Middle School Update

Volume 7 Number 1

August 6 , 2007

CALENDAR:

YEARBOOKS ARE STILL AVAILABLE:  we still have a number of yearbooks available from the 2006-07 school year. Pay $40 in the Caja and the student can exchange the receipt for a book in the Middle School Office.

PASSES FOR GATE #2 (WALKING GATE):  Students were issued an ID card when they started school on Wednesday. Parents had the option during the re-enrollment process to choose to allow students to use Gate #2 rather than be picked up in the car pick-up area or take a bus.  If you did not do this, or if your child is a new student and you want them to use that gate, it is necessary for the student to pick up a form in the office for you to sign.  We will have a new card made.  Some students received cards with no photo. This will be redone in the next couple of weeks.  New students who were not admitted before the cards were made will also receive their cards in the next couple of weeks.  Students need to put these passes somewhere where they will not lose it and can find it easily. The trapper keeper is one possibility. When the student exits through Gate #2 they MUST show this pass to the guards or teacher on duty.  If your child is leaving occasionally with someone who has a pass for gate #2 you will need to send in a note in the morning giving your permission to use this gate.  We do this for security reasons. It is your decision to allow your child to walk home or walk to a friend’s house nearby or to get a taxi to go home.

MONDAY ENVELOPES are a very important means of communication. The first week of school students were given a letter asking that parents and students go over the student handbook together and then sign a form indicating they had done so. We also sent home a form regarding the “Acceptable Use Policy”. This form needed student and parent signature and a password for the student’s computer access on campus.  It is important that these get returned promptly.  On August 6th the envelope will contain the After School Activity Packet and an invitation to Back to School Night.  Parents are asked to sign on the back of the Envelope and have the student return it to the Period 1 teacher on Tuesday.  Thank you for checking the envelope for important information and papers.

POWER SCHOOL: We will be sending home letters with the PowerSchool login information and procedures. If you used PowerSchool last year you will notice several differences this year.  As we begin the school year you will not see much information other than attendance, the student schedule and links to email the teachers.  We will be sending home information in writing and having parent meetings to help you understand the assessment system.  Our goal is to help students improve skills and expand their knowledge over the year, please help us by stressing and celebrating academic  growth.

AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITY BOOKLETS will be in the Monday Envelope. Most activities begin the week of August 13th. Students should turn in the forms by Wednesday, August 8th  if at all possible. We need time to determine the level of interest and make changes in the number of adults or facilities needed.  Students who turn the forms in later are added to the lists on a space available basis. Some of the activities can only include a certain number of students – the climbing wall and swimming for example.

ASSESSMENT:  There are major changes in assessment and grading this year. I would like to address these in the Update and will also have follow-up meetings.  Today’s topic is the difference between formative and summative assessment. 

Students often are given class work and homework to do to develop skills and knowledge. They might do very well on one of these because it is basic or on a limited amount of material. On another, they might not do well at all because they do not yet understand the skills and concepts.  Students should always put forth their best effort on their work, but should realize they will not understand everything or be able to perform well on everything at the beginning.  These are formative assessments. Formative assessments help students and teachers understand where they need to focus their attention.

Each unit of work also includes summative assessments which are intended to give the student the opportunity to demonstrate a level of attainment on the material and skills learned.  It is these summative assessments that determine a student’s final grade in a criteria.

Averaging the results of formative and summative assessments does not give an accurate accounting of the level of attainment. Therefore, Power School will not be displaying an average of all of the grades the student has earned to date.

Next week I will write more about the rubrics and how we will be using them.

LOST AND FOUND:  As of Friday morning we had 8 jackets in lost and found, 3 that students had already picked up, many fleeces, a backpack, a lunchbox, a brand new graphing calculator. Some of these things have names and some do not.  Please advise your child to check the lost and found and to label everything.