Letter from the Board Chair and CEO
Dear Friends:
We are so proud of the achievements of the School’s students
and staff over the course of the 2010-2011 school year!
Two words capture the unique spirit of the Carlos Rosario
School: excellence and community. For more than 40
years, the School has successfully achieved its stated mission
of serving adult immigrant students through excellence in
teaching and learning in partnership with the community, and
our successes continued throughout the past school year.
EXCELLENCE
Our students’ performance consistently exceeded national
norms for adult education. We were thrilled that 80% of our
ESL students were promoted to the next level of competency
and 93% of Workforce Development students passed their
industry certification exams. Our Workforce program
effectiveness and the work ethic of our graduates have attracted
high-level partnerships. The Culinary Institute of America
(CIA) selected our School as its Washington region partner
after noticing our 90% job placement rate. In addition, the
CIA provides annual cooking demonstrations at our School,
and has developed a generous scholarship for our program’s
graduates. The American Red Cross selected our School as
the Washington region’s official Nurse Aide testing site due
to the outstanding reputation of our new Nurse Aide training
program.
This year the District of Columbia Association of Chartered
Public Schools recognized our School’s excellence by
naming Allison R. Kokkoros the Most Outstanding Adult
School Principal. Student Maribel Morales was named Most
Outstanding Adult Student and John Castillo was a finalist for
Most Outstanding High School Graduate and was awarded
a $1,000 scholarship to continue his education at the
Community College of the District of Columbia.
Georgetown University recognizes the excellence of our
program for English language instruction and for the third
year in a row, we hosted 40 U.S. State Department-sponsored
English as a Foreign Language specialists from around the
world. These university and ministry of education experts
observed ESL classes and took ideas back to their countries for
implementation.
Our GED students achieved excellence this year as well.
Danny Martinez was the city-wide GED valedictorian, attaining
the highest GED scores in Washington, D.C. Maria Fernanda
López was recognized for her perfect score on the GED
composition exam.
COMMUNITY
The school measures its success not just in terms of its
excellent achievement outcomes, but also by its adult learners’
contributions to the community. Carlos Rosario students are
contributing substantially to the economic recovery of the
District and region. They are giving back to the community
and not just surviving, but using their determination and
work ethic to thrive. Investing in our school is paying high
dividends for the District – dividends measured by millions
of tax dollars paid, by young adults receiving career training
and going on to find meaningful employment in the midst of
a tough economy, and by District employers gaining highly
skilled and motivated employees, which ultimately benefits
their business’ bottom line.
Our contributions and partnerships in the community have
been evident in significant ways. During the past year, the
School provided thousands of hours of service to students
ANNUAL REPORT SY 2010-2011 _5
through counseling, community referrals and job placement.
The School also celebrated the rich diversity of students’
heritage through its highly anticipated Hispanic Heritage,
Black History Month, and Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage
festivities.
In turn, students have contributed to community projects
including a Columbia Heights neighborhood clean-up day and
a school-wide health fair, and dedicated nearly 2,000 hours of
volunteer service to agencies including DC Central Kitchen,
Food and Friends, and Martha’s Table. In fact, our students
raised more than $15,000 by organizing a local walk to benefit
L’Arche, a nonprofit agency serving the homeless.
FUTURE
We are very excited about the coming year and the p