- From eighth grade to where? More D.C. schools help students map out transitions [Two Rivers PCS, DC Prep PCS, Howard University Middle School of Mathematics and Science PCS and KIPP DC PCS mentioned]
- D.C. gets one-year extension on its waiver from key rules of No Child Left Behind law
- D.C. mayoral candidate Carol Schwartz lays claim to ‘education mayor’ in policy paper [Harmony School of Excellence DC PCS mentioned]
- Allison toma el timón de la “Carlos Rosario” [Carlos Rosario International PCS mentioned]
- Exclusive interview with Allison Kokkoros, CEO Carlos Rosario International PCS [Carlos Rosario International PCS mentioned]
From eighth grade to where? More D.C. schools help students map out transitions [Two Rivers PCS, DC Prep PCS, Howard University Middle School of Mathematics and Science PCS and KIPP DC PCS mentioned]
The Washington Post
By Michael Alison Chandler
September 5, 2014
Most public school students across the country know where they probably will go to high school the day they enter kindergarten. But in the District, where charter schools are proliferating and just 25 percent of students go to neighborhood schools, many eighth-graders have no idea where they will attend classes the following year.
It’s a unique — and significant — challenge for middle schools that have a mission to prepare students for college but stop four years short of shepherding them to the university gates.
Instead of releasing their graduates into the unknown, a growing number of charter schools are bringing the equivalent of college placement counselors into middle schools to help students apply to high schools that will in turn help them get into college. Their focus: preventing students who show promise at a young age from backsliding into academic failure.
Two Rivers Public Charter School, which ends at eighth grade, is one of at least a half-dozen high-performing charter schools that have someone on staff who assembles panels of high school principals, arranges tours of private schools, and organizes workshops about financial aid and the school enrollment lottery.
“In D.C., choosing a high school is a lot like choosing a college for every one else in the country,” said Jessica Wodatch, Two Rivers’ executive director.
Finding the best match in a city full of choices is tough, Wodatch said. Some children might be best suited to a small environment, some are “driven by extracurriculars” and some are looking for “the best path to MIT,” she said. “But helping them articulate that is hard: They’re 13.”
There also is intense competition for admission to the District’s handful of selective public schools. Applications to the city’s selective schools nearly doubled in three years — from 2,196 to 4,103 last year — a jump that is partly due to the introduction of a common application.
The city is trying to help families navigate the disjointed system with the centralized, online lottery. A new boundaries plan also aims to improve the predictability of school feeder patterns and to encourage families to invest in neighborhood schools.
Because a smooth transition to high school can be key to academic success, the process puts a tremendous strain on parents. Some turn to paid consultants, who guide families through private school searches and are beginning to tailor services to the complex system of public schools.
“I know I’m stressed,” said Denise Waters, whose daughter Savannah Hines is an eighth-grader at DC Prep. Waters had her first child when she was in high school but managed to graduate, becoming the only member of her family to earn a high school degree.
The mother and daughter had their first of many consultations with Julie O’Malley Moeller, the school’s director of high school placement, in August. They met in the school’s library and talked through their high school hopes and fears.
After sending her daughter to a small charter school for elementary and middle school, she hopes Savannah can move on to a private high school with a scholarship. Waters said she is “horribly terrified about public schools.” She imagines metal detectors and fights.
Savannah, 13, said she is interested in going to one of the city’s selective public high schools. When she imagines high school, she thinks about “stuff I’m looking forward to — basketball team, after-school activities.”
Last year, the 36 eighth-graders at DC Prep were accepted to 24 schools, including application schools in District, private schools such as Sidwell Friends and St. Albans, and out-of-state boarding schools. Two students enrolled in the highly selective Choate Rosemary Hall boarding school in Connecticut.
To kick-start this year’s application process, DC Prep eighth-graders were back in their uniforms in a basement science lab on a sunny August day before school began.
As part of a week-long high school placement orientation, they studied a bar graph of the city’s composite high school test scores and drew a map of prospective charter schools, traditional public schools and private schools in the District and beyond.
“When you came here we made your families a promise: We are all about college,” Moeller told them. “We are not going to let your next step take you off the path you are on.”
She administered their first test of the year, designed to assess their D.C. high school savvy. True or False:
- You must have at least a 3.0 grade-point average in middle school to apply to School Without Walls, a selective D.C. high school. (True)
- You have to be Catholic to go to a Catholic school. (False)
- Selective public schools, which admit students based on merit, are better than charters, which admit students through a lottery. (“Depends what you’re looking for,” Moeller said.)
“Do some schools make it easier to get a college prep education? Absolutely,” she said. She highlighted schools where students are more likely to perform on grade level, do their homework and gain admission to reputable colleges.
During the week, students also set personal and academic goals for eighth grade, explored their leadership styles and started honing interview skills by analyzing clips of job interviews in movies.
Throughout the fall, DC Prep offers free preparation classes for the SSAT test, which many private schools use for admissions. The school also offers assistance with financial aid forms and a mock interview day, when community volunteers come in to help students practice.
Some other charter schools offer similarly intensive transition planning for high school. Howard University Middle School of Mathematics and Science hosts a high school fair and requires eighth-graders to apply to at least five high-performing high schools.
At KIPP DC, most middle school graduates go on to a KIPP high school, but they go through a series of “Match Matters” lessons that teach them how to research schools and build “smart wish lists,” said Meghan Behnke, a senior high school enrollment manager on the KIPP-through-College team.
Traditional public schools also are doing more to help families.
Counselor Lindsay Wright said when she first began working at Wheatley Education Campus three years ago, most students did not look beyond their neighborhood high school, which has since closed. Now she urges students to apply to at least two traditional public schools and one charter.
“If they make a choice, they are more inclined to want to stay,” Wright said.
She organizes school tours, workshops about the common application, and individual meetings with families. She also keeps her cellphone on and door open for families.
“I want to make sure they are comfortable enough to say, ‘I don’t really understand how it works, but I know my son has this talent,’ or ‘My child has a learning disability. What’s the best school for her?’ ” she said.
At DC Prep, officials said getting students into a rigorous high school is a core part of their mission, but it’s not a guarantee to college.
The school began an alumni support program in January 2010, when its first graduates were juniors in high school. School officials wanted to help them apply to college, but they discovered many students had fallen off track.
Some had transferred to less-rigorous high schools, and others were not enrolled in college-prep classes or were struggling with their grades.
More than 80 percent of that first class eventually matriculated to college, and more than half of those have stayed in college, according to school records. While those rates are higher than the national average, officials wanted to improve.
Now, three full-time counselors work exclusively with alumni, offering tutoring and support to high school students. When the students are ready to apply for college, the counselors organize college tours, offer financial counseling and edit essays.
Waters said it’s a relief to have someone from school helping her plan her daughter’s next four years.
“I’m racking my brain about high school and finding the perfect place where she will do well and excel,” Waters said.
D.C. gets one-year extension on its waiver from key rules of No Child Left Behind law
The Washington Post
By Michael Alison Chandler
September 5, 2014
The Obama administration on Friday approved the District’s request for a one-year extension of its waiver from key parts of the federal education law known as No Child Left Behind.
The extension, which will run through the end of this academic year, includes provisions that expand support for schools that are struggling the most and push back the use of science tests in determining a school’s performance.
The District’s public schools — and most of the schools across the country — are overhauling their testing and accountability systems. Math and reading assessments aligned to the new Common Core academic standards are scheduled to be introduced this school year. And the D.C. school system announced this summer that test scores will not count in teacher or principal evaluations this year, as the new system rolls out.
“America’s schools and classrooms are undergoing some of the largest changes in decades — changes that will help prepare our students with the critical thinking and problem-solving skills that tomorrow’s economy will require,” U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a news release Friday. “This extension will allow the states to continue the critical work of implementing the bold reforms they developed to improve achievement for all students.”
The federal education law, which had been due for reauthorization since 2007 but has faced repeated delays in Congress, requires all students to be proficient in reading and math by 2014.
Waivers, first granted to the District as well as Maryland and Virginia in 2012, have allowed states to set their own goals for improving student and school performance and have given them more flexibility to decide how to use federal education funds.
The District set up a system that places schools in five categories, based on academic performance, a school’s achievement gap and other measures. Those in the lowest tiers — called focus and priority schools — are supposed to receive the most intensive interventions.
A federal review last year found that the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) — the agency that monitors compliance with the federal waiver — was not ensuring that the lowest-performing schools were mapping out and making progress in key areas, including leadership, staffing, curriculum and family engagement.
Amendments to the waiver attempt to strengthen support for and oversight of the city’s underperforming schools, giving OSSE a bigger role in assisting them. The new provisions also create ways for schools to partner with each other to share successful strategies.
Another change delays the use of science tests in classifying schools. Under the original waiver, science tests that students took last spring were supposed to count in school classifications for the first time this year as part of a push to elevate the importance of science instruction.
But some charter school leaders, as well as D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson, said it would be difficult to include the science tests now while the city’s accountability system is adapting to the Common Core curriculum. The State Board of Education approved new science standards in December 2013, and they go into effect this school year, with a new science test planned for next spring.
The science tests now will not count toward a school’s ranking until spring 2016, under the terms of the waiver. This year, science scores were reported to the public but were not used to classify schools.
The proposal to delay use of the science tests prompted debate among members of the state board, but they ultimately approved the idea and included it in the city’s extension request, which went to the U.S. Education Department this week.
Laura Slover was the only board member to cast the a dissenting vote Wednesday. She said she was uncomfortable relenting on the city’s efforts to graduate students who are better prepared to go on to college or compete for jobs.
“We have cultivated, finally, a need for and a commitment to science, and I don’t want to see it die,” Slover (Ward 3) said at the meeting. “I am very uncomfortable at this point lowering our expectations for kids, for teachers and for schools.”
The U.S. Education Department is reviewing requests for waiver extensions on a rolling basis. The department has granted extensions to 23 states since July 3. Along with the District, Tennessee was granted an extension Friday.
D.C. mayoral candidate Carol Schwartz lays claim to ‘education mayor’ in policy paper [Harmony School of Excellence DC PCS mentioned]
The Washington Post
By Aaron C. Davis
September 5, 2014
Independent mayoral candidate Carol Schwartz proposed a wide-ranging list of school reforms Friday, including low-
interest loans and tax breaks to retain veteran teachers, a tougher solution to counter truancy and a more holistic approach to evaluating students than standardized test scores.
Schwartz, a former Republican D.C. Council member who is seeking a political comeback in November’s mayoral race, jumped into one of the city’s most vexing issues, education, with a 15 -page white paper.
Schwartz appeared to be trying to set herself apart from her two main rivals, Democratic nominee Muriel Bowser and independent David A. Catania. Schwartz offered a far more detailed road map to education improvements than Bowser, a D.C. Council member representing Ward 4. But her paper appeared geared as much or more at undermining the claim of Catania, an at-large council member, that he is the race’s education candidate.
In a sometimes personal account, including mentioning how the special-education needs of her brother pushed her to get a degree in education, Schwartz took regular digs at Catania’s school policies.
Schwartz also seemed intent on reminding the District’s many newcomers of her time as a District board member and classroom consultant in the 1970s and 1980s, before many of the city’s millennials were born. She’s also the only candidate, she said, who has “walked the walk” as a D.C. school system parent, having sent her children to D.C. public schools. Neither Bowser nor Catania has children.
Schwartz issued a call to arms for retired teachers across the Washington region to tutor D.C. students in need. She also said the District must follow the lead of Montgomery County and New York City in adopting more dynamic plans to counter truancy.
Broadly, Schwartz’s paper seemed to forge a path between Bowser, who has said she would speed the improvement of schools, and Catania, who has said equal weight must be given to improving all schools. Schwartz’s policy paper said this:
“Her first goal, if she is elected, is to ensure that every neighborhood school in every area of the city would be of such high quality that all students and their families would want to attend them. Although we’re not there yet, Carol will speed the arrival of that day.”
In 2007, Schwartz voted against the mayoral takeover of the city’s schools, and in the paper released Friday, she described much of the work done under former schools chancellor Michelle Rhee as a “rocky” time for education in the city.
But Schwartz said she had seen enough improvement under Chancellor Kaya Henderson to persuade her to want to keep Henderson on for “the time she has stated she wants, which is one or so more years, to make improvements and continue on the current upward trajectory.”
Also in her policy paper, Schwartz said she believes that “a Mayor’s role is to partner with the Chancellor in setting policy and goals, and then provide support — not micromanage or do his or her job.” The latter was a dig at Catania, who as chairman of the council’s education committee has sought major overhauls and questioned Henderson on minutiae, drawing some criticism as a micromanager.
Schwartz also called legislation authored by Catania to shift the burden of proof from parents to schools in legal cases about appropriate services for special-needs children a “misguided” effort that would only invite costly lawsuits.
Catania’s plan “may be a good way to get votes during an election year,” Schwartz wrote, “but in truth it only perpetuates the on-going problem of shifting the cost to DC taxpayers to benefit a few.” Catania’s campaign declined to comment on Schwartz’s paper.
One of the first points Schwartz made in her paper was that the District had a misplaced emphasis on getting new teachers into classrooms instead of retaining veteran ones. She said the District relies too much on teachers from Teach for America, who work in troubled schools for a couple of years and then leave.
“We need to develop new veteran teachers whose love for teaching will keep them in the classroom throughout their careers,” Schwartz wrote. “Carol supports helping them get advanced degrees through low-interest loans, no-interest revolving fund loans, or scholarships at moderately priced local universities in exchange for set years of commitment to DCPS.”
Such proposals are more detailed than the eight bullet points and one-page education-policy statement that Bowser has posted on her campaign Web site.
Catania has descriptions of his work and policy goals on the education panel on his campaign Web site.
Schwartz is the first to release a comprehensive paper. “Many of our students have been cheated for too long,” Schwartz said. As mayor, she added, she would “right that wrong.”
Excerpts, by topic:
Standardized testing
“Carol Schwartz is certainly not against standardized testing. When she was elected to the Board of Education 40 years ago, there were no standardized tests. She fought to bring them back.
But Schwartz wants to consider a broader review of students like that initiated in Fairfax County called “Portrait of a Graduate.”
“Although Carol believes that standardized tests are crucial benchmarks for progress, she never thought that they should be the end-all and be-all of instruction and learning. We must not emphasize them so much that they stifle both teachers’ and students’ creativity. And don’t we want our children to be well-rounded?”
Charter schools
“As charter school enrollment approaches 50%, we must . . . think about how charter schools and traditional public schools can better cooperate as part of a shared system. This should take the shape of better planning between the two and more sharing of best practices.
“Coordination is virtually non-existent between charter schools and DCPS. We saw this recently when a science-focused charter school, Harmony School of Excellence-DC, was placed adjacent to a science-focused public school, Langley Elementary. . . .
“Carol would also like to see increased oversight of charter schools. We’ve recently seen several cases of misappropriation of schools funds by charter school managers. We need increased transparency of the finances relating to charter schools . . . to ensure that our public tax dollars are not being wasted and abused.”
Tutoring
“Carol would tap into the enormous resources we have among retired educators in the community and issue a call to service. The call would also go out to [the] region.”
Discipline
“Suspensions are linked to a greater risk of academic failure, truancy, and drop-outs. Instead of suspending students for bad behavior and sending them home, which is unproductive and hardly a punishment, Carol would encourage taking different tactics. Montgomery County Public Schools, for example, have successfully used alternatives to out-of-school punishment such as behavioral contracts, restitution, detention, peer mediation, and community service. And Carol would like to take many — if not all of these ideas — and adapt them to our system.”
Truancy
She would adapt a program recently launched in New York City where schools track all absences — not just those categorized as unexcused — in real time to try to identify patterns among individual students before they become chronically truant. In the cases where absenteeism dropped, positive reinforcement was offered in the form of rewards and public recognition. In the cases where truancy continued, steps were taken to require intervention from social services and one-on-one tutoring where needed. Initially piloted in a few dozen schools, this program is now being implemented citywide.
Allison toma el timón de la “Carlos Rosario” [Carlos Rosario International PCS mentioned]
The Washington Hispanic
By Victor Caycho
September 8, 2014
Asume cargo de Directora Ejecutiva y CEO de prestigiosa escuela en DC. Sus estudiantes estarán equipados con las destrezas y certificaciones que buscan los empleadores en la región, afirma en entrevista exclusiva.
El jueves 4 de septiembre, en horas de la tarde, Allison R. Kokkoros se puso al frente de la Escuela Carlos Rosario, como ella sabe hacerlo mejor. Más que como su nueva Directora Ejecutiva y CEO, lo hizo como una maestra, dialogando con los estudiantes y el personal docente reunido en el amplio auditorio del centro educativo, uno de los más prestigiosos de Washington, DC.
Ella sucede en el cargo a Sonia Gutiérrez quien afirmó que “No hay otra Sonia Gutiérrez en el universo”, recalcó Allison Kokkoros a Washington Hispanic en una entrevista exclusiva, en palabras que resumen toda la admiración que siente por ella.
Sobre su nueva función, Allison afirmó sentirse “profundamente honrada”, pero al mismo tiempo advirtió que “es una gran responsabilidad y una buena oportunidad para continuar desarrollando la base de excelencia que ha establecido mi mentora Sonia Gutiérrez”.
“Soy afortunada de estar trabajando en lo que me apasiona. Cuando te sientes feliz de llegar a la escuela todos los días y ver a los estudiantes determinados a aprender y cumplir sus sueños, ver a nuestra excelente facultad y equipo de consejería dándole el todo a su trabajo, es algo únicamente gratificante”, señaló emocionada.
Asimismo, contó sus experiencias con los inmigrantes que llegaban a los Estados Unidos, desde cuando ella tenía 9 años de edad. “En mí creció un profundo respeto hacia los inmigrantes por su valentía y su determinación de proveer una mejor vida para sus familias”, afirmó la prestigiosa educadora.
El temperamento firme y apasionado de Allison R. Kokooros, la nueva Directora Ejecutiva y CEO de la Escuela Carlos Rosario surgen con fuerza cuando habló acerca de los éxitos sus estudiantes, durante una entrevista exclusiva con Washington Hispanic, el jueves 4.
“Un 72 por ciento de los más de 2 mil 500 estudiantes de la Escuela Carlos Rosario vienen de América Latina, y estamos orgullosos de los éxitos de nuestros estudiantes, que logran tremendos avances de aprendizaje cada año”, afirmó entusiasmada, el mismo día en que asumió el cargo.
“Durante el año escolar 2013-2014, un total de 64 estudiantes pasaron la prueba de GED y obtuvieron sus diplomas de bachillerato, ¡un 77% de los estudiantes que tomaron la prueba la pasaron! Esto sobrepasó por mucho el promedio de 55% para todo Washington, DC, y la expectativa de un índice de aprobación de 65% por parte de la Junta de Escuelas Autónomas (Charter)”, dijo al enumerar esos éxitos.
Añadió que “la escuela también ha sido reconocida nacionalmente por la efectividad de su modelo” y que recibió el prestigioso premio nacional E Pluribus Unum en diciembre de 2013 “por nuestro efectivo modelo holístico de asistir a inmigrantes a integrarse a la sociedad americana”.
Accionando los brazos, Allison expresó que cuentan con una gran cantidad de datos sobre los logros educacionales de sus estudiantes.
“Pero honestamente pienso que la evidencia más contundente de nuestros logros está en las historias de nuestros estudiantes y graduados. Francisco Ferrufino, por ejemplo, estudió en los programas de inglés y artes culinarias de la escuela. A través de mucho trabajo y esfuerzo ha sido promovido múltiples veces y ahora es el chef del restaurante Meridian Pint’ en Columbia Heights. Francisco es uno de miles de ejemplos de la comunidad a la que servimos que mediante su propio esfuerzo y con nuestro apoyo, ¡están realizando sus sueños!”, prosiguió.
Desarrollo del liderazgo
La nueva Directora Ejecutiva consideró que el desarrollo de nuevos líderes en las comunidades de latinos e inmigrantes es “absolutamente esencial”.
“En la Escuela Carlos Rosario involucramos a todos los estudiantes en el proceso democrático de elegir líderes en sus clases para que sean parte del Gobierno Estudiantil. Trabajamos detalladamente con los representantes del Gobierno Estudiantil en el desarrollo de sus destrezas de liderazgo. Ellos participan en entrenamientos de desarrollo de liderazgo, visitan oficinas de funcionarios electos del gobierno de DC, participan en reuniones públicas, hacen trabajo voluntario en agencias de servicio comunitario, y todos los años identifican una iniciativa de mejoramiento comunitario en la que trabajan en equipo”, manifestó.
Allison Kokkoros dijo que le emociona compartir que llevarán a Sonia Sotomayor, jueza de la Corte Suprema, “para hablar con nuestros estudiantes este semestre y a compartir su inspiradora historia de desafío y superación de increíbles retos”.
En Washington DC
Con su característica pasión, Allison relató su primera experiencia con inmigrantes a los Estados Unidos. “Sucedió cuando tenía 9 años de edad y mis padres ayudaron a una familia recién llegada de Vietnam a preparar su casa. Le leí libros a la madre de la familia para intentar ayudarla a aprender inglés”, recordó.
“Desde entonces, a través de experiencias de voluntariado con refugiados húngaros en Alemania, viviendo con familias en Quetzaltenango, Guatemala; Oaxaca y el D.F. en México, y Paraíso en la República Dominicana, he sido testigo de las dificultades que llevan a los inmigrantes a buscar mejores oportunidades y protección en su nuevo país”, recalcó.
También reveló que una excursión de estudios sub-graduados en educación la trajo a Washington, DC, a observar dos escuelas en donde se les enseñaba inglés a inmigrantes y refugiados. “La primera escuela no causó impacto en mí. Pero luego observé las clases en el Centro Carlos Rosario, en Georgetown, e inmediatamente supe que ese era el lugar donde quería hacer mi práctica de enseñanza y algún día trabajar”.
Por ello señala que “en mí creció un profundo respeto hacia los inmigrantes por su valentía y su determinación de proveer una mejor vida para sus familias.
“SEAN UN EJEMPLO PARA SUS HIJOS”
Allison Kokkoros dirige el siguiente mensaje a las familias inmigrantes que buscan un mejor futuro para sus hijos:
“Sean un ejemplo para sus hijos, no solamente demostrando lo que es el trabajo duro sino también con su compromiso con la educación (la suya y la de ellos), con su progreso en el trabajo y con su desempeño en su comunidades y contribuciones a la región de Washington y a este país”.
“Nuestro país depende de la innovación y vitalidad que los inmigrantes le brindan. Los países con menos inmigrantes se estancan. Así que Estados Unidos depende de que ustedes sean parte de su motor de crecimiento. Piensen en la ciudadanía americana en el sentido más alto y mejor de la palabra. Crean en sí mismos y en las posibilidades que este país les ofrece. Traten de alcanzar sus sueños y los harán realidad”.
Exclusive interview with Allison Kokkoros, CEO Carlos Rosario International PCS [Carlos Rosario International PCS mentioned]
The Examiner
By Mark Lerner
September 8, 2014
I recently had the opportunity to speak with Allison Kokkoros, the newly named executive director and chief executive officer of Carlos Rosario International Charter School. I immediately asked her how she felt about the change. “Great,” she replied enthusiastically. “In a way I have been training for this position for 20 years. I feel extremely lucky and fortunate. This is really a blessing both professionally and personally. It is so rewarding to work with a group of colleagues that go all out for the community 365 days a year. I am charged up to work with this team of top notch professionals and to continue to move the school forward.”
I then inquired as to what it meant to be following Sonia Gutierrez in her position. Ms. Kokkoros replied, “It is a truly unique position to be coming into my job after Sonia. There is no one like her in the entire universe. Her passion, drive, determination, and vision are unmatched. I wrote the original charter application with her, helped her to assemble our leadership team, assisted her as we built our two beautiful campuses. Being at her side taught me so much. Together we have exceedingly high expectations for the staff and faculty. We have such a warm and compassionate climate here. I am also extremely fortunate that I will continue to have her as an advisor.”
We then discussed her priorities for Carlos Rosario. The CEO commented, “The top of my priority list over the next 30 to 90 days is to meet with key stakeholders internal and external to the organization. I am just really listening. I want to understand where people see our school sitting in our city and within the area. My goal is to get a sense of their hopes for the growth of our organization as I work to chart the course for our growth and response to the needs of the community we serve.”
I wanted to know if there was a plan for Carlos Rosario to open additional campuses. Ms. Kokkoros answered, “We have been approached by more than one developer to open another site in D.C. and outside of D.C. You need to know that we are extremely committed to quality. Last year we opened a second campus and so we are still in growth mode. We are still adjusting our systems and processes so that we are completely satisfied with how we are operating. The school will definitely be growing but growth can take many forms. For example, over 20 different organizations from across the country and internationally have come here to learn about our program. We may intentionally focus that sharing of information. Who knows, maybe someday we will run a conference a couple of times a year to exchange best practices on how to effectively educate adult immigrants in the United States.”
The new executive director then took a minute to reflect on the students Carlos Rosario serves. “The individuals in our program are tremendously driven and determined to learn. It is always a heartbreaking experience on registration day. The doors open at 10 a.m. and people start lining up at 4 a.m. The line wraps around the block to apply for the coming school year. Considering the fact that over 60,000 DC residents lack a high school degree and even more lack the English language and workplace skills necessary to succeed in today’s economy, I believe we do have a mandate to expand.”
Lastly, I wanted to know what Ms. Gutierrez was going to do in the future. “Well right now, Ms. Kokkoros explained, “she is taking a much deserved year of sabbatical. While on sabbatical her role is to serve as my advisor. She is still president of the nonprofit Community Capital Corporation that developed our two facilities. In response to my request Sonia also is leading some roundtables here at the school regarding lessons learned in leadership. We are having conversations about leadership development that perhaps one day will be turned into a book. Sonia is a one-of-a-kind person and Carlos Rosario is a one-of-a-kind school. I’m excited to build upon the foundation of excellence and to take the school forward,” said Ms. Kokkoros.