Education



The city is served by the Alexandria City Public Schools system and by the Alexandria campus of Northern Virginia Community College.

The largest seminary in the Episcopal Church, Virginia Theological Seminary, is located on Seminary Road.

Virginia Tech's Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center, also known as WAAC, is located on Prince Street in Old Town, offering graduate programs in Urban Affairs and Planning, Public and International Affairs, Architecture, and Landscape Architecture.

Virginia Commonwealth University operates a Northern Virginia branch of its School of Social Work.

The George Washington University (Washington DC) also has a campus near the King Street metro. This campus mainly offers professional and vocational programs, such as an executive MBA program, urban planning and security studies.

Alexandria has several of the Washington, D.C., area's top private schools, such as


 * St. Stephen's and St. Agnes School


 * Bishop Ireton High School and


 * Episcopal High School.

Also in the city are


 * Alexandria Country Day School


 * Commonwealth Academy


 * St. Mary's Catholic School


 * St. Rita's Catholic School


 * Blessed Sacrament Learning Center and


 * Global Health College.

Alexandria's public school system consists of thirteen elementary schools for kindergarten through Grade 5.

The two middle schools, George Washington and Francis C. Hammond, serve 6th through 8th graders.

Minnie Howard Ninth Grade Center and T.C. Williams High School serve grades 9th and 10 through 12, respectively, for the entire city.

The demographics of Alexandria City Public Schools contrast with those of the city. In 2008, only 14% of the students at Francis C. Hammond Middle School were non-Hispanic whites, compared to about 60% when looking at the city as a whole. 27% were of Hispanic descent, and 48% were black. About 9% of the school was of Asian descent. In 2004, 62% of the school received free lunches; by 2008, that number had decreased to 56%.[48] At George Washington Middle School, 30% of students are non-Hispanic whites, 24% were Hispanic, and 41% was black. 3% of the students were Asian, and 52% of students received free lunch.[49] T.C. Williams High School follows this trend as well; 23% of the students were classified as non-Hispanic whites, 25% as Hispanic, and 44% as black. 7% of the school was Asian, and 47% of all students received free lunch.[50]