We celebrate the many gains made by ACPS students last year, and we take full responsibility for the work that remains. Our community and students deserve candor and a complete picture when it comes to looking at school and division performance.
ACPS is a remarkable blend of students from all across this world. Alexandria is a great city in which to live, and should have one of the finest schools divisions anywhere in the country. (more…)
At the May 20 School Board meeting, four former School Board chairmen (Ferdinand Day, Mark Eaton, Melvin Miller and Connie Ring) spoke eloquently about how the future of Alexandria’s children depends not just on the schools, but on the support they receive through the City and in the community. These leaders represent a larger group of former School Board chairs who are developing a campaign to encourage civic action on behalf of our City’s youth. It was so humbling to hear these men, who have already given so much to our schools and to this City, asking the community to pull together and transform the way we prepare our children to be happy, healthy and engaged citizens. It does, in fact, take a village. (more…)
I’d like to keep our discussion about T.C. Williams going for another week. We’ve posted a lot of information online, including a video that Principal Bill Clendaniel and I made for the students and links to student articles in Theogony. It’s so interesting, as we’re talking and writing about the students, to read their perspectives, and I’m looking forward to continued conversations with them about this issue. I also had the first of several very productive meetings with the T.C. faculty last week (I’ve been spending a lot of time in the school) and with the T.C. PTSA. (more…)
AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA AND ARNE DUNCAN, US SECRETARY OF EDUCATION
Dear Mr. President and Secretary Duncan:
T. C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia, has been designated by the Virginia Department of Education as a “persistently lowest-achieving school.” Alexandria’s only public high school qualified for this label because our 11th grade Virginia Standards of Learning assessment pass rate for reading last year was 84 percent, and our combined pass rate for three math end-of-course tests (Algebra I, Algebra II, and Geometry) was 77 percent. These test results place us in the lowest 5 percent of 128 Virginia secondary schools that are eligible for (but do not receive) Title I funding. (more…)
Across the country, school divisions are wrestling with the challenge of improving student achievement in all subject areas in the middle years. Middle schools have taken center stage in our efforts to improve K-12 public education nation wide. In ACPS, we have created five new smaller middle schools in a move toward a more engaging and personalized learning environment, and we will spend the next three years establishing the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme in each school. All of this forms the broad framework for more effective learning and teaching. (more…)
Through this blog I intend to share my thoughts and observations about education and ACPS. I welcome your comments which can be submitted through the comments link under my articles. Comments for my blog must relate to the current week's topic, but you can send questions or comments about other topics using this online form.
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© 2012 Alexandria City Public Schools, 2000 N. Beauregard St., Alexandria, Virginia 22311
Information: 703.824.6600 | TDD: 703.824.6666 | Dr. Morton Sherman, Superintendent
VISION STATEMENT
Alexandria City Public Schools will set the international standard for educational excellence, where
all students achieve their potential and actively contribute to our local and global communities.
MISSION STATEMENT
Alexandria City Public Schools will provide the environment, resources, and commitment to ensure that
each and every student succeeds — academically, emotionally, physically, and socially.
