The following is a monthly e-newsletter for parents, families and advocates of DC's public school students.
DCSRN Hires Director of Communications
DC School Reform Now is proud to announce that Lacey Pittman joined our team on June 15th, 2011 as the Director of Communications.
Lacey will be in charge of developing and executing the communications strategy for DCSRN. She will work with the Executive Director to develop marketing, communications and media outreach plans that reflect the impact DCSRN seeks to have in the District of Columbia. She will also manage the website, social media tools and all internal and external communications.
Lacey comes to us from Powell Tate | Weber Shandwick, a leading global public relations firm where she led and supported communications efforts on government accounts as well as several non-profit organizations focusing on education reform and college and career readiness. Prior to that, Lacey taught high school English in New Orleans.
Lacey can be reached at lpittman@dcschoolreform.org.
Please join us in welcoming Lacey to the DC School Reform Now team!
Read her biography.
What Have We Been Up To?
DC Scholars Stanton Elementary School
During the spring of 2011, DCSRN worked closely with the parents and families of Stanton scholars to help find high-quality sixth grade options for exiting fifth graders. With the existence of so many sixth grade school options, it is often difficult for parents to find and get seats at high-quality schools. The application process can be challenging, information may be hard to find and deadlines between different programs are not uniform. Because of this, we worked specifically with the parents of fifth grade students at Stanton to help them navigate the process.
During this process, DCSRN took parents on several school tours across DC, allowing parents to see what quality school options were available to their children. DCSRN staff served as on-call application coaches, providing guidance to parents about how best to fill out applications. DCSRN also spent time working with Stanton's school leadership to foster relationships with members of their immediate community.
In April, DCSRN took a group of parents, community members, elected officials and DCPS officials to Philadelphia to visit Scholars Academy's flagship school-the same provider that operates Stanton Elementary. Everyone attending the tour was impressed with the level of student engagement they witnessed and the pride students took in their school.
We expect many great things to continue to happen at Stanton, and we wish great success to the students moving on to sixth grade next year.
Strategic Plan
Much of DCSRN's efforts in the late spring were focused on creating a comprehensive strategic plan, which will guide our work for the next couple of years. Led by our Executive Director, David Pickens, the staff and board of DCSRN collaborated together to produce this plan. The strategic plan was approved by DCSRN's Board of Directors during a Board Meeting on June 8th, 2011.
Hopes and Dreams
At the end of May, DCPS launched their Hopes and Dreams campaign. Because DCPS is entering its fourth year of its five-year strategic plan, they're reaching out to the community to learn more about what your hopes and dreams are for DC's public school system. To learn more or participate, visit their website.
On Monday, June 13th, 2011, DCSRN hosted a Hopes and Dreams session for several leaders in the DC community. This provided community leaders an opportunity to meet with DCPS Central Office staff and discuss candidly their hopes and dreams for the future.
Congratulations to Josephine Baker on Her Retirement from DCPCSB
Josephine Baker, who has been serving as Executive Director of DC Public Charter School Board since 2002, stepped down at the end of May. Currently, Jeremy Williams, the Director of Business Oversight for DCPCSB is serving as Interim Executive Director.
DC School Reform Now congratulates Josephine Baker on all of the work she has done over the years providing parents with options and children with high-quality public education. She is truly a pioneer in the education reform movement.
DCPCSB released the following press release regarding Baker's retirement. They are currently in the selection process to find DCPCSB's next Executive Director.
We look forward to continuing our work with DCPCSB and the new Executive Director.
Confirmation of Chancellor Kaya Henderson
On June 21st, 2011, the DC City Council unanimously confimed Kaya Henderson's appointment to Chancellor of DC Public Schools. Since last fall, Chancellor Henderson has been serving as Interim Chancellor upon the departure of Michelle Rhee.
Chancellor Kaya Henderson has given DCSRN every indication that she will always do what is best for children while serving as the leader of DCPS. We believe she shares our vision that the DC Public School system can and should be the best public school system in the nation and that every child is entitled to a high quality principal, teacher and school.
DC School Reform Now will continue its work with DCPS and all of its stakeholders to ensure that all students are receiving the highest quality education.
Congratulations to Chancellor Henderson! We look forward to working with her.
Learn more about Chancellor Henderson.
Report Released Evaluating IMPACT
Independent Think-Tank, Education Sector, released a report evaluating the effectiveness of DCPS's teacher evaluation system, IMPACT.
The 16 page report was written by Susan Headden, who says, "IMPACT may be an imperfect measuring tool, but, as many experts see it, it may be the best one out there right now."
IMPACT uses student-achievement data as well as observation and evaluation from principals and "master-educators" to evaluate a teacher's effectiveness. School districts across the country are looking toward DC's teacher evaluation system as a model for the creation of their own.
IMPACT has been criticized because of the number of educators that have been fired or received poor ratings on their evaluations. It should be noted however, that IMPACT replaces a previous teacher evaluation system in which 95% of teachers were rated satisfactory or above, yet DC students scored among the worst in the nation on NAEP testing.
Read the full report evaluating IMPACT, here.
Hyde Leadership Public Charter School is now Perry Street Preparatory Public Charter School
Hyde Leadership Public Charter School is now officially Perry Street Preparatory Public Charter School. As of July 1st, PSPPCS ended its relationship with Hyde Schools and received approval by DC Public Charter School Board to amend their charter and new name. Their mascot and school colors will remain the same.
For more information, read their press release.
Learning All Summer Long: How to Stop Summer Learning Loss
Summer is here, but that doesn't mean the learning must stop for your children.
Did you know?
- All young people experience learning losses when they do not engage in educational activities during the summer. Research spanning 100 years shows that students typically score lower on standardized tests at the end of summer vacation than they do on the same tests at the beginning of the summer (White, 1906; Heyns, 1978; Entwisle & Alexander 1992; Cooper, 1996; Downey et al, 2004).
- Most students lose about two months of grade level equivalency in mathematical computation skills over the summer months. Low-income students also lose more than two months in reading achievement, despite the fact that their middle-class peers make slight gains (Cooper, 1996).
- More than half of the achievement gap between lower- and higher-income youth can be explained by unequal access to summer learning opportunities. As a result, low-income youth are less likely to graduate from high school or enter college (Alexander et al, 2007).
-Facts provided by the National Summer Learning Association
The good news is there is much you can do to prevent summer learning loss! Reading is Fundamental (RIF) produced this list of ways to encourage your kids to learn to love reading during the summer.
1. Combine activities with books: Summer leaves lots of time for kids to enjoy fun activities, such as going to the park, seeing a movie, or going to the beach. Why not also encourage them to read a book about the activity? If you're going to a baseball game, suggest that your child read a book about a favorite player beforehand. In the car or over a hot dog, you'll have lots of time to talk about the book and the game.
2. Visit the library: If your child doesn't have a library card, summer is a great time to sign up for one. In addition to a wide selection of books to borrow, many libraries have fun, child-friendly summer reading programs.
3. Lead by example: Read the newspaper at breakfast, pick up a magazine at the doctor's office, and stuff a paperback in your beach bag. If kids see the adults around them reading often, they will understand that literature can be a fun and important part of their summer days.
4. Talk it up: Talking with your kids about what you have read also lets them know that reading is an important part of your life. Tell them why you liked a book, what you learned from it, or how it helped you-soon, they might start doing the same.
5. Help kids find time to read: Summer camp, music lessons, baseball games, and videos are all fun things kids like to do during the summer. However, by the end of the day, children may be too tired to pick up a book. When planning summer activities with children, remember to leave some time in their schedules for reading. Some convenient times may be before bedtime or over breakfast.
6. Relax the rules for summer: During the school year, children have busy schedules and often have required reading for classes. Summer is a time when children can read what, when, and how they please. Don't set daily minute requirements or determine the number of pages they should read. Instead, make sure they pick up books for fun and help find ways for them to choose to read on their own. You may even want to make bedtime a little bit later if you find that your child can't put down a book.
7. Have plenty of reading material around: Storybooks aren't the only thing that kids can read for fun. Be sure to have newspapers, magazines, and informational material on hand that might spark the interest of a young reader.
8. Use books to break the boredom: Without the regular school regimen, adults and kids need more activities to fill the hours. Books that teach kids how to make or do something are a great way to get kids reading and keep them occupied. Don't forget to take your kids' favorite reading series along on long road trips.
9. Read aloud with kids: Take your children to see a local storyteller or be one yourself. The summer months leave extra time for enthusiastic read-alouds with children, no matter what their age. Don't forget to improvise different voices or wear a silly hat to make the story that much more interesting!
Read an article by the National Summer Learning Association about how to make summer reading meaningful for your children.
Visit DCPS's website for more guidance on how to learn all summer long locally, in DC.
Coming Up...
Our website is getting a face-lift! Over the next few months, you may notice changes in our website. As we get closer to completing the re-design of our website, we will keep you posted on when to visit.
In the upcoming months, we will also be working with different education leaders across the city to host forums and discussions about pertinent issues, stay tuned for more information.
Questions, comments or concerns? Email us at info@dcschoolreform.org.
Lastly, follow us on Twitter, for live updates on news and events happening regarding education in DC.
