Biography
Thurgood Marshall Academy is a law-themed public charter high school serving low-income, under-resourced teenagers, 96% of whom live in Washington, DC’s most disadvantaged community. Thurgood Marshall Academy’s mission is to prepare students to succeed in college and to actively engage in our democratic society. As a law-themed school, Thurgood Marshall Academy’s goal is to help students develop their own voice by teaching them the skills lawyers have—the ability to solve complex problems, think critically, and advocate persuasively for themselves and their communities.
Thurgood Marshall Academy grew out of the experience of law students and professors in the DC Street Law clinical program at Georgetown University Law Center who, while teaching at Ballou Senior High School, witnessed how limited opportunities stunted the academic and social development of students. They also saw an opportunity to use legal principles as teaching tools to educate and empower the bright and energetic students they encountered. They collaborated with education experts and community members to create a school that would provide committed students with the academic and youth development resources they need to succeed and become active citizens. Thurgood Marshall Academy opened in 2001 with 80 9th-graders and added a grade each year until it served grades 9–12 in 2004–2005. In 2005, the first senior class graduated, 100% of whom were accepted to one or more colleges, and the school moved into the state-of-art permanent facility at the gateway to Historic Anacostia. In 2007, Thurgood Marshall Academy earned one of the first full continuances of its charter provided by the DC Public Charter School Board. In 2007–2008 Thurgood Marshall Academy will serve 360 students.
