The school is based on a concept in urban education that encourages students to "use the city as a classroom," which is the origin of its name.

[10] Despite resistance from parents and students, SWW merged with the nearby Francis-Stevens Education Campus, renamed School Without Walls at Francis Stevens, in 2014.

[11] Francis-Stevens, which serves preschool through eighth grade, was under-enrolled and slated for closure, while the School Without Walls building was too small for the student body.

In 2019, DCPS rolled out a pilot program to allow students ranked in the top 15 at their schools to take the SWW admissions test even if they had not met the minimum criteria of meeting or exceeding expectations on the PARCC.

The objective was to determine if relaxing standardized testing requirements would diversify the SWW student body.

However, as DCPS did not inform prospective parents of the program, the 226 students affected were not ultimately permitted to take the admissions test.

[16] Walls competes in the DCIAA and offers the following sports: baseball, basketball, bowling, cheerleading, cross-country, flag football, golf, indoor track, lacrosse, outdoor track, soccer, squash, swimming, softball, tennis, ultimate frisbee, and weightlifting.

There was extensive water damage throughout the school, the brick facade needed to be repainted, and the slate roof was steadily losing its shingles.

[21] Art students have won numerous awards for their artwork—including 2011's National Cherry Blossom Festival Youth Poster Contest.

[22] In its public high school rankings for 2024, U.S. News & World Report placed Walls first in the District of Columbia and 68th in the United States.

[23] Walls has had the highest average SAT scores among DCPS high schools since the district began publishing data in 2013.

[26] The school had issues with low enrollment for decades, creating the first extended-day program in the District of Columbia in 1977 in an effort to appeal to parents who worked in the neighborhood.