Written by: Josh Griffin, Principal
Great D’Evelyn Junior/Senior High School updates this week: 2020 National Blue Ribbon School On Thursday, United States Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced that D’Evelyn Junior/Senior High School was recognized as a 2020 National Blue Ribbon School. D’Evelyn was one of four schools in Colorado and 367 schools nationwide honored this year and was highlighted as an Exemplary High Performing School. We are thrilled to be recognized with this prestigious award, which has been given annually since 1982 to honor exemplary schools around the country. This recognition is a great tribute to our well-established liberal arts philosophy, our dedicated students, faculty and staff, and our supportive parents and families. Congratulations to the D’Evelyn community! This is a well-deserved honor and I am grateful to all that have contributed to this prestigious recognition. To read more about the National Blue Ribbon School program and recognition for 2020, please review the following resources: 2020 National Blue Ribbon Schools announcement - Secretary DeVos US Department of Education Press Release Announcing 2020 National Blue Ribbon Schools Profiles - 2020 National Blue Ribbon Schools Award Winners National Blue Ribbon Schools homepage Remote Fridays The development of productive learning opportunities and helpful student support on Fridays is a unique challenge for any school, and D’Evelyn in particular. With students in grades 6 - 12, and multiple distinct academic disciplines, our Friday “system” should reflect the needs of students in each of their classes. This means “one size fits all” is not likely a perfect model. Additionally, we will work as a faculty, staff, and administration to adjust Friday plans in a manner that best supports our students and teachers. Our original asynchronous, remote Friday plan can be found here. In collaboration with faculty members, we understand that there are benefits to scheduling student assessments on Fridays. The primary benefit is that by remotely assessing students on Fridays, teachers have the opportunity to focus more, if not all, of their time on instruction and student support Monday - Thursday each week. By maximizing instructional time when students are in-person or remote in a synchronous model, students will benefit and learn material more effectively. As a result, with administrative approval, several D’Evelyn teachers have begun administering assessments on Fridays. While the positive elements of assessment on Fridays are important and valid, we understand that there are drawbacks. First, some of the Friday assessments will be synchronous, which is incongruent with the asynchronous model. However, teachers will schedule their Friday assessments during their established Office Hours, so as to not compete with other disciplines. Additionally, we will maintain an internal assessment calendar for D’Evelyn teachers to schedule major assessments. Students should not have more than 2 major assessments and 1 Saxon math test per day on any school day. In the event that you find your student has more than 2 major non-math assessments in one day, please notify your student’s assigned administrator. The mastery of a strong remote learning system on Fridays will continue to be a work in progress. We will monitor the decision to allow assessments on Friday as the semester progresses. Ultimately, we hope and expect that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. Thank you for your consideration and support as we adjust our Friday learning practices. Parent/Family Survey I am very happy with how the school year is going overall; however, I also know that there are opportunities for growth and improvement. In the new remote / hybrid learning models, our faculty, staff, and administration will value feedback from students, parents, and families. I would appreciate you taking a few minutes to complete the survey linked below. Please complete the survey by Wednesday, September 30th, so that we can begin the process of thoughtfully reviewing input on what is going well and what could be going better for your child(ren). Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey. September 2020 Parent/Family Survey I hope that you and your family have enjoyed a restful, relaxing weekend. Comments are closed.
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