We need your support!

A parent-led effort to show support for CAPCS is underway. A petition has been created to allow CAPCS parents, teachers, and staff to send a clear message to the Public Charter School Board (PCSB) that we need CAPCS for our children. This campaign gives us an opportunity to voice our views publicly to our community leaders, future CAPCS families, and the DC educational community. The petition will be available to everyone in each campus main office this week. To further make our case, we invite you to also drop off a personal letter telling PCSB what CAPCS has meant to you and/or what it is doing for your child. These letters will be collected from each main office at the end of January and passed along to PCSB. Help us save our school!

If you want further information on how you can help, please contact Charlene West Thomas at 202-322-4213.

We are a family, we are a community, and we are excellence.

Public Hearing Postponed

CAPCS and the DC Public Charter School Board have agreed to postpone the public hearing that was scheduled for Tuesday, January 17, 2012. Please check our website to see if or when a hearing date will be rescheduled.

CAPCS Butler Campus Named Tier 1 School by PCSB

Consistent improvement in academic achievement over time and solid DC CAS test scores propelled the Butler Global into the top tier of DC public charter schools under a new evaluation and rating system developed by the DC Public Charter School Board (PCSB). The Performance Management Framework (PMF) covers grades 3rd – 8th and high school and is used to produce an annual "report card" for each school. Schools are given points in four categories – student progress over time, achievement in reading and math, preparation for future success, and attendance and reenrollment in the school. The cumulative point total determines if a school is Tier 1 (high performing). Tier 2 (mid performing) and Tier 3 (low performing).

CAPCS' Amos 1 school and CAPCS Online are Tier 2 schools. CAPCS Online missed the Tier 1 cut by less than one percent.

The Amos 3 school and the Rand school are in Tier 3. Tier 3 schools undergo a more in-depth onsite review by the PCSB. Those falling below a certain level are given a charter warning and are candidates for charter revocation if they don't improve. The charter of organzations with multiple schools can be endangered if one school hits the Tier 3 trigger point, despite solid performance by the other schools.

The Office of Academic Services has implemented significant changes schoolwide, especially at Rand, designed to make significant academic improvement. We've already seen positive signs and look forward to even more.

Rand Revels in Reading

Rand students and their parents turned out in force for Literacy Night on November 10. Dressed in pajamas for added fun, students participated in a round of reading-related activities including read-alouds, memory and sight word games, and alphabet bingo. There were technology demonstrations and art projects. Early childhood students presented an amazing shaving cream demonstration. All this and pizza too! PTO President and Board of Trustees member Charlene West welcomed everyone and introduced special guests Ebony Stokes and Karen Towels from the DC Public Library who talked about the importance of parents reading with young children and encouraging older children to set aside time every day to read. Children headed home with free books to add to their own libraries.

Designing the Future

Designing the Future CAPCS Amos 3 Upper school students and teachers are excited about the new Project Lead the Way (PLTW) engineering program which is already underway. Students will have the opportunity to create, design and build things like robots and cars, applying what they are learning in math and science to the world's grand challenges. Classes will begin in the 2nd advisory with Design and Modeling being offered to 8th grade students, Flight and Space to 7th graders, and Science of Technology to 6th graders. Students love learning the design process and basics of engineering, while using their creativity to find innovative solutions to everyday problems. Click here to read more about PLTW.