Powell Elementary School

Posted: August 12, 2026

They kicked me out for being to depressed

Posted: August 12, 2026

Posted: August 12, 2026

Posted: August 12, 2026

Posted: August 12, 2026

Posted: August 12, 2026

Posted: August 12, 2026

Posted: August 12, 2026

Posted: July 25, 2019

Depends on the needs of the student. Little to no communication from OT specialists. Little to no contact with school counselor. Who knows what really goes on with your child? If there is a problem, you can rest assured it will be shouted down to you at pick up amongst all the other parents coming to collect young ones. There is one ray of hope, which is the VP, who is the most congenial and accommodating person on the Powell staff, but she is only one person and probably stretched pretty thin.

Posted: July 25, 2019

I don't even quite know where to begin. It is not treated with seriousness and I do believe some of the staff and administrators embody the word "bully" or as some would call them "stern disciplinarians" or "toxic personalities." It is up to your definition of the word, some are more sensitive than others. Some are more helpful than others as well, but in general it doesn't seem to be a primary concern for the admin to tackle bullying.

Posted: July 25, 2019

The homework is quite intense with 10-15 pages per week. I don't believe that true learning takes place with pages of busy work sent home week after week.

Posted: July 25, 2019

We always heard rave reviews about the PK program at Powell. Unfortunately, we never got to experience it. Our K-1st grade experience was abysmal. The first year we had one good teacher and one terrible teacher. The terrible teacher tried hard to fund a noise-cancelling headphones campaign so she could plug our kids into screens all day so she would be relieved of trying to manage her classroom. She was let go after the school year, but I heard she is still working as a teacher at a charter school in DCPS! The second year we had one brand new terrible teacher and one veteran mediocre teacher. There is no parent engagement, little positive discipline, inappropriate levels of familiarity with the kids. I'll give you two examples, the new teacher had one child who would regularly hang on her body and say things like "I love you." She would allow this type of behavior and respond with, I love you too, honeyboo, or something to that effect. Totally unprofessional relationship for a student/teacher and the teacher did not know enough to correct the situation. Our son also learned to belch the alphabet from this teacher. Does that sound like "education" to you? In general, the level of competency, training and professionalism at this school is astonishingly low. Also, our child's report card was always riddled with errors. Either blocks not filled in, or the commentary directly contradicts the numerical score. It was a clusterf$%^ from beginning to end. They also published reading score levels of all kids and handed out to parents at a conference without redacting for individuals. I once sat through an entire APTT parent lesson that was primarily given in Spanish. I do not speak Spanish. In two years we had 4 teachers (1 of them very good) and 2 aides (1 very good). That's a 75% fail and 50% fail rate, respectively.

Posted: July 25, 2019

Because of all the aforementioned problems we encountered with this school, it is hard to expect things like "integrity" and "good character" to emerge when there just doesn't seem to be a fertile environment for it. Ya know what I mean?

Posted: July 25, 2019

The leadership is not effective because it has the teachers under their thumb. Our child was in after care and we never saw a single of his teachers outside of a conference. They are in meetings every single morning at drop off and were nowhere in sight at pick up (during after care). If communication is very important to you, it doesn't seem to be a priority for this school to ensure there is any parent/teacher link whatsoever (aside from the perfunctory scheduled Parent Teacher conferences.)

Posted: July 25, 2019

Poorly. The parent PTO group, Powell Padres, is very high charging and successful in fundraising ventures, but lacks long-term goals, which means a lot of time, energy and money are wasted on things of very little educational value (ie, field trips to Wolf Trap). It seems the real goal then (or consequence for lack of educational vision) is to raise the esteem of certain highly powerful PTO members to influence levels that are beyond reproach.

Posted: July 1, 2019

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Posted: July 1, 2019

Our son just finished his first year at Powell and we couldn't be happier with the school, teachers and overall learning environment. He's excited to go to school everyday. He's engaged and has shown a strong interest in the curriculum. He has diverse group of friends and the parents are very involved.

Posted: July 1, 2019

Posted: December 20, 2016

I regret to inform everyone that has heard such rave reviews about this school that they are not very accurate. Unfortunately, I have been told by some of the staff that it may be a result of the principal change to Ms. Lyons-Lucas. She is unresponsive to emails, a tad bit condescending and seems to be more interested in funding, not the actual students. My wife and I have had to go to the school board and superintendent several times to get responses from the school in just the first half of the school year. We have two children in the school, PK3 and 4th grade. I have little to no complaints about the PK program. The teachers are a pleasure to deal with and seem to be motivated to teach, very interactive with the parents and our child enjoys the class. On the other hand, 4th grade has been a nightmare! Our child was erroneously placed in the dual language program due to the school not ensuring they received an accurate assessment from their assessment center, then tried to blame us for the mishap. Furthermore, they took their own assessment, which my child failed and decided it was best to keep her enrolled to satisfy their federal requirements for funding even though my child was frustrated and struggling. After fighting tooth and nail with Ms. Lyons-Lucas for the change, my child was finally switched to an English speaking class that was overcrowded. My child was told she had to share a textbook with another child because there was not enough for every child to take one home. Therefore, homework could not be completed in that class for a week until I sent another email. Overall, it has been a nightmare and more importantly, academically devastating for a child that has always been on the honor roll. The only reason they are getting an average rating is because the teachers enjoy and are good at their job. Ms. Lyons-Lucas needs to refocus her attention to her students, their needs and resources available to them.

Posted: November 30, 2014

We are very excited to learn that on Nov 20th our kid's principal at Powell won the 2014 DCPS Principal of the Year award. We would like to share with potential parents looking at Powell that Ms. Docal is very attentive to the needs of the students, parents, and her staff. She has set a high bar for standards and turned this DCPS around. My spouse, who is an educator at UMD, is very impressed by what he's seen in the classroom in terms of class management, positive learning environment, and academic rigor. We both had the chance to visit a Kinder class and a 5th-grade class (both dual language/bilingual classrooms) and I personally enjoyed the lots of examples of individualized attention for students, and seeing the high participation level of the different students. We love that the school educates students in English and Spanish-still a rarity in the U.S. at this level. Most or all classes have 2 teachers. Impressive! If you are not interested in that, Powell also has an English-only track in every grade. Our 4-year-old even has yoga classes on Wednesday afternoon, a really nice perk. Again, we are very impressed by the Powell team and by everything happening in this school.

Posted: August 12, 2014

I am very impressed by Principal Docal and Vice Principal Sanders. They have high standards for the students and teachers. After witnessing several interactions between them and students at the school, I am convinced that they enjoy children and sincerely want them to succeed. I am also very impressed with our daughter's preschool teacher. She is the perfect match for our daughter, who needs a lot of structure with a touch of strict discipline to keep her in line and to encourage her to learn. Our daughter entered the spring term late, and once she was in class, she truly flourished both personally and academically. I only wish the bilingual support structure were more effective. Right now, I don't perceive of it as very strong, in part because the teacher's aide's verbal acumen and lexical register could be higher. That being said, our daughter is being taught Spanish and she has improved over the course of several months. At Powell, we have found the right fit for our daughter and a school that will nurture that relationship.

Posted: April 29, 2014

I believe that the right school leader is the key ingredient to school turnaround. And Powell ES has an outstanding school leader who is so clearly focused on ensuring all students at Powell have a high-quality education. Our child (in english/spanish PK3) is thriving. And, we've seen remarkable progress by all the students in the class, regardless of race or socio-economic background, even those who started off way behind at the top of the year. What we most appreciate about Powell: 1. The principal 2. The teachers - dedicated, attentive. focused on student growth and continual progress 3. Tools of the Mind - we didn't have a strong preference before but we now really appreciate the foundation for self-discipline and focus that our child is building 4. The focus on parent engagement through the Flamboyan Foundation programs 5. The diversity - at a glance, the school is most obviously diverse in the youngest classrooms. But if you look more closely, there is great diversity across all grades and that diversity is explored and celebrated 6. The sense of community Truly, Powell is a wonderful, learning-rich school.

Posted: April 7, 2014

I love that the school is so welcoming. There is an amazing community and they are working hard to improve the test scores. Kids are happy. Teachers seem happy. They have practically done a home visit of about 95% of the students at the school. Great programs. And happy about the appropriation passed to remodel the school.

Posted: April 5, 2014

My daughter loves this school, we are from Brazil and I choose this one because is a dual language school, she is in Kinder, she can read and do math pretty good.

Posted: December 19, 2013

Powell is a wonderful school. The following is an excerpt from a note is we sent to the principal: We are writing to express how much we appreciate the teaching team of Mr. X and Ms. Y. Our son is learning so much, from starting to sound out words and speaking Spanish in full sentences to learning to better regulate his emotions and exhibiting increased self confidence. Most importantly, he is happy and looks forward to going to school every day. Mr. X is a gem, and we tell this to everyone who asks us about our experience at Powell. He has an amazing ability to connect with his students. He talks to them and shows that he cares about what they are doing and how they are feeling. He works creatively with his students to solve conflicts in the classroom and on the playground, and we have seen the role playing he directs being put into action. Mr. X also goes above and beyond to communicate any issues or positive feedback related to our son. We even recall receiving a call on a Friday evening, long after the call of duty had ended. We feel very lucky that our son was placed in Mr. X's classroom and are happy we made the decision to enroll at Powell.

Posted: December 13, 2013

Powell is a great school, their bilingual and early childhood education programs are strong. Powell is one of DCPS success stories with great gain in Math this year from 48% last year to 63% Proficient , and in Reading from 37% to 45% Proficient. Powell is one of the top 12 DCPS schools showing DC-CAS improvement in 2013. Our enrollment increased exponentially, from 219 in 2009 to 407 in 2013. The Embassy of Spain names Powell the second best bilingual school in the US. Principal Docal just won one of the seven 2013 Rubenstein Awards for DC Schools Leadership.

Posted: December 12, 2013

Powell is a great place to have a child in early childhood education and parents should see it for themselves. We looked all over DC - DCPS, charter and private - and were thrilled with what they are actually doing in our child's class. Your sense of "reputation" or a quick look at "demographics" should not, I repeat, not, keep you from seeing what is going on at Powell. The Tools of the Mind curriculum for small kids is so fun, and engaging, and based on brain science. I feel jealous of my child! And the upper grades are doing well, with very, very fast gains in test scores. And the principal is very engaging and pouring her heart into this school and it is working. The parent organization is up and coming but still has improvements to make. All in all, a school like this is heartening for those who wonder if DCPS can succeed. Powell certainly can.

Posted: August 22, 2013

The love and dedication towards our children here is beyond measure! The staff is dedicated beyond compare and works around the clock to provide the best for our children. I couldn't be more excited about the year to come and the progress that our students will achieve this year!!

Posted: June 3, 2013

This reviews are too good to be true. check your self the test scores, and also chek if this will be here tomorrow. The real review was in 2010, but after a bad real one they became crazy doing more and taking out all others. Loock yourself if is too good to be true, please think about.

Posted: May 28, 2013

My 3 year old is just finishing up her first year at Powell and has flourished at Powell! The staff and principal are incredibly responsive, talented, and dedicated. And the preschool classrooms will be renvoated for use next year! If you are thinking about this school PLEASE take a tour and see it for yourself. Powell currently offers one-hour tours from 8:30 A.M. to 2:30 P.M. every Tuesday. If you can't make it during school hours (which I highly recommend) call (202) 671-6270 to arrange an appointment. Additionally, the preschool classrooms are being renovated next year. We couldn't be happier.

Posted: May 23, 2013

Powell Elementary School is a very good school. I recommend the school for your children.

Posted: May 23, 2013

I've been a parent here at Powell before Ms.Docal is the Principal and I've seen all the positive changes she brought into the school. She guided and anchored this school for the better.She's 100% focus on Academics, which I like a lot because my children benefited from it.I'm proud of what my children's accomplished because of the dedication of the teachers,staffs and especially the principal in making Powell a better school for them to attend to.

Posted: May 23, 2013

My son attends preschool at Powell and the program is great. His teacher is very communicative and gives us lots of updates on his progress. She's gone out of her way to bring him out of his shell. The school itself has a great sense of school spirit. There are lots of positive things happening at Powell!

Posted: May 21, 2013

My family and I couldn't be happier to be a part of the Powell community. The leadership, teachers, and staff are always looking out for us, and my daughter has made leaps and bounds in her first year. As a four year old she is already sounding out and trying to write entire words and sentences, and her Spanish has really improved! So grateful we are already enrolled for next year!

Posted: May 21, 2013

My 4 year old is finishing up her first year at Powell Elementary School, and we have been very happy with our experience. The teachers and staff are amazing. The principal is incredibly hardworking. My daughter has grown tremendously both academically and personally through her time at Powell, and I've been particularly impressed with the accessibility of her classroom teacher (I have her personal phone number, her email address, her facebook, and have even begun following her blog). Principal Docal has been a similarly awesome resource for me this year. All of my questions have been answered quickly, and she has worked to include me in as many processes as she could (which I appreciate, because I'm *that* kind of mom.) All in all, it's just been an awesome year. The building is pretty run down at the moment, but after a LOT of lobbying by principal Docal and the parents organization, we are finally getting our renovation and expansion underway - the very day that school lets out for the summer!