Mesa Middle School
Wow, so much has happened since the last newsletter!!!
Principal's Message
Dear Mesa Families,
Over the last two months, we have had more activities, events, won more awards, and had a number of celebrations. We hope to capture a small piece of what has been taking place at Mesa in this newsletter.
I think at this point, you are sick of hearing about state testing, but I am going to include it one more time as we approach the testing season on March 31st:
The Colorado Department of Education released the Preliminary 2019 School Performance Framework (SPF) to school districts. These ratings are intended to hold districts and schools accountable for performance on the same single set of academic achievement and growth indicators and measures.
Mesa Middle School will be on a Performance Plan for the 2019-2020 school year (the highest rating possible). To be identified as a Performance school the overall SPF needs to be at or above 53.0. Mesa's score was at 71.0. While we recognize there are various opinions and views regarding state testing we thank everyone for their support around this rating.
We believe that Mesa is an amazing school and we look to create an environment where students feel safe and cared for, and as a result, can grow academically, socially, and emotionally. In addition, we have a supportive community where parents/guardians recognize the positive school experience their students receive at Mesa Middle School.
We will need everyone's help with our upcoming testing season as well. The calendar below includes our state testing schedule. Please contact me with any questions.
Sincerely,
Tony Jackowski
Principal
State Assessment: The Why, The How, and The What
Why?
We can see how a child is performing relative to other students at Mesa Middle School, within the district, and state.
It prepares students for standardized assessments that they will take in high school, college (SAT, ACT, LSAT, MCAT, etc.) or other vocational programs.
We can make informed decisions and choices for our students. Test data is used by administration and staff to drive instruction/curriculum and professional development choices.
Test data may identify learning gaps that can be addressed.
Identification of districts and schools that have struggling students, so help can be provided.
There is a correlation of state test scores and property value.
How are the results used?
As part of a BODY of EVIDENCE, state assessments are used to:
drive instruction for a student,
identify targeted interventions,
place students in appropriate classes at the middle school level as well as high school,
identify gifted and talented students during the identification process, and
determine effectiveness in regards to instruction and determine whether Mesa’s instructional practices are effective.
What happens with the data?
CDE is committed to ensuring that data on individual students are secure. CDE does not report individual student data to the federal government; the department has strict policies and procedures in place to maintain data security. For more information on data privacy and security please go to: http://www.cde.state.co.us/dataprivacyandsecurity
The results of CMAS are the backbone of the state’s accountability system. The state uses CMAS data to populate the annual school and district performance frameworks which is the result in accreditation ratings for each school and district. If schools do poorly on the state exam there is an impact to the building.
Excerpts taken from this CDE link: http://www.cde.state.co.us/comm
Celebrating Women in Sports
The Change Maker's Club
This Awesome Mesa student Robbie Howard made his own skateboard in his Innovation and Design class! Great Job Robbie!
Guest Author Visit
Mesa Students
Mesa's Colorguard
This season, our winter guard has been doing incredibly well, putting up record high scores. This past Saturday, 2-29-20, they competed at Loveland High School. At finals, they scored an unbelievable 90.79, unheard of for a mid-season score. This score is already within one point of last year's final State Championship winning score. There has been talk in the RMCGA and judging community about this incredible Mesa Middle School winter guard and how talented beyond their years they are. RMCGA wants our guard to try moving up from our Middle School class to competing in the Scholastic Regional A class, the beginning level for high schoolers. The judges feel we would be competitive there, even against older guards. To be asked to move up a class this in this age group is an incredible honor, and everyone should be incredibly proud of what our winter guard students have accomplished this season so far with our show, "Enter Sandman".
A link to the video of the Loveland performance. If you see any of the following students, please congratulate them:
Natasha Heth, Peyton Clark, Seanna Sauer, Abigail Shoemaker, Morgan Dimock, Kyra Shipp
Katie Ross, Mira Kelly, Natalie Carmody, Kira Kyung, Ismena Cruz, Dakota Bunce, Alix Williams, Cierra Cervantes, Hailey Frank, Abigail Parkinson, Abigail Hoekstra, Katrina Hall
Club Day
Mesa's Book Fair: Thank you for the support!!!
TSA Competition
Congratulations to Mesa's TSA. All students did such a great job representing Mesa at the state Conference. We had six teams in semifinals, three teams score 3rd place, and one team score 1st. Also, please congratulate Jason Kasper. His knowledge and teaching pedagogy were a prime factor in the students’ success!
TSA Members
Aryssa Cote (3rd place in Assistive Technology)
Bella Mastreno (1st place in Mass Production)
Daniel Aguilar
Lorenzo Arguelo
Collin Balacuit (3rd place in Assistive Tech. and Forensic Tech,)
Nicole Balacuit
Kembree Clark
Peyton Clark
Weslee Hales (3rd place in Video Game Design)
Andrew Hill (3rd place in Video Game Design)
Calleigh Keller
Andrew Kilman
Sami Laforest (1st place in Mass Production)
Mathew Lockwood
Juliet Mendik
Mikiera Miller
Matthew Monaghan (3rd place in Video Game Design)
Aidan Myers
Jacob Newman
Aidan Page
Katie Ross
Richard Seme (3rd place in Video Game Design)
Joseph Stech (3rd place in Forensic Tech.)
Polar Plunge
Rock Ridge Elementary
Counselor’s Corner
Hello MMS Families. The Counseling Department has been very busy providing support to your students this month even as we prepare for next year. We have completed our course registration meetings for 7th and 8th. We are planning to meet with our new 5th grade students that will be joining us as 6th graders next year--we are VERY excited! We are scheduling tours in May for our incoming 6th and 7th grade students. We have various small groups going. The new groups this quarter will be an Executive Function Group, a Friendship Group, an Anxiety Group, as well as a couple Time Management Groups.
Upcoming Events
Mesa Activity Day--Thursday, March 5, 3:00 to 4:00 p.m., Mesa Commons
Join us for an hour of healthy activity stations including free snacks, therapy dogs, cornhole, games, fingernail painting and more!
LINK for more information.
Career Day
Mesa students want to know what you do at work! Mesa’s Annual Career Day is Wednesday, April 29th, and we need presenters (like you) to spend the morning with our students describing “a day in the life” at your job. For more information (or to confirm your spot) please click on this link or contact the counseling office: jwelcom@dcsdk12.org (303) 387-4772.
Community Wellness Night at Mountain Vista High School March 9 7-9 pm
Please know that we are honored to serve your child(ren) and give us a call or send an email if we can be of service to you.
Your Mesa Middle School Counseling Department
8th Grade Last Names A-K Ann Halcromb 303-387-4771 ann.halcromb@dcsdk12.org
8th Grade Last Names L-Z Andrea Kovach 303-387-4766 andrea.kovach@dcsdk12.org
7th Grade Last Names A-J Christy Graham 303-387-4765 cgraham1@dcsdk12.org
7th Grade Last Names K-Z Jessica Zimmerman 303-387-4869 jzimmerman1@dcsdk12.org
Counselor for PREvention Glenn (GT) Thompson 303-387-4764 gthompson1@dcsdk12.org
Counseling Administrative Asst. Jennifer Welcom 303-387-4772 jwelcom@dcsdk12.org
Congrats to our students who won a new book and to another who won a jar of gummy worms after correctly guessing the total amount!
Daughters of the American Revolution Annual American History Essay Contest
Mesa Apple Award Representatives
Congratulations to Sophia Johnson, the winner of our Reading Challenge at Mesa.
Important Dates:
3/5/20- Healthy activity day at Mesa in the commons
3/6/20-Dr. Seuss Day Read Across America
3/9/20- Mesa Spirit Night @ Chick-Fil-A
3/10/20- Choir Music Showcase - 6:30 pm
3/11/20- NJHS Induction Ceremony - 6-7 pm
3/12/20- Kickball Game/Tournament 3:00 - 4:30 pm
3/16 - 3/20/20- NO SCHOOL - Spring Break
3/25/20- Mesa PTO Mtg @ 5:30 in the Mesa Library
3/24/20- Passport to Mesa- Incoming 6th Graders 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
3/26/20- International Towne - Polar Team
3/27/20- Pep Assembly (Assembly Schedule)
3/27/20- International Towne - Polar Team
3/31/20- CMAS Testing 8th ELA/Math
4/1/20- CMAS Testing 7th ELA/Math
4/2/20- CMAS Testing 8th ELA/Math
4/3/20- End of Second 6 Week Grading Period for Second Semester
4/3/20- CMAS Testing 7th ELA/Math
4/7/20- CMAS Testing 8th ELA/Math
4/8/20- CMAS Testing 7th ELA/Math
4/9/20- CMAS Testing 8th Science
4/10/20- CMAS Testing 7th Social Studies
4/14/20- Mesa Spirit Nights - Smart Cow
4/17/20- No School
4/20/20- NO SCHOOL - Teacher PD Day