d.tech weekly update 1.20.15

Student recommit: Emails have gone out to families to recommit for the 2015-16 school year. Please complete the form by January 30th, and if you have any questions, please email cknott@dtechhs.org

Next Gen visitors tweeting about a d.tech students' take on being optimistic.

Dear d.tech families,

As we wrap up the first part of the year, here is an update on upcoming report cards. The academic support class was very productive and created a very dramatic uptick in the number of assignments teachers needed to grade. Teachers are working hard, but it is taking a lot of time to get everything graded. Grading has been particularly difficult in a competency-based system. In this system, teachers sometimes have to grade a single assignment 4-5 times. We are working on processes to manage this new type of work flow, but right now the turn-around time is slower than we would like. We want to make sure that this does not negatively impact a student’s grade, so we are making a small modification to the report cards coming out soon. If a student has turned in a required assignment and is awaiting teacher feedback prior to revision, the assignment will be marked as “dev” (developing) and the student will be given an incomplete in the course. If a student has not turned in a required assignment the assignment will be marked as an “m” (missing) and the student will likely receive an “F” in the course. This way a student won't be negatively impacted if they have turned in the required material before January 15th.

Starting new courses:

If a student has completed or nearly completed the first semester class he/she will start the second semester class on Tuesday, January 20th.
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If not, the student will remain enrolled in the first semester class and is on pace for summer school. Students will also be assigned Friday school starting January 23rd. Friday school runs from 1:00-3:00.

Get to know U-C Berkeley

Each year UC-Berkeley offers high school students the opportunity to get to know what life is like as a Golden Bear. On Jan 31st students are given the opportunity to walk around campus and attend classes like a college student for the day. It usually sells out fast so you should hop on this quick if you’re interested. The cost is $20 for the day. Here's the link https://berkeley.learningu.org

Have a great week.

Ken

Upcoming Events:

January 22nd 6:30-8:00

d.tech Back-to-Back-to-School Night (current d.tech families). Teaches will further explain grading and content in their courses.

January 22nd 4:30-5:30
d.tech board meeting, 400 Murchison Dr.

January 23rd
World Language Final

Please also add the SignUp Genius link for World Language Practice Group

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c044aafae23a2fc1-byulanguage

January 27th
Parent Info Session--incoming 9's

d.tech guests:

Silicon Schools Jan. 26th
Springpoint School Leaders, Jan. 26th
California Charter School Association CEO, Jan. 29th
Pombay Magnet School (Florida) Jan. 29th

d.tech Dragons Basketball Game Schedule

For complete Game Schedules, please visit: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bfsnViMx7pZrJT2DFlvB9RMxXSxTbKUtpRigYl_-v_U/edit?usp=sharing

Seeking Parent Representative on Design Tech High School's Board of Directors: Design Tech High School's board specifies an opening for a parent board member to serve for a one-year term. The role of the parent representative includes (but may not be limited to) the following: (1) Acts as a liaison between d.tech Board and the Transition Coordinating Team (interim). ( 2)Attends all scheduled meetings for d.tech School Board, Parent Assembly, and Transition coordinating Team (TCT). (3) Provides timely reports from each specific meetings back to TCT and/or d.tech School Board accordingly. Parents who are interested are requested to submit a short paragraph (to be posted on BigTent) on the reason(s) why you would like to serve on the board, and a brief summary of work or life experience that qualifies you to represent the interest of all parents. Please email paragraphs to d.techparentcommunity@gmail.com by Friday, January 30th. Nominations (3) will occur at the February Parent Assembly meeting. To view d.tech's By-laws on parent representative, please visit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_dbpSyt4bKN2n-EHzPCiVM-WmKQFmUR_Ivch5SN-wxw/edit?usp=sharing. To join BigTent, please visit https://www.bigtent.com/groups/dtechparents

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