April 30, 2021

Weekly Notes

#29 from Ms. Gilley

Monday, May 3^rd Cohort A

Tuesday, May 4^th Cohort B

·         Teacher Appreciation Day!!

Wednesday, May 5^th Cohort A

Thursday, May 6^th Cohort B

·         Nurses Day!!

Friday, May 7^th Cohort A

·         Progress report grades close for quarter 4

Dear Families,

The Maine Educational Assessments (MEA) includes required assessments in Mathematics, English Language Arts (ELA)/Literacy, and Science.  For the 2020-21 administration, Maine will be using the NWEA for grades 3-8 and third-year high school students in Mathematics and ELA/Literacy. Students in grades 5, 8 and third year of high school will participate in the Maine Science assessment. Students in grades 3-8 and third year of high school with the most significant cognitive disabilities will continue to participate in the Multi State Alternate Assessment (MSAA) to asses Mathematics and ELA/Literacy and the MSAA Science which aligns to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). All assessments are administered online.  

The assessment administration windows during Spring 2021 are as follows:

We plan to administer the ELA/Literacy assessment the week of May 10^th. We plan to begin our Math assessment on May 21^st. We will let you know when the Science assessment will be given.

As a parent, you may use the information from the assessments to help support your student at home and engage in a discussion with your student’s teacher to identify what, if any, additional supports may be necessary in school. Teachers use this information, in combination with other forms of local data, to guide their instruction and provide more personalized activities and learning opportunities for students. While no single assessment can give a complete picture of achievement, when combined with other measures, these data provide important information about student progress. When a student does not participate in the state assessment, valuable information is lost.

Both the Maine Department of Education and our district are working to limit the amount of student assessment at the state and district level while ensuring that assessments provide meaningful, actionable information for teachers, students and families. We are confident that with the quality instruction delivered by our dedicated educators and your support, students are prepared for success. We encourage you to reach out to your child’s teacher or the building administrator with any questions you may have about the MEA or your student’s progress.

Thank you,

Carole Gilley

Principal

Waterville Junior High School

Maine Compass Career Collaborative Offers

Comprehensive On-Demand College and Career Resources

The Maine Compass Career Collaborative virtual experience will open to all of Maine’s middle and high school students, free of charge, on April 26, 2021.

GEAR UP Maine and JMG are partnering to create the Maine Compass Career Collaborative, an on-demand career and post-secondary resource for Maine’s students in grades 7 through 12. The site will be universally accessible to all middle school and high school students in Maine.  

“This is not a one-time event. The site will always be ‘open’ with on-demand resources to help students develop real-world skills and explore all of the post-secondary and career pathway opportunities that exist in Maine,” explains Debbie Gilmer, President of Syntiro, the non-profit organization that leads Maine’s GEAR UP grant. GEAR UP Maine is a statewide initiative, in collaboration with the University of Maine at Farmington, to support students on pathways to high school graduation and post-secondary education. 

The site will include information about Maine’s public university and community college systems, private colleges such as Thomas College, and other programs that support post-secondary education such as the Bridge Academy and the Alfond Scholarship Foundation. It will also provide an on-going resource for students to learn the wide variety and increasing number of post-secondary credentials offered directly by Maine’s employers such as the E.J. Prescott UP training program.

“We wanted to include the word “Collaborative” in the title of the Maine Compass Career Collaborative because we are actively seeking partners to join us in this effort. It will launch as soon as students return from spring break, but we will continue to add content in the coming months and it will be free to students,” says Craig Larrabee, CEO and President of JMG. “In addition to being informational, it’s also going to be a lot of fun for students. We look forward to welcoming more partners as we continue to build this platform.”

The Maine Compass Career Collaborative will include a post-secondary exploration hall, an employer engagement experience, financial literacy education, information about how to write a resume and apply for college and jobs, digital literacy resources, including how students can be their own brand ambassadors, and additional support such as public speaking and professional dress guides.

Registration for the platform will open on April 26, 2021 and links to the Maine Career Compass Collaborative will be posted on the JMG web site (www.jmg.org) and the GEAR UP Maine web site (www.gearupme.org). The site is free of charge to all middle and high school students in Maine, and any educators who are supporting them.