Mesa Middle School
Go Bears!!!
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT STATE TESTING: WE NEED HELP FROM EVERYONE
Hello Mesa Families,
At Mesa, we are fortunate enough to have amazing students and a phenomenally supportive community. In Douglas County, we recognize there are various opinions about State testing such at CMAS and PARCC.
The challenge is that the state uses this data alone to rate schools. In past years, we have had a low participation rate which we believe impacts our results. If 50% of your friends are not taking the test how serious would you take the test?
Additionally, for some of those students who do take the test we have data to support that they are not working to their full potential. Last year we had over 10% of our student finish a 3 hour test in approximately 70 minutes.
As a result of our scores from last year, Mesa is a Priority Improvement School. The state tells us that if we do not move out of that rating after a number of years, they could close the school down or change it into a Charter school.
We are doing amazing work at Mesa, but right now our public face does not match what is actually taking place. We need everyone’s help in getting better. Internally, we have focused on providing additional supports to our students and increasing the rigor or our educational program.
We are asking students to give their best effort on the test because if Mesa does poorly, there may be a negative impact to our school. We truly believe giving our best effort in everything we do is an important value to communicate and pass on to our students.
We will be holding parent information sessions on Tuesday, March 27th at 5 pm, Thursday, March 29th at 7:30 am and 4:30 pm and on Monday, April 2nd at 5:30 pm to share more information. The sessions will be at Mesa in the library.
If you cannot make any of these sessions, please contact the school and I will be happy to meet with you individually.
Sincerely,
Tony Jackowski
Principal
The Polar Plunge supporting the Special Olympics
Douglas County All State Choir
The Colorado Middle School All State Choir
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.
We want to provide a Balanced Assessment System that includes a variety of formative, interim, and summative assessments.
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 PARCC are the backbone of the state’s accountability system. The state uses PARCC 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/communications/stateassessmentsandacademicachievement
Counseling Corner
On February 14th, the counseling department created a Valentine's Day activity for students. Each student received two hearts that they could keep or give away to other students. A simple heart and a few kind words helped to create a positive school culture. Happy Valentines Day from the Mesa Counselors!
Dr. Seuss Day
Mesa Staff Recognizing the R-word Day
Mesa PTO Message
Thank you for everyone who said that they were interested in a PTO position. We are announcing the new 2018/2019 Mesa PTO on April 18th, 7 pm at the Astro Tap House. Our next Spirit Night is April 19th, all day, at Chick-fil-A. Please mention Mesa Middle School at the register to help raise funds. All of our fundraising efforts have made a difference in providing support for students and staff throughout the year, like a grant for International Towne.
Thank you,
Mesa PTO Presidency
IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES:
State Testing Information Sessions for Parents/Guardians Tuesday, March, 27th @ 5:00 pm - Mesa Library Thursday, March, 29th @ 7:30 pm - Mesa Library Monday, April, 2nd @ 5:30 pm - Mesa Library 3/30/18- 3 on 3 Hoops for Hope 3:00 pm- 5:00 pm 4/2/18-SAC meeting-Mesa Library- 5:00 - 7:00 pm 4/3/18- PARCC Testing -8th grade and entire Grizzly Team 4/4/18- PARCC Testing -7th grade 4/5/18- PARCC Testing -8th grade and entire Grizzly Team 4/6/18- End of Second 6 week grading period for 2nd semester 4/10/18- PARCC testing- 7th grade 4/11/18- PARCC Testing -8th grade and entire Grizzly Team 4/11/18- Spring Musical Performance- Mesa Students 3:00 pm 4/12/18- PARCC testing- 7th grade 4/12/18- Spring Musical Performance- 7:00 pm 4/13/18-Spring Musical Performance- 7:00 pm 4/14/18-Spring Musical Performance- 7:00 pm 4/16/18- Costa Rica Reunited 5:30 pm-6:30 pm 4/17/18- CMAS Testing- 8th grade 4/18/18- CMAS Testing-8th grade Grizzly Team only 7:30 am-9:18 am 4/19/18- Spirit Night at Chick-Fil-A 4/20/18- No School- teacher comp day 4/24/18- 8th grade Panoramic picture 9:30 am 4/27/18- Spring Dance - 3:00 pm-4:30 pm 4/30/18-5/4/18 - 6th grade tours 5/1/18- Career Day 5/3/- 5/4/18- International Town - Atlas Team 5/7- 5/11/18- Teacher/ Staff appreciation week 5/10/18- International Town- Polar team 5/11/18- 8th Grade Dance- 6:00 pm- 8:00 pm 5/14/18- Spring Band Concert- 6:30 pm 5/15/18- Spring Orchestra Concert- 6:30 pm 5/16/18- International Town- 5/17/18- Spring Choir Concert- 6:30 pm 5/18/18- 8th Grade Elitch Gardens Field Trip 5/23/18- 8th Grade Celebration Ceremony-8:15 am- 9:15 am 5/24/18- Carnival Day 5/25/18- End of 2nd Semester grading period 5/25/18- Last Day of School (early dismissal 10:35 am) 5/25/18- Yearbook signing