Who We Are
Opened in 2013 in DC’s Ward 4, Sela Public Charter School has a diverse student body and faculty that reflects the multicultural and vibrant dynamics of the nation’s capital.
"Global citizenship" education is a key school focus. It includes the development of student skills in communication (including learning a foreign language), collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. It also includes an emphasis on building empathy and emotional intelligence, perspective taking, and learning about other cultures.
Sela has been recognized as a high-performing school by the DC Public Charter School Board. The school offers an academically rigorous curriculum, including daily Modern Hebrew studies, that lead to a high level of language proficiency.
Sela is proud of its inclusive and diverse community. We serve students from all backgrounds, including students with special needs and a growing number of students who are English language learners. Sela is an intentionally diverse community with an ever-expanding definition of inclusivity. We are committed to ensuring representation of all backgrounds, races and ethnicities, socioeconomic statuses, religions, abilities, cultures, languages, gender and sexual identities, and other characteristics, in our faculty, families, and students.
Sela is a member of Hebrew Public: Charter Schools for Global Citizens, a national network of Hebrew Language schools.
FIVE PILLARS
INNOVATIVE
Sela PCS is the first Hebrew Language Immersion Public Charter
School in the District of Columbia. It is also the only Hebrew Language
Charter School in the United States where children will learn all subjects
in both English and Hebrew. Sela PCS has an innovative learning culture
and will continue to innovate as it grows.
DIVERSE
The students, teachers, board of directors and administration of Sela
PCS will reflect the diversity of the nation's capital. Sela PCS will not
only recruit and retain students from all backgrounds, but will celebrate the diverse experiences and backgrounds of everyone in the Sela community.
EXCELLENCE
Sela PCS is committed to high academic standards for all students. We strive for excellence in everything we do from recruitment of teachers to our students’ academic achievement.
GLOBAL
We believe that the combination of foreign language acquisition and 21st century skills will equip Sela PCS students to begin a lifelong encounter with people and cultures beyond our borders, enriching their lives and preparing them to be truly global citizens.
TRUSTWORTHY
Parents and students can count on Sela PCS to fulfill its obligation to bring them a first-class education in a safe, nurturing environment where we will cultivate a life-long love of learning in our students.
OUR NAME
The school’s name, Sela, is derived from the Hebrew word for “rock” or “foundation.” Sela PCS is founded on a steadfast commitment to ensuring that all students have access to a strong foundational education that ensures high levels of academic achievement students in a dual-language immersion setting.
SCHOOL GOALS
-
Language Immersion - Sela will be a Hebrew-English immersion school with a commitment to early literacy and numeracy. Sela will offer children a rigorous dual language curriculum in which students will develop greater literacy skills through the acquisition of two languages.
-
Diversity and Global Citizenship - Sela hopes to create a culture of appreciation for diversity and difference that will enrich students through their exposure to cultures and backgrounds different from their own.
SCHOOL CULTURE
Sela’s vision is of a community of learners striving towards excellence, where children of all backgrounds and abilities are valued members of a safe, nurturing community, in which differences are appreciated, and families are active participants in school life. Through exposure to the Hebrew language and contemporary Israeli culture, students will learn broad lessons about how to appreciate and participate in cultures that are different from their own.
OUR PHILOSOPHY
Sela PCS is committed to ensuring that all of its students experience the diverse offerings of the District of Columbia while ensuring high quality academic achievement for its students in a dual-language immersion setting. Sela is guided in its innovative language-based program by the following philosophical principles and beliefs:
-
We believe that all children, regardless of background, learning abilities and physical capacities, can and should contribute to the creation of a positive, supportive learning community for all.
-
We believe that all children are capable of reaching high levels of academic excellence and social-emotional growth, and that one proven way of enabling their success is by purposefully providing a structure where children of varying backgrounds learn from, and with, each other.
-
We believe that it is crucial for all children to have the opportunity to gain fluency in more than one language and culture and that dual-language learning supports academic achievement and enhanced cognitive skills.
-
We believe that in the global world in which our children are growing up, it is crucial to provide them with the skills that they will need to take an active and responsible role in the world.