Good evening CMS families.
I hope everyone is enjoying the warmth and sunshine! I wanted to give a few very quick and important updates regarding testing.
The State of Ohio has required that school districts develop Extended Learning Plans to identify and support students to "make-up for any learning that may have been lost or delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic." As a part of this plan, CMS has continued our focus on the use of student data to identify and guide this process.
Specifically, CMS will identify and refer students for participation in this summer's extended learning program based on two data points: the March 2021 administration of the MAP assessment, and student performance on the Ohio State Tests (AIR) in April and May. We will continue to approach these assessments by encouraging students to simply try their best, and we ask that all parents encourage students to put forth their best efforts on these assessments in order to ensure we can accurately and successfully support our students' needs.
The first data points will be gathered tomorrow, Tuesday, 3/23, and Wednesday, 3/24 when ALL CMS students will be taking the MAP assessments. Virtual students have received THIS e-mail from Mr. Tomco, and their google calendar meeting invites from teachers should have been / will be updated to reflect THIS testing schedule. Virtual families who are intending to use these test scores for gifted identification or course placement should have already contacted the appropriate school counselor to schedule in-person testing.
The second important data point will be in about a month. This past weekend the Ohio Legislature passed emergency HB67, which in part extended state testing windows. Due to this, the updated in-person CMS Ohio State Tests (AIR) will be:
- ELA: April 28 / 29
- Science: May 5/6
- Math: May 12/13
Now that these dates are finalized additional details will be shared with virtual families regarding the state-mandated in-person testing procedures for our blue model virtual students. Please look for this communication early next week.
Thank you for your continued support of our efforts to ensure high achievement for all students, where learning is our most important work!
-Timothy Velotta, CMS Principal