Letter from MC Principal
Hello MC families,
Last Tuesday, January 12th both the Middle Campus and the Elementary Campus received awards from State School Superintendent Richard Woods for our academic performance on the Milestones test last year. At the Middle Campus we were named a Math Leader School and a Literacy Leader School for the ’24-’25 school year!
In Mathematics (Math Leader Criteria), we received awards for:
- 8th grade Gateway Growth
- High School Achievement (Algebra I), and
- High School Growth (Algebra I).
Big shout out to our Math department and to our students for their work – we’ve received Middle School AND High School awards the last two years. While students take the Algebra I course online, it is important to note that our students are receiving an outstanding foundation within our middle school Math program that is setting them up for success in the Algebra I course. As a small charter school we can’t offer as wide a menu of offerings as our bigger counterparts who have more staffing and more funding, that is why our students take this course online. However, our students are still being successful and they deserve credit for their work.
Additionally, shout out to our Language and Literature department for their work in helping us become a Literacy Leader school. In English Language Arts (Literacy Leader Criteria), we received awards for:
- 6th grade Gateway Growth, and
- 8th grade Achievement.
I am extremely proud of the work that we are doing as a school. We are staying true to our constructivist roots, starting with inquiry in the classroom as an IB school, and teaching critical thinking skills, while also having success on the standardized tests that we’re measured on.
As you all know, yesterday was the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Day of Service. I hope that you all were able to participate in service or education about the Civil Rights Movement in some way. During Morning Meeting last week I told students that no act of service or kindness was too small for this day, and frankly for this time. I asked students what they were planning to do for the MLK Day of Service and some talked about participating in service projects, but others talked about helping around the house and assisting relatives and neighbors. Many times students may feel like they cannot make a difference or get involved, because they need adults to drive them or set things up for them. However, we were able to brainstorm ways that students could be of service on their own.
End of semester reports will be published in Toddle soon, most likely at the end of this week. I will send out an email to let parents know when these reports are available. If you have not been reviewing your student’s grades via Toddle, I encourage you to do so. There’s some great information on this topic in my Courier letter from before Winter Break (12/16/25).
As always if you have any questions feel free to reach out.
Kind regards,
Mark
Mark Sanders
Mark Sanders began teaching at ANCS in 2011. Before coming to the school, Mr. Sanders worked in New York City. He spent three years teaching 7th and 8th grade mathematics at Middle School 50 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and two years at Harlem Village Academies teaching Geometry and Algebra 2/Trigonometry. He taught 8th grade Math/Science/Technology at ANCS for five years.
