Dear Mountain Meadow Community:
I hope this note finds you well. It was fantastic to see each of you at conferences. I hope that
conferences provided a time for you and your student to celebrate growth and look ahead to
new goals. It was fun to read one of my childhood favorites, Dr. Seuss’ classic tale, Yertle the
Turtle, during evening conferences. With Spring Break and an early release on the 28th, April
has a short academic calendar.
Although the Measure of Student Progress (MSP), which is the replacement for the WASL, is
not until May, I wanted to take sometime to preview it with you. At Mountain Meadow, we
work diligently the entire year to ensure student learning by planning, teaching, and assessing
collaboratively in grade level teams so that we can ensure student learning unit by unit. We
believe that if we have ensured learning throughout the year, our students will perform well
on the MSP.
You can rest assured that our intermediate students (grades 3-5) are working diligently with
their teachers to prepare for the MSP. Third graders will take a reading and math assessment.
Fourth graders will take a reading, math, and writing, which is a two-part assessment. Fifth
graders will take a reading, math, and science assessment. Please make sure that your third,
fourth, and fifth graders attend school during the MSP testing window, May 5-21. The MSP
will show how your student is meeting state standards. As we have done with the WASL,
teacher will use the test results to better their instructional practice so that they may
successfully meet the needs of all students.
Although the test name and format changed, the core of the MSP is very similar to the WASL.
The major change your student will notice is that the reading and math portions will contain
more multiple choice and fewer extended response questions. This may sound minor but it
does compel a shift in test-taking strategy. In order to do well and show all that they know
students will need to work through the questions thoroughly before they indicate their
answer. One strategy that students have learned for math is CCC: cover, compute, compare.
Your child’s teacher will be sending home a testing schedule after Spring Break. Please
collaborate with us to help make your child as successful as possible. Please make sure your
student gets adequate rest, has a good breakfast, and attends school everyday during the
testing window. Also, please give your students an extra bit of encouragement. Give them a
hug; tell them that you believe in them, and that you know that they will do well.
Have a fantastic Spring Break!
Adam Uhler, Principal
P.O. Box 2390  11812 Mundy Loss Road East  Buckley, WA 98321  (360) 829-3356  FAX (360) 829-3388  Adam Uhler, Principal