By JOHN HENREHAN/myfoxdc

WASHINGTON – Staff members at D.C.’s Ballou Senior High School are hoping that scholarships from a $600,000 anonymous donation will help encourage more families to stick with the neighborhood school.

In the past, test scores at Ballou have been shockingly low. In 2007, only 6 percent of Ballou students tested as “proficient” in reading; only 8 percent were proficient in math.

By 2009, the respective numbers were 24 percent and 22 percent — a considerable improvement, but still below national norms.

There are remarkable successes stories at Ballou. 17-year old Royelle Jones has been accepted at Pennsylvania State University. Jones spent Wednesday morning at the promotion ceremony for students at nearby Simon Elementary School. She told the rising 7th graders to work hard and seek help when necessary.

The slim, graduating senior said she has seen a dramatic improvement in student behavior at Ballou in the four years she has been there.

“There’s no more fights,” Jones pointed out. “Everybody’s willing to learn and go to class.”

Jones is the recipient of one of the scholarships. It will save her about $10,000 a year in college costs.

Ruth Jones, the Director of Resource Development at Ballou, also addressed the 7th graders and their parents. Ruth Jones said the donated scholarship money will help fund Ballou graduates’ college aspirations for years to come.

Outside the promotion ceremony, some parents were still skeptical of Ballou’s tough reputation. Asked if her son Marquis will eventually attend Ballou, Lakesha Haskel shook her head.

“We’ll pass … won’t be Ballou,” said Haskel.

The neighborhood resident said she would be enrolling her son in charter schools for the next six years.

But the scholarship money available at Ballou got Wendy Richardson thinking about it.

“There’s a possibility,” said Richardson, that her son might attend Ballou. “There’s definitely a possibility.”

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