Washington Dc Education

The public school system in the city is operated by District of Columbia Public Schools and consists of 167 schools and learning centers, which consist of 101 elementary schools, 11 middle schools, nine junior high schools, 20 senior high schools, six education centers, and 20 special schools.[45] In 2005-2006, 54,800 students were enrolled in the public school system, with enrollment decreasing.[46] At the same time, enrollment in independently run and publicly funded charter schools has increased 13 percent each year since 2001.[47] The District of Columbia Public Charter School Board monitors 37 charter schools in Washington, D.C.[48] In 2005-2006, 19,300 students were enrolled in charter schools.[46]

The city is home to several universities, colleges, and other institutions of higher education, both public and private. The University of the District of Columbia is the city's public university; it is the nation's only urban land-grant university and is counted among the historically black colleges and universities. The Department of Agriculture's Graduate School offers continuing education and graduate-level classes in many disciplines. The Department of Defense maintains the National Defense University at Fort McNair.

Among private institutions, Georgetown University is older than the District itself, having been founded in 1789 by John Carroll. It is the nation's oldest Roman Catholic affiliated body of higher education. The nation's first African American university president was at Georgetown. The university is especially well-known for the Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service and the Georgetown University Law Center. It also is home to a School of Medicine and the McDonough School of Business.

The George Washington University, founded by an act of Congress in 1821, is the largest institution of higher education in the nation's capital with its main campus in Foggy Bottom and its Mount Vernon campus in the Foxhall neighborhood of Northwest Washington. It is the second-largest landholder and employer in the District, second only to the Federal government.

The American University, a private institution chartered by an act of Congress in 1893, is situated on an 84 acre (34 ha) campus in upper Northwest Washington and is well known for the Washington College of Law, the Kogod School of Business, the School of International Service, the School of Public Affairs, and the School of Communication.

The Catholic University of America (CUA), in the Northeast quadrant of the District is unique as the national university of the Roman Catholic Church and as the only higher education institution founded by U.S. Roman Catholic bishops. Established in 1887 following approval by Pope Leo XIII as a graduate and research center, the university began offering undergraduate education in 1904. In April of 2004, CUA purchased 49 acres (20 ha) of land from the Armed Forces Retirement Home. The parcel is the largest plot of open space in the District and makes CUA the largest university in D.C. by land area.

The Trinity Washington University, located near CUA, was founded in 1897 by the Sisters of Notre Dame as a Catholic liberal arts college for women. Trinity educates women in its College of Arts and Sciences, and both women and men in the School of Education and School of Professional Studies.

Other notable private colleges in the District include Gallaudet University, the first liberal arts college for the deaf and hard-of-hearing, Howard University, a historically black university dating to the nineteenth century, and Southeastern University, a smaller institution with a concentration in business studies.

Furthermore, The Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), dedicated to the graduate study of international relations and international economics, is located near Dupont Circle, on Massachusetts Avenue's Embassy Row.

The US military's National Defense University is located in Washington on Fort McNair. The National Defense Intelligence College is also located in DC. The Corcoran College of Art and Design has an arts program attached to the Corcoran Museum of Art, adjacent to the White House Complex. The Reformed Theological Seminary and the Washington Theological Union have graduate programs in theology. Strayer University, a for-profit career school, has a campus in Washington, D.C.

Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School

Howard University's Founders Library