Meadow Park News
January 25th, 2019
Principal's Corner
Hello Meadow Park Families,
Semester 1 is now officially in the books and you should be getting grades sometime next week. I asked our MYP coordinator, Kristin McCartney, to speak to the grading system here at Meadow Park and help explain how we get to the letter grades that you will see on the report cards in the coming week.
Grading and Reporting at Meadow Park and all MYP Schools
The MYP requires schools to assess all students’ progress using assessment criteria and rubrics. Each subject provides feedback to students in four criteria. These four criteria vary slightly from subject to subject, but overall follow the pattern below:
- Criterion A: Knowing and Understanding- do you know it and do you understand it?
- Criterion B: Planning and organizing- can you organize and make a plan for what you know?
- Criterion C: Communicating - can you communicate what you understand about content and concepts?
- Criterion D: Evaluate, Reflect, Apply- can you apply what you know to make/reflect on decisions?
In order to provide students with opportunities to achieve the highest level of proficiency, MYP teachers develop rigorous tasks that embrace a variety of assessment strategies. The Beaverton School District report card allows MYP schools to report summary judgements in these criteria.
At the semester, teachers look over the assessments for each criterion, looking for growth over time, in order to determine a summary judgment score. These summary judgment scores communicate the level of proficiency in each criterion. Twice a year teachers are asked to convert these summary judgments to a letter grade to communicate progress with families using the following conversion criteria to help them:
A (6.0-8.0) - An “A” letter grade communicates that a student has mastered, at a very high level, the academic learning of the course. A student would need to be Proficient (5-6) or Highly Proficient (7-8) in the majority of the learning targets to earn this letter grade.
B (4.5-6.0) - A “B” letter grade communicates that a student has the academic learning of a course strongly in place and is well equipped to move forward. A student would need to earn mostly summary judgments of Proficient (5-6) on the course learning targets to earn this letter grade.
C (3.0-4.5) - A “C” letter grade communicates that a student has a basic understanding of the academic learning of a course. This student has attained the minimum required knowledge and skills to move on to the next course by earning summary judgments of Nearly Proficient (3-4) or better on most learning targets.
D (2.0-3.0) - A “D” letter grade communicates that a student has not mastered enough of the required learning for the course to be successful moving forward. While a student receiving a “D” may move forward to the next course, this student will lack prerequisite learning and interventions may be necessary.
F (Below 2.0) - An “F” letter grade communicates that a student has not mastered enough academic learning in a course to appropriately move on to the next course. This student would have earned mostly Developing (1-2) on the summary judgments for this course. High school students will not receive credit on their transcripts.
I hope that information helps as you are looking over the coming report cards. As always, if you have questions or concerns don’t hesitate to reach out.
Happy End of Semester 1!
Jared Freeman
Principal
For Your Calendars
- Every Wednesday - All Students Released at 2:20 pm
- Monday, January 28th - No School - Grading Day
- Thursday, January 31st - Preparing, financially, for College - MP Library @ 6:30pm
- Friday, February 1st to Tuesday, February 26th - ONE HEART, ONE CHOICE Fundraiser - Middle Schools in the Beaverton School District Support the American Heart Association
One Heart, One Choice Fundraiser starts Friday, February 1st!
- On Friday, February 1st, we are asking EVERY student at Meadow Park to wear RED in honor of kicking off our One Heart, One Choice district-wide middle school fundraiser benefiting the American Heart Association. 7th grade leadership students will be at every entrance to our school that morning. We are asking that ALL Meadow Park students come together and each donate $1 or $2 - or MORE if they would like ($5/$10). Our fundraising philosophy this year is EVERYONE making a small difference makes a BIG difference. If students donate $1 on February 1st - they will receive a "heart" sticker to wear throughout the day representing their commitment to make a difference. If they donate $2 (or more) they will receive a heart sticker to wear throughout the day and a red rubber One Heart, One Choice - Meadow Park bracelet to wear throughout the month, representing their commitment to make a difference all month long. We will be announcing our first day PUMP IT UP momentum by the end of the day - announcing it on Instagram and in our Newsletter with a variety of photos capturing all of our students dressed in RED. Let's show the American Heart Association how committed we are to supporting them!
MYP Unit Highlight
MYP Unit Statement of Inquiry: The creation of hypothetical civilizations help in understanding of relationships, patterns and trends in culture.
Jay Ashkinos’ 6th grade students went on an archeological excavation! Each of his 6th grade core classes (two teams) created their own ancient civilization’s culture and artifacts as a collaborative class effort! Students needed to decide on their imagined culture’s values, beliefs, government, language, economy, how they perished, etc. in complete secrecy from each other, and then created many artifacts to represent the synthesis of their ideas. They then buried these artifacts in student-built archaeological dig pits for the other team to find. Under the direction of their student-elected Crew Chief, each team then excavated and tried to reconstruct the artifacts that they unearthed. After careful analysis to determine the use and value of each artifact, the teams prepared to release their findings via a multimedia presentation that was presented by each Crew Chief during a final celebration of discovery. Would each team unlock the mysteries of these lost hypothetical civilizations?
Congratulations to our Meadow Park Geography Bee Winner!
Our top ten finalists were amazing this morning during the Meadow Park Geo Bee 2019 competition! They were nervous but poised. The amount of knowledge they exhibited was impressive and inspiring. A job well done to Sophia, Nate, Shankari, Jesse, Praneel, Chase, and Zhi Yang. Congratulations to our top three Geo Bee winners!
Third Place: Arjun Malpani
Second Place: David Lee
First Place (second year in a row): Aidan Wood
Our champion, Aidan Wood, will take a National Geographic test on January 31st here at Meadow Park in hopes of qualifying for the state competition later this spring. We wish him the best of luck!
Prepare, financially, for college. Please join us!
What? Financial planning for college!
Where? Meadow Park Library
When? Thursday, January 31st 6:30pm - 7:30pm
Why? It is critical that we all learn how to financially prepare for college. Two highly qualified presenters are ready to share key information and answer questions. To learn more about this evening, read this College Financial Planning Event Flyer.
Do not miss out on this great opportunity!
Meadow Park's Winter Choir Concert
The students were very upset when our Winter Choir Concert was cancelled prior to winter break, but last night they still were able to "wow" our audiences and bring joy to many through their fabulous program. We are so proud of all of our singers - it was their night to shine!
Celebrate Hard Work!
The Elks Lodge Hoop Shoot
Last Saturday, three of our very own Meadow Park Eagles competed in the local Elks Lodge Hoop Shoot, winning their respective age divisions at the local level. They emerged, from 25 competitors at Meadow Park, as the top free throw shooters at Meadow. What's next? They will now move on to the district hoop shoot to be held on Saturday, February 2nd. We congratulate the following Gabby Jones (8th Grade), Luis Padilla (6th Grade) and Max Bird (6th Grade). Go Eagles!
Does your son or daughter want a Meadow Park Yearbook? - Deadline Coming!
About Meadow Park Middle School
Email: jared_freeman@beaverton.k12.or.us
Website: https://www.beaverton.k12.or.us/schools/meadow-park/
Location: 14100 Southwest Downing Street, Beaverton, OR, USA
Phone: (503)356-2640
Facebook: facebook.com/meadowparkmiddleschool
Twitter: @mpmseagles