Success
Dear Friends,
As we enter into the 2010-2011 school year, we are excited to celebrate our 10th anniversary and our dramatic accomplishments to date. It’s hard to believe that it was ten years ago when Codman Academy Charter Public School (CACPS) opened its doors to our first class, the class of 2005, who are now college alumni. To date, we have graduated six classes, with 100% of our graduates accepted to college. This year, one of our seniors was selected as a Bill and Melinda Gates Millennium Scholar. She was one of 1,000 recipients chosen from a pool of over 25,000 nominees, and she will receive a full four-year scholarship to the University of Virginia as well as financial support toward her graduate degree. At present, 72% of our graduates are either enrolled in college or have graduated from college, with the balance working.
We are happy to report that the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education voted unanimously to allow Codman Academy Charter Public School to enroll up to 145 students starting this academic year. Our cap was at 120, and we are honored to be able to serve an additional 25 students in the coming years. This approval demonstrates a strong vote of confidence in our results. This enrollment increase comes at a good time, as we experienced a 300% increase in school applications this year and currently have 90 students on our waitlist. We have also received an increased vote of confidence in our results from our parents. 71% of parents completed our annual parent satisfaction survey and 90% rated the school at a B or above, a 14% increase from 2008-2009.
This vote of confidence is well deserved, as we are once again pleased to report that our students have shown remarkable growth on the 2010 MCAS. This is a measurement of the quality of instruction at Codman as it shows how much the students have learned and how far they have come. In math, Codman demonstrated 79% growth, compared with 55% in Boston public schools. In English Language Arts (ELA), Codman demonstrated 66% growth, compared with 44% in Boston public schools. In addition to our quality classroom instruction, this accomplishment was made possible by our Tutors for All Program, which provides every 9th and 10th grader with three hours of individualized tutoring weekly, aimed at accelerating their academic skills acquisition.
Each year, CACPS welcomes a significant number of visitors to our small campus. This year, we were pleased to welcome two special visitors - Sonal Shah, Head of the White House Office of Social Innovation and Dr. Jack Geiger, founder of the community health center movement. We appreciate the opportunity to share our school philosophy and practices with people who are working on similar issues, and we look forward to further building these relationships.
Programmatically, it is difficult to decide which classes and clubs to highlight as each program has experienced many successes. Two that stand out are our Nutrition Action Club and our studio art program. Our Nutrition Action Club, a student group, organized April as Junk Food Free Month, where students and staff pledged not to bring any junk food on campus. This was incredibly successful as it inspired many of our students to change their eating habits and engage in dialogue around nutrition. Members of the Nutrition Action Club appeared before the Boston Public Health Commission on April 1st to build city-wide momentum for this initiative. We were pleased to already have the support of the Codman Square Health Center senior staff as we undertake this initiative. Following the success of Junk Food Free month, the Boston Public Health Commission invited the Nutrition Action Club to join them at a press conference at the Boston Children’s Museum to kick off the BPHC’s Soda-Free Summer campaign.
Our wellness program received further accolades this September as the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Department of Public Health recognized Codman Academy as the first and highest scoring school in the state to win the Gold-Level Massachusetts School Wellness Award. We are particularly proud of this award as we have spent the past ten years building a strong health and wellness curriculum, despite our lack of an on-site kitchen and fitness facilities.
In May, our studio art class unveiled Hope for Haiti. This public art installation was unveiled on Washington Street in Dorchester’s Codman Square neighborhood, and students, school staff, Health Center staff, and community members joined the studio art class to pay tribute to Haiti through public art.
Each year, we realize how fortunate we are to have the support of our hard-working students and alumni, committed families, talented faculty, Board of Trustees, Foundation Board of Directors and generous donors. Our strategic and exceptional partnerships, notably the Codman Square Health Center, The Huntington Theatre Company, American Youth Foundation, and Expeditionary Learning Schools, are instrumental in helping us close the achievement gap for our students. As we move into our second decade of preparing students for full participation in the intellectual, economic and civic life of society, we are excited to see what the future holds for Codman Academy Charter Public School and its talented alumni.
Sincerely,
Meg Campbell
Executive Director
RoAnn Costin
President, Codman Academy Foundation Board
Bill Walczak
President, Codman Academy Charter Public School Board of Trustees
