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Posted February 19, 2021
2/19/2021
Dear Merrill families:
We will begin the Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS) assessments on 3/22/2021 These Assessments are aligned to the Colorado Academic Standards, which are statewide expectations of what students should know and be able to do at the end of each grade. The standards incorporate future skills and essential knowledge that the next generation will need to be successful in college and careers. The CMAS assessments focus on three different content areas this year, depending upon the grade your child is in:
These assessments are important because students and teachers work hard all year, and these tests allow students to demonstrate their incredible growth. Additionally, the data from these assessments allow teachers to see how their students are performing against the standards in order to inform instruction and adjust practice.
Calendar: A tentative calendar is included in this letter to provide you the dates your child will be testing. We ask parents and families to ensure their children get plenty of sleep and eat a healthy breakfast every day, but especially on assessment days. In addition, if there are doctor’s appointments or other appointments that need to be made, we hope this calendar will help you to make those appointments on non-assessment days. Please also make sure your student brings their charged DPS device to school each day so that it can be used for testing.
While we believe that these tests are important, we understand that some families may decide they do not want to come in-person to participate in testing this year due to COVID-19. All testing must be done in person as there is no remote testing option. If you choose to opt out, you must fill out the opt out form located in the Parent Portal under the Academics tab by clicking on the link for Complete Assessment Opt-Out Form. This form is available for both students learning in-person and those learning in the virtual program. Please complete this form no later than February 26 as this information is vital to our planning process. We need to have an exact count of students who will and will not be participating so that we can adjust staffing, testing schedules and adhere to all health and safety guidelines.
If you are participating in the virtual learning option and you wish to have your child participate in CMAS testing this year, please email CHRISTINA_SYLVESTER@dpsk12.org to let us know by February 26. This information is very important in allowing us to plan for testing and we appreciate your cooperation in letting us know as soon as possible.
We appreciate your support during this time. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me. Thank you!!
Dr. Christina Sylvester
Principal
Merrill Middle School