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Majors Achieve and Thrive Together with Purpose and Pride!
Please watch this welcome back video from our principal, Mrs. Rogers with important information to help us start the year strong.
#MajorStrong
Please join me in congratulating Rashida Williams, who has been selected as our newest major and Mount Vernon’s Director of Student Services! Rashida was previously the Program Manager for the College Success Program (CSP). Under her leadership, the CSP team developed resources, professional development and worked collaboratively to eliminate gaps in access, opportunity and achievement. Some highlights of her tenure as the CSP manager include AVID’s expansion, increasing enrollment and opportunities for the College Partnership Program, increasing awareness of the Early Identification Program (EIP) and the transition of the Pathway to the Baccalaureate’s application from paper to online. Her work established new partnerships with colleges, community-based organizations and introduced exciting college and career exploration opportunities for students.
Rashida brings a wealth of knowledge, experience, and a passion for college access. She has a background in school counseling with experiences at West Potomac and Woodson High Schools. In addition to working in FCPS, Rashida served as a special education teacher, dean of students, and transition counselor in both the District of Columbia and Prince George’s County. She has experience developing teams, supporting staff, and leading professional development. Rashida earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and African American Studies from Duke University, her Master’s in Education from the Harvard University School of Education, and an additional Master’s in School Counseling from the Johns Hopkins University School of Education. Rashida also recently earned her Administrative and Supervision Endorsement through the Accelerated Administrative Cohort (ACC), a program in partnership with FCPS and the University of Virginia. Rashida is an avid college basketball fan (Go Duke), loves to cook, read and listen to music.
Given the uncertainty of schedules and virtual learning for all students during the 2020-21 school year, our Mount Vernon High School has decided teachers will use a rolling (cumulative) gradebook. A rolling gradebook allows for progress towards a final mark that captures the total picture of student grades, regardless of length of quarter or number of assignments in each quarter. Acknowledging that the coming school year begins on a later start date and will have both synchronous and asynchronous learning, it is important to utilize a gradebook type that provides maximum flexibility and ensures equitable grading practices to meet the academic and social-emotional needs of all students.
With a rolling gradebook, grades for individual assignments from each quarter carry over and build upon the previous quarter; therefore, quarter grades are a snapshot of a student’s current progress in the course and demonstrate performance to that date, not just for that quarter. Final grades are determined from all assignments and assessments throughout the year, regardless of the quarter the work was completed.
A rolling gradebook is an approved gradebook type per Secondary Grading & Reporting Policy and numerous FCPS schools/teams/teachers already utilize a rolling gradebook.
Benefits associated with using a rolling gradebook include:
- Allows time for demonstrating mastery of content and opportunities for remediation, completing make-up work & retakes (following established school, department or collaborative team policies)
- Helps students maintain positive mental health when setbacks occur
- Reports long-term progress to students as the year progresses, not just short-term achievement in each quarter
- Provides a more accurate reflection of the student grade at any given point in time
- Reduces number of tests or large projects due at the same time over multiple classes (usually at end of quarter)
- Negates imbalance of quantity of assessments within each quarter and timing challenges at certain times of year
- Encourages content units to end naturally and not get rushed due to quarter breaks
To learn more details about a rolling gradebook to include how it will look in SIS Student/ParentVUE, please take time to review the following video. Teachers will communicate grading design and policies via the course syllabus. Students/parents are encouraged to reach out directly to the teacher with additional questions.
To help prepare students for a successful virtual start to the school year, parents are asked to ensure children have the tools and connectivity that will be needed. If you currently have an FCPS issued laptop at home, please help your school’s technology team prepare devices to receive county updates by doing the following once per week until school starts:
- Plug the laptop into an outlet.
- Turn the laptop on and let it boot up.
- Login to ensure it connects to the internet at that location.
- Launch Google Chrome and visit the FCPS website to ensure the internet is connected on the computer.
- Leave the laptop on and connected to the internet for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, the laptop may be shut down.
In addition, here is some information for parents on technology tips for student success.
https://www.fcps.edu/academics/distance-learning/instruction/learning-at-home
Student Schedules: On Wednesday, September 2, Class schedules were made available for students and parents to view viaStudentVue and ParentVue.
Please review the calendar below to mark your calendars for upcoming events.
Virtual Bell Schedule
As we work to help our students and families navigate this evolving college application and exploration process, we will continue to provide updates about SATs, ACTs and other college admissions testing opportunities. Please mark your calendars for these two very important school wide events:
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SAT School Day will take place on Wednesday, September 23, 2020. FCPS will offer the SAT at no charge to seniors only. Transportation is available and students will have the option to have breakfast and lunch. If you have already completed the county registration form you are all set, we will be in touch with more details soon. If you have not and are still interested please email Ms. Frater by noon on Friday, September 11, 2020 to be added to our roster.
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PSAT Day is scheduled for Thursday, October 29, 2020. This test will be offered to juniors only, sophomores will have opportunity to test in the spring. More information about that registration process will be shared in the coming weeks.
In addition, the following testing opportunities are open to all students in need of additional September testing dates and options:
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ACT Weekend Administration: The ACT will continue to offer weekend administration at several local testing sites. Sundays are now open for all students regardless of religious affiliation for the September and October 2020 tests only. Students will need to ACT.org to sign up. Local opportunities include September 12th, and 19th dates at Mount Vernon High School. Also a September 13th opportunity at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center.
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SAT Weekend Administration: The College Board will continue to offer testing opportunities on the weekends for all interested students. Students will need to log onto College Board to register. Local testing opportunities include September 26th dates at the following high schools: Chantilly, Fairfax, Lake Braddock. Madison, Mount Vernon and Westfield.
The health and safety of our students and faculty remains our top priority, please visit the FCPS website for additional information on test day health and safety precautions.
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Athletic Updates
Starting on September 8, 2020, VHSL Sports Physicals & Emergency Care Cards are required in order to participate in any Athletic Activity (which includes conditioning)
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Must be completed and dated by a Doctor after May 1, 2020 in order to be used for the 2020-2021 school year.
All paperwork can be found at
https://www.fcps.edu/activities/student-athletics
Please choose ONE option to submit your students physical
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Email a copy to our Athletic Trainer, John Ponton, at jvponton@fcps.edu
- Mail it to Mt. Vernon High School Attn: Activities Office 8515 Old Mt. Vernon Rd. Alexandria, VA 22309
- Drop it off in the Main Office between 9:00a.m. and 2:00p.m. Monday – Friday
Please go to mountvernonsports.org for the latest information
Dear MAJORS Families,
Another school year means new opportunities. We are very proud of our students, families, and MVHS staff for their optimism and dedication during this unprecedented time. Wishing you all the best in this new academic year.
CONNECTING WITH OUR COMMUNITY
Thank you to our community partner, ICNA Relief for the Backpack Giveaway to our Mount Vernon Pyramid families last Saturday.
ICNA Relief, located at 2913 Woodlawn Trail, Alexandria, VA 22306, offers food assistance to our community every Thursday from 1 PM-3 PM. All families are welcome.
PTSA Virtual General Membership Meeting
OCTOBER 6 @ 6:30PM
Meeting link will be sent in advance of the meeting.
Membership Drawing will take place at this meeting.
Membership
Please take a minute to check out our website, and JOIN us!
School Code for the year: 8H8WNF
https://mountvernonhsptsa.ptboard.com/home
Please consider designating Mount Vernon High School PTSA as your Amazon Smile charity at:
https://smile.amazon.com/ch/52-1289281
Sincerely,
MVHS PTSA Board
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