05-30-2022

COLLEGE SIGNING DAY 2022!

WEEK OF MAY 30, 2022

MONDAY, MAY 30, 2022

Memorial Day

No school for teachers, students, and staff

TUESDAY, MAY 31, 2022

DCPS Arts Festival

ALT Team Meeting 3:45

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1, 2022

Progress reports are due

Planning Period Focus Groups on XQ

THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2022

FRIDAY, JUNE 3, 2022

PARCC Window closes

UPCOMING EVENTS

June Faculty Meeting – June 9

Principal: Maria Tukeva

MAY 30, 2022: THIS WEEK'S FOCUS: THE IMPORTANCE OF CHALLENGE IN THE PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE

This week’s focus is on the phrase from the Mission,

“All Columbia Heights Education Campus graduates will be prepared to succeed in college, careers and civic life as leaders in the quest for social justice and anti-racism.”

Last week, we received the news that once again, our focus on preparing all students for college and career, has led to another year of being selected as one of the top high schools in the country in terms of the level of challenge and preparation our curriculum and program of student provides to students. Jay Matthews, a Washington Post education columnist, created the Challenge Index in 1998.

The Challenge Index is the oldest high school ranking system in the country, beginning in 1998 in both Newsweek and The Washington Post.

By Jay Matthews

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It is the only list that does not rely on test scores, which are more a measure of student family income than school quality. It is also the only list that compares private and public schools. It ranks high schools by a simple ratio: the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or Cambridge tests given at a school each year, divided by the number of seniors who graduated that year. Schools ranked no. 220 or above are in the top 1 percent of America’s 22,000 high schools, no. 440 or above are in the top 2 percent and so on.

Participation in college-level AP, IB and Cambridge tests is a unique measure of the depth of learning. Teachers cannot dumb down the exams because they are written and graded by independent experts. Success on the exams has been linked with success in college. The list is designed to recognize schools that challenge average students, so magnet or charter schools that have few or no average students are placed on a separate Public Elites list on this website. The E&E% column shows the percentage of all seniors who passed at least one AP, IB or Cambridge test SOME TIME IN HIGH SCHOOL. The Lunch% column gives the percentage of all students whose family incomes are low enough to qualify for lunch subsidies.

Only 14 schools in Washington DC were named to the list, and CHEC was again one of them. We ranked 665 out of 2,542 schools that made the list, which makes us in the top 3% of the 22,000 schools in the United States in terms of the challenge of our curriculum, specifically as relates to Advanced Placement exams.

Of the 14 schools named in Washington DC, only 5 were public, CHEC, Banneker, School without Walls, Wilson, and Ellington. CHEC was 3rd of those five. More significantly, only two of those schools had 100% of their students qualifying for Free and Reduced Lunch – CHEC and Banneker. Only a small number of the top 2,542 schools that made the list had this high a level of students on Free and Reduced Lunch. This is an indication of our commitment to equity. To see the full list and compare the numbers, please read the article. . Read More>>

Thank you to all members of the team, for your commitment to excellence and equity for all students.

JUNE FACULTY MEETING UPDATE

June’s Faculty meeting has been rescheduled until June 9, to allow time for the ALT Team to complete the CSP Evaluation, and the XQ Team to complete writing the proposal. Both of these products will be shared at the Faculty Meeting on the 9^th.

SCHOOL YEAR 2022-23

Even as we draw to the end of SY 21-22 we are preparing for the new school year. If you would like to serve on our Interviewing committee, to interview new staff members for next year, please contact Pankaj Rayamajhi. We need your involvement! Also, if you are willing to serve on our ReEnrollment team, and help parents re enroll their children, please also see or email Pankaj Rayamajhi, or Billy Oliva. Thank you in advance in being part of our development for next year.

XQ UPDATE

The results of the staff survey and the Parent Town Hall will be shared this week, as well as a calendar of the follow up activities and opportunities for input.

Wednesday – June 1 Planning Period Focus Groups – Please attend a focus group, see the draft of the proposal, provide ideas and feedback!

Friday – June 3 – Proposal Due

Thursday – June 9 – Faculty Meeting Focus on CSP and XQ

INSIGHT SURVEY TIME

It is once again time to participate in the Insight Survey. The deadline was extended for one week, , and we are only at 39%. This survey provides us with important feedback on leadership, learning environment, diversity, professional development, observation and feedback, and instruction. Please share your feedback and views. The survey will be sent directly to your email with your own unique identifier. Please participate, we do review and analyze the results in order to determine how to continually improve our practices.

CLIMATE AND NORMS

Thank you to all for your collaboration and engagement as we make sure we are communicating clearly to all students what our norms are, and why they are important to our whole school community. This week’s Focus will be on delivering the lessons on Empathy and Respect, which were designed by MSB and MCA. The lessons will be provided to you by your SLC administrator, with an indication of which period they will be delivered. We surveyed the staff to determine the preferred period. Please be sure to deliver the lesson, and if you need assistance, please let a member of the Admin Team know.

We are continuing to see too many students in the hallways during class time, and the implications of this are first, that students are not receiving the full instruction that they should, and second, that there are students unsupervised in a large building, which has an impact on safety. In order to remedy this situation, we must all be consistent and clear with the norms.

All students at all times must have a pass with a valid reason, a written time and destination, in order to leave the class during the class period. Valid reasons include – going to the restroom, for water, or to the nurse. In order to see Mr. Tobias re: tech, a counselor or therapist, the student must have a written appointment pass. Reasons that are NOT valid, and a pass should not be provided – going to see a friend, going to check on their attendance, going to see Mr. Tobias without an appointment, going to see another teacher.

"Breaks” should be taken inside the classroom, not outside. There should not be any breaks that include walking around the building. We do not have staffing or capacity to supervise the entire building at all times, and when there is a gap in supervision, things occur. Please brainstorm with your SLC, what in class breaks could look like.

Teaching should happen bell to bell. Many students state they have “finished their work” and this is why they are getting passes to walk around the building. In a workshop model, students are revising their work to bring it to standard, and completing their GRASPS. There should be options for extension work if the GRASPS has been completed. Please discuss with your colleagues how to maximize classroom time, and find out how teachers provide extensions for students to work on projects or ideas they are passionate about. You could also engage a student in assisting you in the class.

Please do not allow students who are not in their classes, to come in to their classrooms. This is contributing to class cutting. Please redirect the student back to his/her class, and reach out to the teacher who the student is avoiding, or to the Assistant Principal to assist in resolving the issue.

Students are not seeing substitutes as a viable option for instruction. Please be sure you are leaving authentic work aligned to the GRASPS for students to complete, and clear instructions for the substitute. Please also have student leaders in each period to support subs, and provide ideas and options to your students for what they should work on in the absence of the teacher. Please provide expectations to students for how they should engage in instruction with a sub, and ask the sub for feedback on how students engaged.

An important part of reinforcing the norms, are incentives. One incentive that the SGA has advocated for, is an opportunity to go off campus for lunch (chaperoned by staff). Each week, we will select one class, nominated by a teacher, to go off campus for lunch. We didn’t have any nominations last week, so please nominate a class today!

The process is the following:

1.Please nominate a class that you have, that has for the most part (90% of the class 90% of the time) demonstrated the first two norms – Owning their Learning, and Digital Citizenship.

2.All nominated classes will be put into a random selection process, (Plicker wheel) and only one be selected to go off campus for lunch. Each student in the class will be provided with $6.00 to support the purchase of their lunch (they can use their own money as well).

3.If there are any students in the nominated class with less than 85% attendance, or with multiple discipline referrals, they will not be included in the lunch off campus.

4.Please nominate a class by means of filling out this form: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=7kagKk6zM0qSt5md8rwKMlBbjpUnjlNBkU-GwWNM3dNUMlo2TEhBS0dNWlBUN1paSkZDM1BEWlhDNS4u

5.There will be more incentives coming – please participate in our incentive survey coming up this week!

SHOUT OUTS

Shout out to our Music Department for their performance at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall and upcoming Arts Festival!
Kudos to our Arts department for the amazing exhibit last week!
Shout out to Ms. Savage and the College and Career Team for an inspiring Decision Day!
Kudos to Mr. Icso and Mr. Rosenberg and the Drama Club for their first Performance on Friday!
Shout out to Major Wright for a great NJROTC Awards Assembly!
Kudos to the 10th Grade Team for a great Awards Assembly!
Shout out to the XQ Team for continuing work on the proposal!
Shout out to the PGT Team for creating the Teen Mental Health Ambassador program!
Kudos to the Dean Team for pride, poise, perseverance and follow up! Shout out for their focus on Incentives!
Shout out to Operations for continuing COVID follow up and keeping the building clean!
Shout out to Ms. Thweatt and Mr. Magee for coordinating Senior Portfolios in Math and Science!

WE HAVE A RECOGNITION! HONORED TEACHERS PARTNERSHIP CONTINUES THIS YEAR!

Columbia Heights Education Campus’s great teachers deserve to be recognized! We’re proud to partner with Honored Schools again this year to do just that! Go to HonoredSchools.org to tell Columbia Heights Education Campus teachers how they’ve made a difference. Please share this with parents and students! Once recognized, teachers get an email with your recognition story and we’ll celebrate them! Please see below our Honored Teachers from last week, and go to the website to read the wonderful things their students say about them!

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Please contact Mya Ferguson or M. Tukeva if you would like to offer Office Hours, or if there is a topic you would like to see offered in Office Hours.

INSTRUCTION

MS. BUCKMON'S COSMETOLOGY CLASS

Week 7 of Advisory 4

We are now entering the 7th week of the fourth advisory. Now that we have completed our standardized assessments, classes should be focused on the instruction of the GRASPS, using the workshop model. Students in all classes should be prepared to present their portfolios starting on June 17th, and continuing the week of June 20. All teachers should also be collecting their TAS data, as TAS results are due on June 16th

Instructional Calendar

The Instructional Calendar is a living document that houses all the major curricular requirements, assessments, and schoolwide events. The Instructional Calendar is complete for the moment, however changes may be made and will be noted. If you have any requests for additions to the Instructional Calendar, please contact Mr. Magee, peter.magee@k12.dc.gov, or your SLC Administrator.

CHEC Academic Calendar 2021-2022.docx

OPPORTUNITIES

CHEC'S MENTAL HEALTH AMBASSADORS

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CHEC YOUNG WOMEN'S PROJECT LAUNCHES STUDENT SUPPORT CENTER

In Celebration of Mental Health Awareness Month - We are sending out an S.O.S! Click here to view the CHEC Student Online Support center. Created for youth by youth – S.O.S is a virtual wellness center designed by students to help them connect to counselors and clinicians if they need support – and – learn more about the impact of stress and trauma and what they can do about it. Students can also learn about resilience building, brain science, emotional health, physical health, and more. I was one of the CHEC students who developed this site through my role as a youth advocate with the Young Women’s Project.

YWP youth advocates will be sharing the S.O.S. centers via their Linktrees, social media posts, email, text message, and in classroom presentations. We have created S.O.S centers sites for the following schools: Bard, Banneker, BASIS, CHEC, Coolidge, Duke Ellington, Eastern, McKinley, Ron Brown, Roosevelt, School Without Walls, Thurgood Marshall Academy Wilson, and HD Woodson.

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PD OPPORTUNITY WITH DC AREA WRITING PROJECT @ HOWARD UNIVERSITY

The DC Area Writing Project (DCAWP) at Howard University is excited to announce its Summer Institute, Culturally Sustaining and Anti-Racist Practices to Cultivate Equity in Writing Instruction, from Monday, July 11 through Friday, July 15!

The DCAWP 2022 Summer Institute is a week-long professional development opportunity that will focus on strengthening teachers’ capacity to enact culturally sustaining and anti-racist writing instruction. We will also provide sustained support throughout Fall 2022 with monthly Saturday sessions.

We invite you to share the attached flyer and application with your staff members that may be interested in applying. Applications will be accepted until June 15, 2022. For additional information, please contact our DCAWP Director, Dr. Altheria Caldera, at altheria.caldera@howard.edu

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PD OPPORTUNITY WITH DC AREA WRITING PROJECT @ HOWARD UNIVERSITY

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PROJECTS FUNDED

MS. ALVARADO’S FUNDED CLASSROOM PROJECT IS “AFTER SCHOOL AND FUEL SWEETS REWARDS!”

My Project

My students stay afterschool every Monday through Thursday from 3:30-4:30 to receive additional English and Math Support. Not only do they stay afterschool every day, but they also start their day an hour earlier than the rest of the school with an additional English support class during zero period. Their day is so long that by the time they get to their afterschool program they are HUNGRY! These snacks will help students stay fueled for their very long learning days Monday- Thursday. In addition, we have selected a few sweet rewards to give for fun activities and competitions like Kahoot! Our students work so hard all day long, and they deserve to be treated and rewarded.

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NEW PROJECTS CREATED

MS. MICHAEL’S NEW CLASSROOM PROJECT IS: “BACK TO THE ESSENTIALS”

My Project

My students enjoy the technology in the classroom, but I also love having materials that make learning more kinesthetic and interactive. I've requested tangible materials like red pens and highlighters that can help my students dig into the text. These materials will help me close out the year with my 8th graders, and they will also help my students next year. Thank you for helping me refill my supplies after a long, challenging school year. It's always great knowing that the supplies will be there when we return in the fall.

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LINCOLN LIBRARY NEWS!

CHEC Lincoln Library Canvas Page

Check your email (called Lincoln Library Canvas Buttons; sent 1/13) for Canvas buttons and links to add to your class Canvas pages. As you update your Canvas pages, include access to the library for independent reading, research resources, and technology support. As a reminder, our digital library collections are accessible through Clever under the Library Resources section. Need help? Email angela.falkenberg@k12.dc.gov to schedule assistance.

Schedule Library Visits and Collaborations

Email angela.falkenberg@k12.dc.gov or call extension 4018 to schedule Library Visits and/or lesson collaborations. These collaborations include co-teaching, resource curations, reading promotions, GRASP assistance, etc.

Angela Falkenberg

Columbia Heights EC - Lincoln MS

School Librarian, M.Ed

THE DEAN TEAM

CHRISTIAN REYES

KANEIL WILLIAMS

DEWAYNE BOONE

DANIEL BELLIDO

Greetings CHEC Family!

As DCPS looks to wrap up SY2021-22 there are amazing events that students and staff can take part in:

Quote of the Week

CHEC HAPPENINGS

Teachers Needed for Summer Session:

Over the summer the CHEC site will provide Credit Recovery for high school level students and ELSAP for both middle and high school. Learn more about offerings and how to apply here. Please reach out to kaneil.williams@k12.dc.gov if you are considering joining us for the Summer Session.

INCENTIVE CALENDAR

Incentive Norm Amount required Dates to qualify for incentive

6/10 (Student vs Faculty) Dependable $300 5.30-6.9

6/24 (Field Day/Rita's/Chik Fila All norms $1000 6.13-6.23

KICKBOARD NORMS

15 interactions per class and 45 interactions per day
DO NOT deduct student dollars
Do not attempt to inflate the day of the incentive
Use the first 15 and last 15 of class to give dollars
Create in-class incentives (Do not deduct dollars)

STAFF RESOURCES

Check out this month’s DCPS Equity and Antiracism Newsletter

We the Girls Conference

June 3, 2022 @HowardU - Open to all DCPS Students