Good Evening, Boston Arts Academy Families,

This coming week is the end of the term and includes a state holiday, so we have some changes to the usual weekly schedule.

• Monday, November 8 is the last day of the term. Students will have regular classes.

• Tuesday, November 9 students will not have regular classes. Only those junior students who are taking the MCAS are reporting. Juniors who are testing should have received communication from Ms. Bautista and Ms. Chourafa.

Teachers will be spending the day writing narrative reports: short paragraphs about student learning. Not all teachers write for all students, but all students will receive narrative reports. This task is an extraordinary one for teachers, but it's one we believe in. We believe that a set of grades listed on a grade report just doesn't say enough. Narrative reports, in contrast, can help students and families identify what is going well and where improvement is needed. This belief is core to our belief in an arts-based education: the process is just as important as the product, information about the learning process is just as important as information about the final grade. I am grateful to teachers for the incredible effort they put in to make this more authentic assessment possible, and I'm hopeful that students will take the narrative feedback as the opportunity it is: an opportunity to reflect on their own education. Our ultimate goal is for our Artist-Scholar-Citizens to take charge of their own education and to take charge of their own vision of themselves after high school.

• Wednesday, November 10 Is the start of the second term. Some art classes will be changing at the term. Students should check in with their art teachers on Monday to make sure they are aware of the changes.

• Thursday, November 11 is Veterans Day, so there will be no school. Thank you to those members of our community who have served and are now veterans.

I wish all students a successful end to Term 1 and a successful start for Term 2.

Have a great week!