Letter from the Principal - November 4th

 

November 4, 2021

Dear Great Falls Families,

We will be wrapping up the 1st trimester of our academic year in the coming weeks. Our staff is preparing to share your child’s first progress report. You obtained information regarding your child’s progress at the most recent Parent-Student-Teacher conference and will receive a more formalized report on Friday, December 3rd. 

Teachers will report out by trimester within our grading and reporting system called JumpRope.  This means that each trimester JumpRope will calculate only the grades given within that time frame.  The most recent scores will count more than scores given early in the trimester.  Students will be provided multiple opportunities to demonstrate proficiency throughout each trimester and across the school year. 

JumpRope report cards will be sent home via email unless a paper copy has been requested.  The report will be sent to the email address(s) provided to the school during opening days and is now listed in Infinite Campus.  Reach out to the main office if you need your contact information updated.

Skills for Life will be reported separately from academic knowledge and skills. This will help to create a grade report that can communicate a clearer picture of each student. 

After the year of hybrid learning, many students are presenting below where we would typically expect them to be both academically and socially. Our teachers are balancing addressing both social-emotional and achievement gaps along with teaching grade-level content to their students.  

It is possible that you may see 1’s (emergent) and 2’s (developing) vs. 3’s (proficient) and 4’s (distinguished) on your child’s report card as we continue to address the gaps in academic and social-emotional learning.  Understand that this is a work in progress and students will have multiple opportunities to demonstrate understanding of content throughout the school year. 

4	3.5	3	2.5	2	1
Distinguished	Exceeding Proficiency	Proficient	Approaching Proficiency	Developing	Emergent

 

Thank you for your ongoing support and partnership.  Please be sure to check out the Great Falls News frequently for important information. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to me at any time at becky.fortier@gorhamschools.org. 

Kindly,

Becky Fortier 

Great Falls Principal