Dorothy I Height Community Academy Public Charter Schools

Helen and Addison Rand Campus

Campus Profile

Helen and Addison Rand Campus

Community Academy Public Charter School: Helen and Addison Rand campus is an early childhood and elementary campus located in Northeast Washington DC. The campus serves children in preschool through fifth grade. Currently, enrollment is 316 preschool through 5th grade students. Rand uses aspects of the Core Knowledge curriculum, participates in the Responsive Classroom program and provides extensions for learning through an extended day schedule. The Rand campus has adopted Core Knowledge as part of its continuing academic focus. The Core Knowledge curriculum offers a sequence of specific content from early childhood through fifth grade. Because the specific content spirals year over year teachers are able to plan across grade levels and to anticipate what will be taught at the grade levels that precedes and follows their own. During the 2010-2011 school year, Rand teachers continue to focus on using the Core Knowledge texts in conjunction with the Balanced Literacy program. Teachers use Everyday Math to provide a “spiral curriculum,” in which students learn skills and understanding of math concepts. In addition, teachers focus on bringing more Social Studies and Science topics into their classroom instruction. Students demonstrate what they have learned by participating in project-based assessments, particularly in Social Studies. Since teachers believe that the social curriculum is as important as the academic curriculum, the Rand campus uses the Responsive Classroom model of teaching and learning. Teachers work with students to understand how to respect themselves and others. Teachers and students participate in the morning meeting, which lays the foundation for a caring learning community each day. The Responsive Classroom also focuses on the first six weeks of school as a critical time to teach procedures for classroom success. Great things are going on at the Rand campus!

Letter from the Upper School Academy Leader


Thank you for your interest in the Rand Technology campus of Dorothy I. Height Community Academy Public Charter Schools. We pride ourselves on our innovative approach to “Hybrid Learning”, using a combination of traditional classroom instruction and high tech, online academic enrichment. Our Upper School students have daily access to our Hybrid Learning Lab, allowing them to acquire the knowledge, skills, and habits of mind that will make them competitive and successful in the 21st century.

The CAPCS motto is “Expectations of Excellence” and we work hard to demonstrate excellence in everything we do. Our number one goal is to continue raising student achievement across the board, while providing our students with a supportive environment that promotes respect for one another, enthusiasm for learning and a desire to succeed. 

Parents play an important role in the life of our school.  We encourage their participation and appreciate the many ways in which they contribute to making our campus such a special place and an asset to the neighborhood. 

The Rand Technology Campus is an innovative, unique, and vibrant educational community located two blocks from the Fort Totten Metro Stop (Red Line). Please come by and visit our school any time.  We are very proud of the learning community that we have created and we would love for you to join us!

David D'Ercole

Director of Upper Schools

Upper School Academy Leader Rand Technology

Letter from the Lower School Academy Leader


Hello and thank you for visiting the webpage for the Helen and Addison Rand Campus of the Dorothy I. Height Community Academy Public Charter Schools! As Lower School Academy Leader, it is my privilege to work with a dedicated and professional staff of educators whose top priority is the children they serve.

The faculty and staff at the Rand Campus are committed to educational excellence implemented with rigor, engagement and intervention specific to every student's needs for success. We are committed to empowering our students with skills for making responsible choices, providing an environment in which all students are afforded opportunities to obtain the skills and attitudes that will help them survive as individuals and as responsible members of society. Their first and early experiences at school are critical and lay the foundation for a lifelong love of learning. Our campus offers a supportive and creative atmosphere where our young learners can explore and discover.

We strongly encourage parents to get involved in their child's education and partner with us. It will take all of us together to provide the structure and support that will allow our children to flourish and succeed. They are our future and they must be prepared to navigate their future and ours responsibly.

Our doors are always open, please stop by and visit us any time. CAPCS-Rand Campus

Debra M. Harvey

Lower School Academy Leader

CAPCS-Rand Campus

How To……

First graders in Ms. Liaguri's class at Rand and Ms. Brewster's class at Amos 1 were working on the Common Core Standard Research to Present Knowledge by researching a number of "how-to" books on a subject and then writing their own how-to book with a set of instructions complete with pictures. What could be more fun than sharing the results with classmates at the other campus? Thanks to Skype, they did just that. Several of Ms. Brewster's students read their books aloud during their publishing party while Ms. Liaguri's students watched via Skype. Next it will be Ms. Liaguri's students who will read their books to their friends at Amos 1 during the Rand publishing party. This is a great example of how technology is being integrated into the classrooms to boost shared learning and make connections.

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.

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