Elevating students to emerge as public figures who positively impact their communities.

Ron Brown College Preparatory High School exists to build a new narrative about Black and Brown boys and young men, centering on their strengths, potential, and excellence.

 The school is Washington, DC’s only all-male public high school and one of only a few in the country. It’s a space specifically designed to foster academic and social-emotional success for young men of color, known at the school as Young Kings. Support from local and national community members, politicians, organizations, and foundations helped launch this unique and tailored program. To honor Black brilliance, the school is named after Ronald Harmon Brown, the first Black U.S. Commerce Secretary who served during the Clinton Administration. 

Ron Brown is part of DC+XQ, a multi-year partnership to reimagine the high school experience in the nation’s capital. This community-led initiative has brought together students, educators, families, and school community members with bold ideas for what is possible for DC’s high school students. Each school’s redesign is unique because every community is different.

Learn More about the DC+XQ partnership.

Through the DC+XQ redesign process, Ron Brown envisions becoming a “Black Biosphere,” an oasis where anything is possible for Black and Brown boys. This Biosphere is a space where Young Kings are educated and empowered, able to achieve their goals and ambitions. The school leverages caring, trusting relationships and restorative practices to achieve the vision of becoming a Black Biosphere.

The restorative approach is a priority at Ron Brown, taking on multiple forms of conflict resolution. The school facilitates peer-to-peer discussions to address and resolve feelings and issues and empower students to take accountability in situations. Each day begins with school-wide Community Circles to provide students and staff with a space to give shoutouts, discuss pressing topics in the community, and share what’s on their minds. The space is intentionally uplifting and transparent to normalize discussion of complicated issues amongst students and staff.

Throughout this journey, one hundred percent of Ron Brown’s students gave input on the redesign process through focus groups, polls, and participation in DC+XQ Design Days, making it very clear what’s important to them: becoming public figures. Centered around restorative practices and personal growth, students take their ideas of what they choose to do and how they engage with people and grow as anchors for a meaningful impact on their community. Public figures are at the core of the school’s redesigned school model, and the Young Kings learn to lead by example.

The Work & Impact

Since joining the second cohort of DC+XQ schools in the summer of 2023, Ron Brown has emphasized experiential learning and teaching strategies that expose students to the real world. Through community, career, and college preparation, Young Kings understand what it means to be a public figure. Career preparatory offerings include four pathways: 

  • Horticultural Science
  • Audio/Visual
  • JROTC 
  • Computer Science.

PFLEX, a new “Public Figure Learning Experience,” brings Young Kings to Atlanta to study the life of an influential public figure and develop and present their figure’s identity. Other recent offerings have included a rap writing workshop, a field trip to New York City to practice photographic storytelling, and a student-organized career fair. Guest speakers, shadow days with industry professionals, and college visits are also offered regularly.

“We share affirmations, we give shout-outs because in so many spaces they don’t have that. The world postures like it’s against them every day.”

Dr. Arman Lakes

Ron Brown Redesign Director

“To see Black and Brown boys engaging with animals [through Horticultural Science], it’s heartwarming. What makes this unique is that it’s what our students really wanted. Now there are so many learning opportunities that they wouldn’t have gotten—I don’t know of any other place in the city where they can come and interact with goats on a daily basis. It’s become so popular that some students who struggle academically found something they really like.”

Cortney Jordan

Former Ron Brown Student Experience Coach

“I enjoyed participating in an empathy interview because I was able to show staff members what it felt like from my point of view. I felt like I was the teacher and they learned from me.”

Joel

Ron Brown Student

“We’re developing more internships, more classes around what you want to do when you grow up, more experiential learning.”

Evan Bowie

Ron Brown Alum

\“The more I came here, the more I was excited to be here. All the teachers help you and have activities for you.”

Kenneth

Ron Brown Student

XQ Tools and Resources in Action

All high schools taking part in DC+XQ used XQ’s Design Journey to bring the community together around a vision for redesign. They also used XQ’s Educational Opportunity Audit to analyze qualitative and quantitative data, including student transcripts. The EOA helps schools identify student opportunity gaps to facilitate change, ensuring all students are given equitable opportunities to succeed.