Hope everyone had a wonderful Spring Break. It was great seeing all the students back on campuses this week because without them it is a lonely place. During the break we sent 40 7th and 8th graders to Taiwan as part of a language exchange field trip for the students enrolled in Chinese at the Adams campus. The students arrived in Tawain safely and will be returning to us early part of next week. During our student’s visit there was an earthquake that occurred in Tawain, but the earthquake was on the opposite coast from where our students are visiting and has had no effect on their safety or the logistics pertaining to the trip.

It is that time of year and we are eagerly awaiting families to re-enroll our tigers.  As a school it is our goal to have at least 60% of our students re-enrolled by May 1st and we are currently at 22% enrolled, which is closer to meeting our goal, but we still have a long way to go to meet that goal at this time.  Please support the effort by either coming to the school this week and next to re-enroll your child or by using this link to complete the re-enrollment process online.  Enrollment is a critical piece in maintaining the programs we currently have because all funding is based on the number of students enrolled.

We are finishing up all 4th and 5th grade CAPE testing this week and will begin testing grades 6-8 in Mathematics next week. We have learned a lot these past few weeks about technical issues and how to resolve them and look forward to a smoother testing experience for all our Middle School students next week. Some ways you can help are to be sure they are on time and in school next week for testing. Ensure they have enough sleep the evening prior to testing and encourage them to do their best on these tests but not to get too stressed about them.

Wanted to take a minute to also celebrate our teachers and the impact they have had on this school year for students. As you might already know we are committed to creating an environment at Oyster Adams and across DCPS where students feel empowered, cared for and loved across all spaces.  One way we measure whether we are achieving this goal is by providing students with a student satisfaction survey two times per year (Spring and Fall). We saw positive gains in every category of the survey administered this Spring. I wanted to thank all our teachers for the positive experience they provide our students each day. Please see some results from the survey below. We still have some work to do because we want every child to respond positively and be at 100% for every category, but we are moving in the right direction.

How often do your teachers make you explain your answers?
82% responded favorably (+ 9 from Fall 2023)

When you feel like giving up, how likely is it that your teachers will make you keep trying?
86% responded favorably (+ 4 from Fall 2023)

How often do your teachers take time to make sure you understand the material?
78% responded favorably (+ 8 from Fall 2023)

Overall, how hight are your teacher's expectations of you?
82% responded favorably (+ 4 from Fall 2023)

How often do your teachers make you explain your answers?
87% responded favorably (+ 3 from Fall 2023)

When you feel like giving up on a difficult task, how likely is it that your teachers will make you keep trying?
80% responded favorably (+ 4 from Fall 2023)

Finally, as we congratulate our teachers for their successes in the classroom, I wanted to remind everyone that Teacher Appreciation Week is May 6th – May 10th. We would like to celebrate them with your help. Here is the schedule of celebrations:

• Monday May 6th: Bring your teachers a flower day
• Tuesday May 7th: Bring your teachers a piece of fruit
• Wednesday May 8th: Bring your teachers a note of appreciation
• Thursday May 9th: Bring your teacher chocolate or candy

Wishing you all a great rest of the week!