barnes helped D.C. schools score their highest four-year graduation rate in more than a decade.
Almost 79 percent of students who started high school at traditional public or charter schools in the city in 2020 graduated during the 2024-2025 academic year, according to the School Report Card data recently released by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education.
The report covers D.C. Public Schools and charters, showing graduation rates increasing by 2.6 percentage points from the year before and almost 18 points since 2011.
“We’re beginning to see students are bouncing back and bouncing back strongly from the pandemic,” State Superintendent Antoinette S. Mitchell said.
Like D.C., school systems around the country have steadily improved graduation rates since 2011, when the U.S. Department of Education started using a new methodology to calculate the four-year adjusted graduation rate. The national average rose about 7.5 percentage points between 2011 and 2021, according to the most recent available data, which the National Center for Education Statistics, an arm of the Education Department, released last year.
Despite that steady improvement, D.C. schools probably still lag behind the country as a whole. In the 2021-2022 school year, when D.C.’s graduation rate hit 74.9 percent, the national average was 87 percent, the center’s data shows. They also lag behind some other urban districts, including Philadelphia and Los Angeles, which reported graduation rates of 84 percent and 87 percent, respectively, for the 2023-2024 school year. Milwaukee schools, however, had about a 68 percent rate that year.
Still, last year’s uptick brings D.C. officials closer to achieving their goal of reaching a 90 percent four-year graduation rate by 2043.
“I think it’s a harbinger of good things to come,” Mitchell said.
The School Report Card was not all good news. The data showed a dip — from 56.7 percent to 55.3 percent — in the share of graduates who enroll in college, technical school or other postsecondary education within six months of graduation. The city previously set a goal of having 80 percent of the city’s high school graduates earn college degrees by 2050.
The rising high school graduation rate is not an outlier but the most recent example of modest, yet sustained, improvements D.C. schools have made as officials try to recover from declines during the pandemic. Total enrollment and teacher retention have steadily risen while truancy and chronic absenteeism have ticked down — after spiking during the pandemic, according to an analysis of publicly available data by D.C. Policy Center, a local think tank.
In August, the state superintendent’s office released test scores showing the highest share of D.C. students reading on grade level in a decade and students’ highest proficiency rate in math since returning to classrooms in 2021, although the math scores are still lower than they were pre-pandemic.
Friendship Technology Preparatory High in Southeast Washington has already achieved city officials’ goal to, within 18 years, achieve a 90 percent graduation rate — and then some. About 95 percent of the school’s students graduated last academic year, a 3.8-percentage point jump from the year before, said Pat Brantley, CEO of Friendship Public Charter Schools, which runs 15 charter schools.
Principal Kun Ye Booth credited the school’s Advanced Placement classes and dual enrollment program that offers college courses through Howard and Arizona State universities. Realizing they can do college coursework boosts students’ confidence and gives them a glimpse of life beyond high school, she said.
Last year, more Friendship Tech Prep students took AP classes and the college dual enrollment program saw an even greater surge in participation, Brantley said.
Booth said students also can witness the way their studies apply outside the classroom through the schools academies, which offer ongoing coursework in aeronautics, cybersecurity and environmental science through which they fly drones, code or do beekeeping. They parlay that knowledge and hands-on experience into internships, in which they further build their skills and get a taste of life as a young professional.
“They’re seeing a future outside of us,” Brantley said.
Jeremiah Jefferson, 18, who graduated in June, said he benefited from the kind of career-focused instruction offered at Friendship, although he found it at Ward 5’s Advanced Technical Center, where students can take courses geared toward equipping them to enter in-demand careers and technical fields.
As a student at Dunbar High School, Jefferson didn’t feel as challenged as he could have been, he said. But the ATC allowed him to put book learning into physical practice on computer servers, hospital beds and medical test dummies — whatever the coursework required. He connected with students who got jazzed about his passion — cybersecurity — and other technical fields. When he hit rough spots, it was his ATC advisers he turned to.
“It was like growing up with another family,” Jefferson said.
Barnes used the same word — family — to describe the people she got close with during her four years at H.D. Woodson. She refers to administrators, teachers and support staff by name and is still in touch with several of them.
H.D. Woodson saw one of the biggest jumps in graduation rates last year — 6 percentage points to 83 percent — which is more than a 25-point jump from 2011, Principal William Massey said.
Massey, who’s led the school since 2018 when the graduation rate was 66 percent, credited H.D. Woodson’s ninth-grade academy, which introduces freshmen to the school’s layout, routines and staff. Students also learn effective study habits and get to know their classmates through bonding activities. They get invested in the school when they are given what they need to thrive there, Massey said.
“The ninth-grade academy is a game changer,” he added.
Massey also cited a 2021 change that paired school counselors and social workers with students throughout high school instead of reassigning them each year, something Barnes said helped her as she struggled during her senior year.
Barnes is still benefiting from that relationship. She’s stayed in touch with her former social worker, whom she described as her “second mother.” Barnes calls her if she’s flailing. Like a parent, the social worker is caring if that’s what Barnes needs but can be blunt when required.
“If I’m having a hard day, I can call her — she talks me through it,” Barnes said, “but at the same time, she keeps me on my toes and makes sure I stay on top of all my responsibilities.”
Barnes knows her social worker is doing the same thing for those still at H.D. Woodson. She’s part of a network of people — teachers, administrators, staff — shepherding students through high school to a cap-and-gown finish line.
“All of those people made sure [the students] were the best version of themselves before graduation,” she said.
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