Thursday, July 16, 2009

Graduate School and Calvert Update

I am back to Baltimore after a week of doctoral graduate classes at the University of Pennsylvania. It was my last week of summer classes, which is exciting. I have had time to reconnect with classmates, meet with my dissertation advisor, and attend classes on Testing and Assessment, Educational Law and Policy, and Data Analysis and Reporting. I am completing my dissertation on the experiences of parents of color at Calvert. How do they feel regarding community membership? What suggestions do they have for how Calvert can better support parents of color in the future? I look forward to answering those questions in the academic year ahead.

On the Calvert front, we have had a busy summer. I never let readers know that we decided to go outside for Graduation in early June...and the rain held off! The ceremony was held under cool, cloudy skies, which was actually perfect. Congrats again to the Class of '09!

Other Calvert notes from the summer...summer camps and programs, including the Middle Grades Partnership with Baltimore City Public Schools; renovations, office moves, and maintenance work; fire and security upgrades; and demolition (in progress) of the former fraternity house located at 3906 Canterbury Road. In the short term, we will stabilize the site; long-terms plans for the property call for a Lower School addition to be built.

Summer also afford the time to have extended meetings with colleagues. Just today, we held an all-day retreat of the academic administrators, in which we discussed individual and group goals, faculty meeting agendas, technology, and strategies for classroom observations. There is excitement for the academic year ahead!