Letter from the MC Principal

Hello Middle Campus families,

I wanted to start off with a couple notes about ManageBac and some of the information you can find when you login regarding what’s going on at school. Every two weeks you can read teacher messages letting you know about what is going on in class (the next round of messages will go out this Friday – September 9th). MAP scores from the fall administration will be uploaded to ManageBac by the end of this week. Additionally, in the next few weeks as teachers begin to wrap up their first units you will begin to see more information in ManageBac regarding student progress. 

In the last IB Parent/Caregiver session we talked about the difference between formative and summative assessment. Formative assessments are checks for understanding that can range from small check-ins to quizzes or low-stakes assessments that give a teacher an idea of how well a student is understanding the content being taught in class. Additionally, teachers use this information to inform how they will adjust instruction.

In order to communicate how students are progressing as they work their way through a unit, teachers are going to begin posting formative data in ManageBac. At least once per unit teachers will post formative data that indicates whether a student is demonstrating Limited Progress, Adequate Progress, or Substantial Progress towards the aims of the current unit. Limited Progress indicates that the student is struggling with the content, Adequate Progress indicates that a student is doing well in class and is tracking to produce good quality work on the summative assessment, and Substantial Progress indicates that a student is tracking towards producing high quality work on the summative assessment. Formative data is a CHECK-IN though. A student could still outperform OR UNDERperform what is indicated by the formative data. However, we want to communicate this information leading up to the summative so that parents are informed about student progress, and so that students can make adjustments to get back on track if necessary.

Our next IB Parent/Caregiver session will be focused on assessment. There will be a morning session on Wednesday, September 21st and an evening session on Thursday, September 22nd. Look for more details and a link to register in the Courier next week.

We are looking forward to seeing you at Meet the School Family Night tomorrow evening. Here are a few reminders.

• The focus of Meet the School Family Night is for you to have some face time with your student’s teachers. Our teachers have recorded videos about themselves and their classes so that you can learn more about them prior to the event. Those teacher videos are linked here.
• Please watch the teacher videos before coming to the event so you have a headstart on getting to know the teachers. We estimate it should take you 30-45 minutes to watch the FAQs video and your child’s 8 subject area videos. If you have a 7th grader be sure to ask them for their teacher names if you don’t already know them. Since almost everyone teaches 7th grade, knowing your students’ teachers’ names will be helpful in choosing the correct videos.
• Meet the School Family Night is a drop-in event from 6:30 to 8:00pm. There is no opening or closing gathering or presentation so come whenever you can. It will be helpful to us for families to spread their arrivals across the 90 minutes rather than all coming at the beginning or the end. 
• The event is outside in The Backyard (formerly known as the recess field). Please enter through the back gate on Eastwood Avenue. The building entrances will not be open.
• Masks are optional. 
• Feel free to bring your middle school children and children of other ages as well if you need to. They will need to stay with you, but all are welcome. There will NOT be recess equipment outside for students to play with. We want to keep everyone safe given that people will be walking around and we don’t want people to run into playing children.
• Another VERY IMPORTANT note. This is not an individual conference event. Be sure to share the available time with other parents as you are getting to know your child’s teachers and advisor(s). If you would like to have an in-depth conversation with a teacher please reach out to them directly. 

Finally, school pictures will be taken next week on Thursday the 15th, with make-ups on Thursday the 22nd for students who miss day one.

As always if you have any questions feel free to reach out.

Kind regards,

Mark

Mark Sanders

Mark Sanders began teaching at ANCS in 2011. Before coming to the school, Mr. Sanders worked in New York City. He spent three years teaching 7th and 8th grade mathematics at Middle School 50 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and two years at Harlem Village Academies teaching Geometry and Algebra 2/Trigonometry. He taught 8th grade Math/Science/Technology at ANCS for five years.