May 3, 2020

Dear Grant Families,

This is Mr. Effa with a Distance Learning update. We are continuing to follow the recommendation of the Governor’s Executive Order and local health organizations to practice Social Distancing. We will continue with Distance Learning until these recommendations change. The staff at school continue to prepare with these recommendations and are developing contingency plans for upcoming events such as the 8^th grade graduation and the return to school.

During our time in Social Distancing we have altered our means of teaching and learning. A large component of learning is student academic accomplishments. Our teachers have been hard at work determining the best method of measuring student progress of the curriculum we continue to present. Grant School has adopted what we feel is the most suitable means of assessment given the immediate transition from on-site learning to Distance Learning. Students will be assessed with a credit/no credit measurement as to their progress of the curriculum covered during Distance Learning. This will be reflected on the end of the trimester grading reports that will come out in June. When students start at their new grade level next year, they will be given preassements to place a focus on standards that may need review as the transition starts into a new year of learning.

As a means to provide communication on academic progress with our seventh and eighth grade parents we will send out progress reports this Friday for 7^th and 8^th graders.

In our continuing evolvement of Distance Learning we constantly look for ways to improve. Parents can use this link https://forms.gle/2oPer82Px3bAXbpu8 to provide feedback on their Distance Learning experience. Let us know how it is working for you and your child and if there are ways to make it easier to navigate.

One more announcement for 8^th graders: The 8th grade team is collecting photos for a class photo collage of each student wearing a face mask. Please send those photos to Marikit del-Rosario-Sabet by May 15^th

I want to express my continued appreciation for flexibility as we monitor and improve our Distance Learning practices and we continue to prepare students for the future.

This is Mr. Effa signing off,

Go Cougars.