Celebrating Twenty Years, Together

We were founded in 2004 as a school that could do more

Founded in 2004, and named after Dr. Euphemia Lofton Haynes, we are a school designed to support every child, no matter their race, socioeconomic level, home language, or ability. This commitment to providing personalized support for ALL children has been a hallmark of our academic model.

We grew steadily and strategically to serve students and families in Washington, DC

We started above the CVS in Columbia Heights, serving 129 Pre-K4 – 2nd grade students, and since then have grown to serve more than 1150 students across two campuses in Petworth and Park View. We now have more than 1,000 families on our waitlist each year, and the demand for E.L. Haynes remains strong.

Our Elementary School has historically outperformed city averages

For multiple years, our elementary school outperformed city averages, as a result of an academic model that is grounded in rigorous instruction, exploration, play, and joy.

Our Middle School built a community where students feel safe, welcome, and like coming to school

A deep focus on social justice and restorative practices enabled the middle school community to develop into one shaped around kindness, compassion, and care. It has led to decreased disciplinary rates, increased attendance rates, and an average re-enrollment rate above 90% since 2017.

Our High School graduates students prepared for their lives beyond E.L. Haynes

In 2015, 49 seniors walked across the stage during our first graduation. Since then, 835 students have followed in their footsteps. Ninety-six percent of our graduates have been accepted to all types of post-secondary institutions, including Ivy League schools, state universities, and local community colleges. They also pursued careers in the trades, the military, and service academies. Wherever their path leads, E.L. Haynes prepared them for real choices about their futures, and to thrive on those paths.

Our students set their sights high and can achieve anything

When we were founded in 2004, we were named for Dr. Euphemia Lofton Haynes, the first African American woman to receive her PhD in mathematics. That decision—to choose a namesake who broke barriers, fought for social justice, and committed her life to service—defined us. Our students use that inspiration to chart their own paths, and in doing so have become POSSE Scholars, Trachtenberg Scholars, Gates Millennium Scholars, and more. They have attended prestigious summer programs and have interned in a wide-range of industries.

Achieve Excellence

Our Advanced Placement course offerings have become a key component of our commitment to excellence and setting high expectations for our students. Because of rigorous and relevant instruction, we have seen significant growth in the number of students participating in AP courses, the number of courses offered, and the number of passing scores students earn. This is highlighted by the fact that since 2021, we’ve seen an increase (from 17% to 45%) in students receiving a passing score; and, over the last three years 100% of students who took AP Spanish have earned a passing score.

Lead for Equity

E.L. Haynes was founded with a commitment to equity and social justice, grounded in the lifelong work of our namesake, Dr. Euphemia Lofton Haynes, who fought tirelessly to end the tracking system in DC Public Schools. 

• Staff have designed, led, and scaled programs and organizations to support learning and training around equity; 
• Since 2017, seven staff or board members have participated in The Equity Lab’s Seeding Disruption Fellowship, co-founded by former E.L. Haynes principal Michelle Molitor and former E.L.  Haynes Board Chair Abigail Smith;
• All managers participate in training from The Management Center, Managing to Change the World, as well as Equity in the Center’s Awake to Woke to Work workshop, and four of our white leaders participated in Lead for Liberation’s The Conscious Racist cohort experience to name, interrogate, and disrupt implicit biases and work toward developing liberatory practices as leaders and managers; and,
• Throughout 2024-2025, E.L. Haynes is developing and implementing a new draft equity framework that provides reflection questions aligned to how we support our students to have equitable learning experiences focused on excellence, inclusion, critical consciousness building, and safety and belonging. 

Own Our Learning

At our elementary school, our English Language Arts curriculum emphasizes the Science of Reading. This places additional focus on foundational literacy skills, supporting our youngest learners as they master the building blocks of reading and writing — setting them up for a long successful academic career. Our staff participated in a two-year professional development training to build the skills necessary to best support our students. At the end of the first year, 100% of our elementary school instructional staff successfully completed the training, leading to more targeted reading instruction for every student in every elementary school classroom.

Choose Joy

We find, bring, and share joy, every day. We are a community that prioritizes joy, because in the toughest of times, joy is defiance, it is revolutionary, and it is essential to human success. Whether it is how a teacher shows up for their students, or the way they bring a lesson to life, joy can also be a lightbulb of understanding, or scoring a goal at a soccer game. 

In our high school, we host annual student activities, like 9th grade summer bridge or 12th grade retreats, that intentionally use joy to build community among students and alongside staff. 

Similarly, in our middle school, we host regular House days where students participate in grade-level activities and community building opportunities. The bonds created during these shared experiences, establish an environment of support and understanding that serve as the bedrock of our restorative practices at both campuses.

Succeed Together

The success of E.L. Haynes is directly tied to our commitment to building community, because we understand that we can only succeed when all of us work together to support our students and families. 

Our AP Translators Club is a critical way we support our families with their language access needs while also building skills with our AP Spanish student leaders. Since 2018, the club has grown in popularity and impact, with students serving as translators during back-to-school nights, family-teacher conferences, and college office meetings. Their participation helps ensure that all families, regardless of home language, are able to participate in all of our events. Because, succeeding together means everyone.

Adapting Our Investments  in Our Students

Our strategic plan outlined a vision for instruction that was grounded in rigorous and relevant instruction, and relationships centered on love. This is the framework for our investment in our students now and in the future. Leveraging current resources and adapting to the immediate needs of our students, we will launch additional investments to drive student achievement in January. As a charter school, our model is designed to be flexible and to pivot when necessary—we know that our students need this help now, and it cannot wait until next school year. These real-time additional investments include:

• Tutoring support for 3rd Grade students who are significantly behind in reading and English Language Arts (ELA). 
• Short-term teacher support and materials and supplies to support our growing multilingual learner population at our middle school.
• High-dosage tutoring in HS Algebra I with additional small group support.
• Instructional coaching for science teachers in 5th grade, 8th grade, and biology. 
• Attendance supports across all campuses, because we know that when students attend school every day, on time, they thrive.

Developing New Pre-K-12 Programs (Building on Success)

We say it all the time – our Pre-K to 12th grade community is our super power. Our ability to work with families and students for up to 15 years is an integral part of our model. It also means that we must build programs across that continuum that help our students continuously foster their interests and hone their talents and skills.

Our commitment to high quality music and arts instruction and experiences is the perfect example of how we create opportunities for students to thrive throughout their academic careers. We hope to continue this focus, as well as further invest in comprehensive athletic programming across all three campuses. 

Deepening Our Family Engagement

Partnership with our families will continue to be critical to the ongoing success of E.L. Haynes, and over the next chapter of our story we will build upon our successes to further deepen our relationship with the caregivers in our community. Whether it is elementary school partnership in ROAR, our effective student-led conferences at the middle school, or grade-level parent-engagement efforts at the high school, we know that the relationship between our families and the school – and with every adults who connects with their students – must be strong in order to best support our students in all of their academic and post-secondary pursuits.

Future-Proofing Our Educational Program

During the COVID-19 pandemic we quickly transitioned to a one-to-one model, investing in classroom technology, and launching a variety of new tools to support student learning. These investments continue to drive learning, and we know that technology will play a critical role for our students as they  navigate a rapidly changing world.

As we look to best support our students into the future, we will adapt to and learn from AI and its impact on education, find technology solutions that help us better individual students’ needs, and leverage both hardware and software for student learning.

Envisioning Our Future

Since 2004, our impact on our students and our families will cause ripple effects for generations, and we know that, over the next 20 years, we will deepen that impact on our community in multiple ways. We will continue to improve upon our model using a three pronged approach — developing world-class facilities; pursuing Pre-K3 to 12 consolidation; and, making sure our academic program model is innovative and adapts to an ever-changing world.