Georgetown Day School


Georgetown Day School is an independent coeducational PK-12 school located in Washington, D.C. The school educates 1,075 elementary, middle, and high school students across two campuses in the city's Northwestern quadrant. Russell Shaw is the current Head of School.
Founded in 1945 as Washington's first racially integrated school, it is known for its progressive climate and dedication to social justice. Students call teachers by their first names, and the high school allows students to leave the campus during school hours.
The school has educated the children of several high-ranking government officials, including Justice Thurgood Marshall, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, United States Attorney General Eric Holder, Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, Texas Senator Phil Gramm, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, Florida Congressman Kendrick Meek, Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin, and Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu.

Academics

GDS offers 18 Advanced Placement courses, which are currently being phased out. The high school features a curriculum covering the humanities, mathematics, sciences, and the arts. Students are required to take four years of English courses and a freshman seminar focusing on diversity issues.
The school enrolls approximately 1,075 students and graduates about 130 seniors in any given year. As a college preparatory school, GDS sends 100% of its graduates to four-year universities. The most frequently attended universities for GDS alumni include Harvard, Brown, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Michigan, New York University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Wisconsin and Yale. The mean SAT scores for the 2017 senior class at GDS were Math, Writing and Reading. The Class of 2018 included 8 National Merit Semifinalists, 27 Commended Students, and 3 National Hispanic Scholars.
Each year the school sponsors the Ben Cooper Lecture in memory of a student killed in a car accident in 1997. Past speakers have included Samantha Power, immigration activist Jose Antonio Vargas, journalist Michele Norris, journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates, writer-brothers Franklin, Jonathan, and Joshua Foer, journalist David K. Shipler, feminist Zainab Salbi, civil rights activist Julian Bond, historian John Hope Franklin, political scientist James C. Scott, architect William McDonough, author Sherman Alexie, Senator George J. Mitchell, journalist Anna Quindlen, author and humanitarian Elie Wiesel, poet Maya Angelou, scientist Harold Varmus, historian Taylor Branch, and US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Notable alumni