Black Student Fund's ACCESS BSF offers information to assist families of color apply to, and pay for, independent education.
Financial Assistance
Explore scholarships and aid for independent education
BSF Financial Aid PowerPoint
DC Opportunity Scholarship
JKC Scholarship
Maryland Boost
International Black Montessori Scholarship
Lucina L. Jasper Scholarship
- Eligibility: Any graduating Catholic grade school student accepted into an Archdiocese of Washington DC Catholic High School.
- Criteria for Judging:
1. Academic achievement as demonstrated by the school.
2. Submission of a 1,500-to-2,000-word essay on an African American who influenced the applicant to pursue higher education. - Visit ljsf.org for a list of previous winners.
- Contact: For inquiries about the scholarship, email lljsf@aol.com.
For varied reasons, many DMV area independent schools eliminated or altered admission testing requirements during the pandemic. Families should check with each school to determine what if any testing is required in the admission process.
Testing Optional
Bullis
Edmund Burke School
Episcopal High School
The Norwood School
The Potomac School
St. Andrews Episcopal School
St. John’s Episcopal School
St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes School
Washington Episcopal School
The Field School
No Testing
Aidan Montessori School
The Beddow School
Beauvoir
Capitol Hill Day School
Concord Hill School
Evergreen School
Georgetown Day School
Grace Episcopal Day School
Holton-Arms School
The Lab School
Maret School
National Presbyterian School
Parkmont School
Sandy Spring Friends School
Sidwell Friends School
St. Albans School
St. Patrick’s Episcopal Day School
Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart
The Lowell School
The Nora School
The Sheridan School
Washington International School
Testing Required
Alexandria Country Day School
The Barnesville School
The Barrie School
Bishop O’Connell High School
Congressional School
Georgetown Preparatory School
Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School
Gonzaga College High School
Green Acres School
Landon School
The Langley School
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The Lowell School
McLean School of Maryland
National Cathedral School
Wye River Upper School
Requesting Testing Other Than SSAT or ISEE
Connelly School of the Holy Child
Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart
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Black @ DMV Independent Schools Instagram Expressions
A number of Instagram pages were launched by independent school black students for black students, faculty, parents and alumni. Often described as ‘a safe space to share experiences’ these expressions contain stories, observations and reflections. The pages are not affiliated or sanctioned by schools. BSF Interns reviewed these pages and categorized Instagram posts by school.
The review started in summer 2020 and continued into 2021. Instagram post categories include "Racial slurs", "Teacher/Staff/Admin comment, action", "Student Comment, action", "In the class", "Alumni/outsiders/parents", "Climate", and "Miscellaneous". Categories were chosen based on patterns in narrated experiences.
School A
Summer 2020 Research
- Racial Slurs: 6
- Teacher/Staff/Admin comment, action: 18
- Student comment, action: 15
- In the classroom: 8
- Alumni/outsiders/parents: 2
- Climate (acts, parties, behaviors, environment, privilege, curriculum, expectations, etc): 7
- Miscellaneous: Stopped while going about a normal day, scrutiny for supporting Black Lives Matter, lack of disciplinary action on account of administration, referring to one black kid as another/forgetting their names
July 2021 Updates (Since July 11, 2020)
- Climate (acts, parties, behaviors, environment, privilege, curriculum, expectations, etc): 12
School B
Summer 2020 Research
- Racial Slurs: 14
- Teacher/Staff/Admin comment, action: 16
- Student comment, action: 45
- In the classroom: 9
- Alumni/outsiders/parents: 5
- Climate (acts, parties, behaviors, environment, privilege, curriculum, expectations, etc): 35
- Miscellaneous: Yearbook images that honor the Confederacy, ridiculous references to slavery, comments about BLM and police brutality, Halloween Prisoner/cornrow situation
July 2021 Updates (Since July 11, 2020)
- Comments about BLM and police brutality
- Halloween Prisoner/cornrow situation?
- Teacher/Staff/Admin comment, action: 21
- Student comment, action: 50
- In the classroom: 11
- Alumni/outsiders: 6
- Climate (actions, parties, behaviors, environment, privilege, curriculum, expectations, etc): 44
School C
Summer 2020 Research
- Racial Slurs: 7
- Teacher/Staff/Admin comment, action: 9
- Student comment, action: 21
- In the classroom: 9
- Alumni/outsiders/parents: 0
- Climate (acts, parties, behaviors, environment, privilege, curriculum, expectations, etc): 16
- Miscellaneous: worries about quotas/tokenism, diversity day, lack of accountability
July 2021 Updates (Since July 20, 2020)
- Racial Slurs: 8
- Teacher/Staff/Admin comment, action: 11
- Student comment, action: 23
- In the classroom: 11
- Climate (acts, parties, behaviors, environment, privilege, curriculum, expectations, etc): 19
- Miscellaneous: staff encouraged to report IG acct submissions as the responsibility to the school
School D
Summer 2020 Research
- Racial Slurs: 26
- Teacher/Staff/Admin comment, action: 56
- Student comment, action: 78
- In the classroom: 9
- Alumni/outsiders/parents: 5
- Climate (acts, parties, behaviors, environment, privilege, curriculum, expectations, etc): 96
- Miscellaneous: Black boys denigrate Black girls (misogynoir), biracial kids “not black enough”, “too black”, code-switching/attempts to fit in, issues w/ FATA, people appreciative of the page & safe spaces, discouraged by college counselors, tokenism, lots of drug allowance for White students, South mountain trip
July 2021 Updates (Since July 18, 2020)
- Racial Slurs: 29
- Teacher/Staff/Admin comment, action: 59
- Student comment, action: 84
- In the classroom: 17
- Climate (acts, parties, behaviors, environment, privilege, curriculum, expectations, etc): 101
School E
Summer 2020 Research
- Racial Slurs: 1
- Teacher/Staff/Admin comment, action: 0
- Student comment, action: 3
- In the classroom: 1
- Alumni/outsiders/parents: 0
- Climate (acts, parties, behaviors, environment, privilege, curriculum, expectations, etc): 0
- Miscellaneous: 0
July 2021 Updates (Since July 13, 2020)
- Student comment, action: 5
- In the Classroom: 2
- Alumni/outsiders/parents: 2
- Climate (acts, parties, behaviors, environment, privilege, curriculum, expectations, etc): 2
School F
Summer 2020 Research
- Racial Slurs: 14
- Teacher/Staff/Admin comment, action: 77
- Student comment, action: 78
- In the classroom: 17
- Alumni/outsiders/parents: 5
- Climate (acts, parties, behaviors, environment, privilege, curriculum, expectations, etc): 60
- Miscellaneous: black hair prejudice, comments about tanning, reading aloud the “n-word” in class for the sake of literary integrity, skipping of diversity assemblies, lots of code-switching and assimilation, reference to PG County and its dwellers as “ghetto”, black girls expected to know how to twerk, affirmative action presumptions
July 2021 Updates (Since July 18, 2020)
- Teacher/Staff/Admin comment, action: 82
- Student comment, action: 81
- In the classroom: 18
- Alumni/outsiders/parents: 7
- Climate (acts, parties, behaviors, environment, privilege, curriculum, expectations, etc): 64
School G
Summer 2020 Research
- Racial Slurs: 8
- Teacher/Staff/Admin comment, action: 38
- Student comment, action: 22
- In the classroom: 7
- Alumni/outsiders/parents: 4
- Climate (acts, parties, behaviors, environment, privilege, curriculum, expectations, etc): 36
- Miscellaneous: white comfort & protection > black & brown livelihood, “affirmative action”, outspokenness about prejudice is not taken seriously, lack of diverse staff, several instances of people using “blaccents”, lots of tokenism
July 2021 Updates (Since July 22, 2020)
- Racial Slurs: 10
- Teacher/Staff/Admin comment, action: 45
- Student comment, action: 30
- In the classroom: 8
- Alumni/outsiders/parents: 5
- Climate (acts, parties, behaviors, environment, privilege, curriculum, expectations, etc): 40
School H
Summer 2020 Research
- Racial Slurs: 3
- Teacher/Staff/Admin comment, action: 1
- Student comment, action: 1
- In the classroom: 4
- Alumni/outsiders/parents: 0
- Climate (acts, parties, behaviors, environment, privilege, curriculum, expectations, etc): 1
- Miscellaneous: attempts to fit in/assimilate
July 2021 Updates - Unavailable
School I
Summer 2020 Research
- Racial Slurs: 20
- Teacher/Staff/Admin comment, action: 87
- Student comment, action: 71
- In the classroom: 16
- Alumni/outsiders/parents: 7
- Climate (acts, parties, behaviors, environment, privilege, curriculum, expectations, etc): 89
- Miscellaneous: complaints over affirmative action for black students’ acceptances into school, the benefit of black teachers, lack of black teachers & general diversity, misogynoir & fetishization of black boys, slavery is not taken seriously, black students made to argue in favor of slavery; if it hadn’t been for metro buses going into PG county, the diversity quotas would not have been met; no disciplinary action for offenders, A LOT of colorism & anti-blackness, poor college counseling & mental health support
July 2021 Updates (Since July 22, 2020)
- Racial Slurs: 10
- Teacher/Staff/Admin comment, action: 102
- Student comment, action: 83
- In the classroom: 19
- Alumni/outsiders/parents: 11
- Climate (acts, parties, behaviors, environment, privilege, curriculum, expectations, etc): 121
School J
Summer 2020 Research
- Racial Slurs: 1
- Teacher/Staff/Admin comment, action: 4
- Student comment, action: 1
- In the classroom: 0
- Alumni/outsiders/parents: 0
- Climate (acts, parties, behaviors, environment, privilege, curriculum, expectations, etc): 1
- Miscellaneous: 0
July 2021 Updates - None
School K
Summer 2020 Research
- Racial Slurs: 7
- Teacher/Staff/Admin comment, action: 20
- Student comment, action: 21
- In the classroom: 6
- Alumni/outsiders/parents: 0
- Climate (acts, parties, behaviors, environment, privilege, curriculum, expectations, etc): 11
- Miscellaneous: failures of Black liberation elective and a few faculty and staff
July 2021 Updates - None
School L
Summer 2020 Research
- Racial Slurs: 7
- Teacher/Staff/Admin comment, action: 17
- Student comment, action: 26
- In the classroom: 5
- Alumni/outsiders/parents: 0
- Climate (acts, parties, behaviors, environment, privilege, curriculum, expectations, etc): 23
- Miscellaneous: treated & greeted differently (w/ gang signs, slang, &blaccents), false accusations of racism so black kids would fight, lack of protection for Black students
July 2021 Updates - None
School M
Summer 2020 Research
- Racial Slurs: 20
- Teacher/Staff/Admin comment, action: 71
- Student comment, action: 95
- In the classroom: 16
- Alumni/outsiders/parents: 19
- Climate (acts, parties, behaviors, environment, privilege, curriculum, expectations, etc): 81
- Miscellaneous: xenophobia (especially against Latinx people), performative/fake activism, no disagreement w/ administration, MANY complaints from teachers themselves, assimilation
July 2021 Updates - None
School Q
Summer 2020 Research
- Racial Slurs: 11
- Teacher/Staff/Admin comment, action: 16
- Student comment, action: 33
- In the classroom: 5
- Alumni/outsiders/parents: 0
- Climate (acts, parties, behaviors, environment, privilege, curriculum, expectations, etc): 29
- Miscellaneous: misogynoir, the fetishization of Black boys, no protection from Black boys to Black girls, easier for girls with light skin and looser curls, angry Black woman trope
July 2021 Updates (Since July 30, 2020)
- Student comment, action: 35
School R
Summer 2020 Research
- Racial Slurs: 7
- Teacher/Staff/Admin comment, action: 20
- Student comment, action: 18
- In the classroom: 1
- Alumni/outsiders/parents: 3
- Climate (acts, parties, behaviors, environment, privilege, curriculum, expectations, etc): 16
- Miscellaneous: misogynoir
July 2021 Updates (Since July 22, 2020)
- Racial Slurs: 9
- Teacher/Staff/Admin comment, action: 27
- Student comment, action: 28
- In the classroom: 8
- Alumni/outsiders/parents: 3
- Climate (acts, parties, behaviors, environment, privilege, curriculum, expectations, etc): 25
- Miscellaneous: Black staff harassed by white students
The Tanaka Scholars
Dr. Kenji Tanaka was an industrialist, philanthropist, and internationalist who created the Tanaka Memorial Foundation. In recognition of the multi decades support of The Tanaka Memorial Foundation, BSF established the Tanaka Scholars. The 2022-2023 Tanaka Scholars are: Ethan Brown, Myles Brown, Ethan Carmichael, Jermaine Drakes, Ronnie Dew, Dawit Gselassie, Kennedy Solaru, Amy Tesfaye, Noelle Tesfaye and Shiloh Wallace. As Tanaka Scholars they participated in select STEM academic and enrichment programs.
Books
Navigating School Selection 101: A Guide for African American Parents
Dr. Frederick provides practical tips and strategies for navigating the journey of finding a great school for you and your child from a cultural perspective. The book features tools, including worksheets and question lists. It's a one-of-a-kind source.
Black Ice
Black Ice is a memoir by American author Lorene Cary. First published in 1991, it relates the African-American author's experiences at the elite St. Paul's boarding school in New Hampshire.
Visible Now: Blacks in Private Schools
The authors of this book present a systematic treatment of the subject, looking at all aspects of the educational experiences of the Black children in private and parochial schools. The editors' introduction provides an overview of the educational situation of Black children, focusing on the interface between the children, their families, and academic achievement in their schools. The organization of the volume reflects the diversity of private school types attended by Black children.
Growing Up African American in Catholic Schools
This edited volume explores the experiences of African Americans in Catholic schools through historical and sociological analysis as well as personal memoirs and reflections of former students. It challenges the prevailing theory that African Americans are marginalized people existing in constant opposition to dominant cultural beliefs and practices. To the contrary, this book clearly shows that despite racism and instances of cultural incongruity, African Americans who grew up attending Catholic schools have demonstrated remarkable resilience and success.
Race at Predominantly White Independent Schools
In Race at Predominantly White Independent Schools, Bonnie E. French investigates the management of "diversity" at predominantly White, independent schools in the northeastern United States. By conducting in-depth interviews with diversity policy developers and implementers within the independent school community, French explores current efforts toward racial equity and the relationship between racial equity and diversity.
Videos
Advice for People of Color in Independent Schools
Advice for Students of Color in Independent Schools
Supporting Students of Color in Independent Schools
Navigating Private School Culture As A Parent
What's it Like to Be a Person of Color at an Independent School
Thriving as a Person of Color in Independent Schools
Articles
Tools
“Private school” is maybe a more familiar term than “independent school”, which is the term most now seem to prefer. An independent school is a nonprofit institution governed by a board of trustees that depends on private funds -tuition, gifts, grants- for its financial support. All must meet state and local health and safety standards including mandatory school attendance laws. Since each school is free to determine and practice its own educational philosophy.
Many parents with students at independent schools will speak of the opportunities and challenges at their child’s school. Many independent school parents speak also of their schools in terms of their “values”, “purpose”, “traditions” and “culture’- as well as lauding their strong teaching academic rigor, individual attention to students, supportive atmosphere, and sense of community.
Neither statement is true. Together, they represent a misperception based on stereotypes. In truth, independent schools are often more diverse than other schools. Independent schools enroll students from varied economic, cultural, ethnic, religious, and social backgrounds.
Like every child, each school is unique. Parents should not seek the “best school,” rather the “best school for our child.” The search requires keen insight and honest assessment regarding a child’s strengths, needs, and preferences. All parents want their child to live and learn in an environment of high expectation and effectiveness. The school that meets this measure can be different from child to child. Give your child the gift of searching for this “best” place together.
Like every child, each school is unique. Parents should not seek the “best school,” rather the “best school for our child.” The search requires keen insight and honest assessment regarding a child’s strengths, needs, and preferences. All parents want their child to live and learn in an environment of high expectation and effectiveness. The school that meets this measure can be different from child to child. Give your child the gift of searching for this “best” place together.
First, parents must define the child’s needs as distinct from their own. It is paramount to keep the child’s needs in mind throughout the process.
Next, examine each school’s mission. Be sure you understand the mission statement, and ask for specifics as to how that mission is implemented.
Look beyond the school’s reputation when making this important decision. Ask about specific programs and where students go after they graduate or leave the school. What scores did students earn on the SAT or other Standardized tests? Schools should publish this summary data.
The child should have the opportunity to visit the school before any final decision is made. Depending on the size of candidate pools, many schools encourage a potential student to come to visit for a day. If your child is accepted, it is reasonable to request a visit, especially if you have doubts.
First, parents must define the child’s needs as distinct from their own. It is paramount to keep the child’s needs in mind throughout the process.
Next, examine each school’s mission. Be sure you understand the mission statement, and ask for specifics as to how that mission is implemented.
Look beyond the school’s reputation when making this important decision. Ask about specific programs and where students go after they graduate or leave the school. What scores did students earn on the SAT or other standardized tests? Schools should publish this summary data.
The child should have the opportunity to visit the school before any final decision is made. Depending on the size of candidate pools, many schools encourage a potential student to come to visit for a day. If your child is accepted, it is reasonable to request a visit, especially if you have doubts.
The most common missteps concern parents’ reasons for selecting or getting their hearts set on certain schools based on name recognition, being with friends, or on cost alone. A school search is successful when it discovers the school that is right for the child. Many parents do not visit schools that might be perfect for their child because they are initially intimidated about inquiring about potential tuition assistance and creative financing plans that may be available. You never know until you ask!
Visiting schools, reviewing the schools website, speaking with parents at the school are all best practices for prospective parents.
The Exceptional Schools Group showcases the many wonderful school choices available to families of children with diverse learning needs in Maryland, DC, Virginia and beyond. www.exceptionalschoolfair.comBSF has produced a spread sheet of special learning resources available in the AccessBSF library.
Just about all independent school faculty members hold undergraduate degrees in the subject area they teach, and many hold advanced degrees. Many have also worked professionally in their subject area. Additionally, independent schools place a high value on supporting teachers with ongoing professional development and other opportunities for growth.
Accreditation is an independent review process. An independent school’s accreditation serves as the primary external seal of approval that a school is meeting its stated objectives. There are many accrediting agencies serving the private school community. Some are national, others are regional, and others statewide organizations. BSF member schools are accredited by AIMS.
Location can very important for many families. Many students attending independent schools community commute more than 45 mins each way to and from school. The minority of independent schools offer transportation. This makes location a major factor in many parents decision-making process. Access BSF offers a geographic breakdown of BSF Member Schools here.
First and foremost, independent schools want to know that their school the school that can best serve your child’s needs and talents?” “Will your child be a highly contributing member of this community?”
Past academic performance, actual grades showing how the child has done in school, is the most important factor. This factor is probably more important than testing. Implicit in a child’s past performance are his or her academic characteristics, whether or not the student applies himself or herself, and the child’s work habits. Further, schools may consider recommendations from past teachers as they consider academics.
Standardize testing is considered in multiple ways. Testing allows a school to compare a student against other students and utilize a minimum set of benchmarks to determine success in their school.
Many schools will also require some form of interview or observation. Preschool and kindergarten applicants are often evaluated in small groups. Older students usually have individual interviews. The interview allows admissions committees to garner important insight into a child’s interests and personal qualities. Interviews often involve family members other than the student candidate.
On the issue of giving siblings and legacies preferential consideration, these factors are often considered after all other admission information has been evaluated. Faith based schools may look at family church affiliation positively. Many schools will also consider past community service of student or special talents (athletics, arts, etc.).
Many admissions offices are available to discuss the decision-making process and to show you how your child compared to the rest of the candidate pool. During this discussion, if your child has been offered a place on a wait-list, ask for an assessment of chances for later admission, including enrollment for the following year. If an admissions director does not feel the school is a good fit for your child, he or she may make alternative recommendations.