Corporation Of The Washington Latin School

Programs: Washington latin pcs provides a challenging, classical education for the modern world that is accessible to students in grades 5-12 throughout the district of columbia. The charter school was founded in 2005 on the belief that all students deserve a quality education that goes beyond preparation and focuses on developing knowledge, understanding and humanity. Our essential characteristics include our classical curriculum, top notch faculty, small classes, and close-knit community of diverse students and faculty. Latin washington opened its doors to 179 students in 2006. In each of the next five years, the school added a grade until reaching the full complement of grades 5-12 in 2011-12. The charter school presently serves a diverse group of students from all eight wards of dc. Washington latin believes that a high caliber classical education should be available to all public school students and that every young person can learn and deserves great teachers. The classical model of education at washington latin brings together the timeless truths of greece and rome with the study of contemporary issues. Washington latin focuses on three classical legacies: education for citizenship in a democracy, the latin language, and public oratory. These are imparted through both ancient teaching methods such as socratic seminars and contemporary approaches, such as current technology and innovative learning practices. In addition, each student is required to complete three high school levels of latin and two of french, chinese, or arabic. This requirement is designed to foster the student's understanding of other cultures and to prepare each student for success in the global environment. The link between the academic and moral realms of education lies at the heart of the classical tradition. Washington latin holds high expectations for its students in their academic performance,as well as their personal and community behavior. They learn to ask "essential questions," engage in difficult discussions, inform themselves about possible options, act on their decisions, and own the consequences: all critical steps to becoming responsible citizens. A related component of our classical approach is to educate students to become part of the school community. We encourage all to care for and respect one another under the mantra "wordsmatter. " to foster this, we gather the school community regularly in assemblies that focus on our values, praise student achievement, and recognize each other's growth and hard work, essential to creating our culture of community support and shared responsibility. Our top notch faculty is the single most important reason for our charter school's success and allows for a personal, supportive and challenging environment. The only way to bring students along on their own path of education is to know them. We insist on small class sizes and an active advisory program to allow teachers to know their students as adolescents and as learners. Accessibility to the school facility, its faculty and staff, and its courses of study is woven into washington latin's culture. Since its opening, the charter school has reached these important milestones: o enrollment has grown to 705 students at grade levels 5-12 and we have served more than 1,500 students overall. The school is in high demand from students who wish to enroll, and our waitlist regularly numbers over 1,000. O every year since it opened, the school has enrolled students from all eight wards. Our student body is diverse, and our racial demographics match those of the city. O we have been rated tier 1 by the public charter school board each year since the board began using the performance management framework to measure charter school quality. O our first class graduated in 2012, and four others have followed for a total of 323 washington latin graduates. In both 2012 and 2013, our first two graduating classes had the highest graduation rates (93% and 96%) of any non-selective public school in the district. Our average graduation rate is 86%. O approximately 86% or more of each senior class has been accepted to college. Our 323 alumni have received more than 20 million in scholarships, including seven posse scholars, two children's defense fund beat the odds scholars, three george washington university trachtenberg scholars, a herbert h. Denton jr. Scholar, and a gates millennium scholarship finalist. Three of our graduates have been accepted to military academies, including the u. S. Coast guard, u. S. Air force, and west point. O in the most recent dc-wide standardized testing (parcc assessment, administered each spring), washington latin students scored at or near the top of both english/language arts (ela) and mathematics tests. In fact, our ela scores were the highest of any nonselective dcps or public charter school in the district.