This morning, the District of Columbia unveiled a new DC School Report Card, an interactive website for parents and families with common information about all public schools in our city, both DC Public Schools and charter schools. The Report Card site includes profiles for each school with data and information about academics, school environment, teacher information, school programming, and more.
The stated goal of the DC School Report Card is to “provide transparent and accessible information to parents and families in the District, all in one place.” Included on the site is each school’s rating on the new School Transparency and Reporting (STAR) Framework. Each school receives a one- through five-star rating based on various information, from attendance to graduation rates to PARCC score growth.
The report card, STAR Framework, and “user-friendly” website are all requirements under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), signed into law in December, 2015. The work to meet the legal requirements was led by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE), DC’s state education agency, with feedback from parents, educators and community members.
The report card is designed to offer additional ways for parents and community members to engage with schools. You can access the data and information for Washington Latin by visiting https://dcschoolreportcard.org/. There are separate profiles for our middle school, which received a four-star rating and our upper school, which received a five-star rating. There are some mistakes that we observed in reviewing our school profile and we are hoping to address these with OSSE. Still, we are proud of this external recognition of the fine work that we are doing on behalf of our students. Washington Latin is one of six high schools in the city earning a five-star rating and the only five-star school in Ward 4.
The report card does reveal areas for further work for our school. These are areas already receiving attention from our leadership team. We look forward to providing updates on the initiatives we have put in place to make progress. If you have questions, concerns or suggestions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.
At the swim meet against Madeira, tenth grade Fiona Campbell scored first in 100 yard Backstroke, and second in the 100 yard Freestyle. Eighth grader Isabel Servaites also scored a first place finish in the 200 yard freestyle. the 100 yard Butterfly and 100 yard Breastroke. Eighth grader Genet Tewalt scored fourth in the 50 yard Freestyle. The team is coached by Ms. Patti Kolb.
Last week’s On-site Admissions Day involved hosting 13 institutions, visited by 31 Washington Latin seniors and 13 E.L. Haynes seniors. Students earned 109 acceptances from the various schools, including two full ride offers from Virginia State University and three special admissions to Morgan State University. On-site Admissions Day is an exciting chance for students to practice their interviewing skills and achieve immediate gratification and feedback on their efforts. College counselors Ms, Richardson and Ms. Latham worked with students to help them take part in this exciting opportunity.
English 11 Student will be performing scenes from August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean from 5 to 7 in the MPR next Thursday December 13. The students are reading the play this year in English and will be seeing it at Roundhouse Theatre this week. The play deals with oppression, redemption, and the African American experience, along with coming to grips with the past, as do several other works by August Wilson.
This weekend the varsity policy debaters traveled to Mamaroneck, New York for the Fall Faceoff at Mamaroneck HS. Students debated the immigration topic for five rounds over a period of two days in a national tournament. Eighth graders Brandon Souverain and Maxwell Burton, and D’Andre Person and Jackson Lewis each won one out of their five rounds. They were the only middle schoolers at the tournament, competing against students who were several years older.
