Eagle Eye with Mr. Cope
Opening Thought:
Vacation Bible School, Smores, camping, hot dogs, hamburgers, baseball, swimming, pool parties, grilling, campfires, biking, hiking, longer daylight, sleeping in, popsicles, road trips, fireflies, flip flops, the beach, and sunglasses. These are all words that come to mind when I think of summer break. Summer is so much fun, but I think what I love the most is making memories that last a lifetime with friends and family. This summer I hope you enjoy the summer but are able to find rest in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
End of school year:
Hopefully your student(s) really enjoyed the last month of school with all the end of the year activities. It was very busy but hopefully a lot of fun with many memories made. Teachers also worked really hard trying to get through all of their curriculum prior to the end of the year. With all of the end of year activities and students dreaming of summer, we appreciated all your prayers and reminders to help keep their minds focused on schoolwork. Hopefully this past year, each student grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man (Luke 2:52).
End of Year Testing:
Our students in k-10 each take tests that are called Measures of Academic Progress or MAP. It is an adaptive test that they take on the computer. It is a type of interim or benchmark testing that we take multiple times a year. For middle and high school, the students take it twice a year and our elementary students three times a year. The main focus of MAP is to show the amount of growth that a student learned throughout the year and help the teacher know exactly what each student is ready to learn. This past year, we were able to show a lot of growth especially in the field of Mathematics. In Math, at the beginning of the year our scores showed that we started in 58th percentile of all schools that take MAP in the United States. At the end of the year we placed in 61st percentile. For the amount of schools that take the test (public and private) that was a huge amount of growth. For Reading and Language, the growth wasn’t quite as high but in Reading we ended at 66th percentile and 70th percentile in Language. So the growth wasn’t as high in those subjects but as a school we scored higher overall compared to Math. This is just one assessment and we know that some students are not good test takers, but these scores help the teachers break down what each student is ready to learn at the beginning of next school year. It also helps us reflect on our teaching style, lesson plans, curriculum, and overall process to help our students succeed. Also, all students in Kindergarten -10th grade should have received their individual scores sent home during the last week of school. If you have any questions from those results, please contact the front office.
Graduates:
Hopefully you were able to join us for our senior graduation or have reached out to our graduates to personally congratulate them. I was so proud of the way they were able to serve and then share about their trip to Guatemala, were able to present their senior presentations to our staff, finish out the school year strong, present themselves in a professional way at graduation, and just be an example to our younger students. Please pray for each of them as they transition into the next part of their journey in life and get ready to share the love of Christ to a lost and dying world.
Summer Reading and Summer Math:
We want our students to be able to enjoy their summer but also we want to try and avoid what educators call the summer slump. To help us keep our students on track academically to start the next school year, please try to have your students complete their summer reading and math work. It should have been sent home the last week of school and possibly emailed to you as well. Any questions, please contact your child’s teacher(s).
New Staff: I want to announce and welcome these people to our staff for next school year:
Denise Kennedy is transitioning from the ELC to be our new Pre-k Teacher
Desiree Garcia: Our new Pre/k - 6th Grade Spanish Teacher
Sophie Bramble: Our new High school History Teacher
Justin Murray: Our new 8th-12th Grade English Teacher
Please remember to pray for these people as they transition into these roles. Also, prior to the start of the new school year, we will try to have a little bio from each of these people to introduce themselves.
Prayer Requests: Many people have asked how to pray for the school. Here are some ways to pray for our school especially over the summer and transition into a new school year:
Pray for Revival
Pray for safety for all our staff and students
Pray that staff and students can rest in the Lord and come back to school refreshed
Pray that our students would have positive peer influences
Pray for planning and preparation for the upcoming school year
Pray to that we can fill our open positions
Final Thoughts: The entire school year seemed to go by in a blink of an eye. It was exactly a year ago that our family moved here from Iowa. It has been an honor and privilege to be the principal for this past school year. I believe that it went well and can’t wait to see what the Lord has in store for this upcoming school year. Thank you for your continued support.
