Welcome From the Principal

Dear Students, Parents and Families:

Welcome to a new school year! The staff and I at Imagine Lincoln Public Charter School (PCS) wish to extend greetings to everyone who is now a part of the Imagine Lincoln PCS family. We are looking forward to catching up with our current students and getting to know all the new ones.

Each new school year brings with it the promise, hope and excitement of tremendous growth and new beginnings. I am particularly excited about this new school year because it marks the beginning of our first full year in our new school building, and with the addition of a new grade, the final phase in our development. With the start of the 2011-2012 school year, Imagine Lincoln now enrolls students in Kindergarten through Grade 8.

I am also extremely proud to announce that all of our hard work is paying off. Not only were we recognized by our parent, Imagine Schools, for showing significant improvement in the area of Academic Achievement but also we were named as the 2011 Most Improved School of the year — out of 75 schools — during Imagine Schools’ seventh annual National Forum in Phoenix, Arizona.

Imagine Lincoln’s overall math scores on the 2011 Maryland School Assessment (MSA) increased by 13.2% percentage points, the highest overall gains in Prince George’s County. Imagine Schools also measures annual individual student learning gains by administering the Stanford 10 standardized test in the fall and spring of the academic year, during which Imagine Lincoln students achieved average learning gains of a year or more in both Math and Reading, with 68% of students gaining more than a year in Math.

Despite all the changes, and our recent successes, some things will remain the same: We will continue to devote ourselves to creating a “joy-filled” school in which all are valued, all are responsible for their actions, and all are working toward the common goal of student success. This means that we will do “whatever it takes” to ensure that we reflect our commitments. And we appreciate all the time and energy that our parents have put in to help us accomplish our goals, as well as the hard work that the students display daily.

In order for our school to continue to grow and to set and meet high standards, we must provide an environment that enables students to achieve positive personal growth and continuous academic progress. Therefore, we will ensure that all students

• can learn
• are entitled to a safe and physically comfortable environment that promotes student learning
• learn best when they have appropriate opportunities for success, and
• are valued individuals with unique physical, social, emotional and intellectual needs.

To reach these standards, we will continue to make a commitment to our Six Measures of Excellence.

And we will expect our students to work very hard to meet these standards, in order to be both college and workforce ready and prepared for a very competitive global economy of the 21st Century. We will expect that all students, parents, teachers, administrators and support staff will put forth maximum effort to ensure that our goals are met.

I encourage you to visit this website regularly, for up-to-date news and information, and to chart our continuing progress. Please feel free to contact me at Kimberly.Strayhorn@ImagineSchools.com with questions or concerns, at any time. I look forward to meeting and hearing from you, and to an outstanding school year and continued high student achievement.

Sincerely,
Kimberly T. Strayhorn
Principal