Rimrock Raider Newsletter

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week, and I'd like to open this newsletter by expressing my gratitude for every one of our teachers. I have been part of many high-performing teams in my career, and this year's staff is exemplary . . . their collective commitment to our mission of delivering a high-quality education is crucial to the many successes our students have had this year, and we are fortunate to have every single one of them. They go above and beyond each day to help our students. Thank you to all our teachers!

We are just about to the end of this school year, and before we put the finishing touches on projects and exams and final grades, I want to mention a few of the great things we have had going on in Rimrock over the past month.

Last week we completed our annual ISAT testing, which is the standardized Idaho assessment that evaluates Grades 6 - 8 and 11 in Math, Language Arts, and Science. These tests give us an idea of how proficient our students are in each subject area, which essentially means are they performing appropriately for their grade level. Separately, we are conducting what is called MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) testing over the last few weeks in certain classes as well. These MAP tests deliver somewhat different information for our teachers to use, as they are normed nationally (rather than against the state), and give us a clearer picture of student growth (improvement) over the course of the year (we also took MAP tests in September and in December). Combined, these tests both help us see where our students are excelling, and where we can focus more of our efforts so as to deliver a better education for our students. We look forward to seeing our scores, as we are confident they will reflect the time and effort both our teachers and students have invested this year.Going into next school year, we will use this data to refine our preparations, planning, and curriculum so we can continuously improve and become better for our students and community.

Part of our efforts to improve relate to motivating students and rewarding excellence. To that end, this year we introduced Class Power Rankings, which combine academics, standardized testing, behavior, attendance, and school spirit points for each grade to recognize which classes are 'leading the charge' in terms of performance. So far this year, the Seniors are narrowly leading the 8th graders in the overall race, but our final class power rankings will be released at the end of the week (once we have all our ISAT scores back), and the winning class will receive a pizza party sponsored by Student Body Government.

In addition to the Power Rankings, we've also sought to recognize and reward individual academic excellence this year. We look forward to calculating and releasing our Honor Roll again at the end of the semester, and we area also planning a special "High Honors" field trip to the Bruneau Dunes on May 16th. This will be for all students maintaining an "A" average (3.67 semester GPA or above) as of this week.

Sources of Strength has also been very active, with a guest facilitator hosting weekly activities for our Junior High students. Emphasis has been on building healthy connections, recognizing students' unique strengths, and having fun. We believe this program is building a great foundation for a positive school culture in the coming years.

Finally, I'd like to highlight our Senior Class as they have ALL completed their Senior Projects, which entails multiple components including the project itself, a Senior Paper, and a Senior Presentation presented to a panel of school and community members. Every one of our seniors successfully met these requirements more than a month before graduation. Now they only need to finish out their remaining classes and they will be ready to graduate in a few short weeks!

We are of course nearing the end of Spring sports season as well. It has been a rollercoaster of a Spring with challenging weather and some unfortunate injuries, but we have also had some great successes.

High School Track has been on a roll under the guidance of coach Amanda Dygert, with numerous personal bests and a school record, with many athletes still looking to peak for their District meet this coming weekend in New Plymouth. We look forward to several of our student-athletes qualifying for State and competing in Middleton on 17-18 May.

Junior High Track had a short but highly successful season under coach Melissa Raymond, wrapping up with their Conference Championship last week.

Golf has also had an impressive season, with several players showing great improvement since the start of the season. Their District Championship was earlier today in Mountain Home, and one of our student-athletes placed third and qualified for State next week.

Unfortunately our baseball team could not sustain enough players to finish out their schedule, but they still wrapped up their season 4 - 4 in games actually played, which is an impressive performance with their relative inexperience. Coach Adam Eldridge did a great job navigating injuries and other player challenges, and we look forward to the program taking a leap forward next year.

- 10-11 May: HS Track District Championships @ New Plymouth

- 13-14 May: Golf State Chamipnship @ Circling Raven Golf Club (Worley)

- 16 May: Rimrock High Honor Roll Field Trip to Bruneau Dunes (AM)

- 17-18 May: HS Track State Championships @ Middleton

- 22 May: Seniors Last Day, Academic Awards Assembly (2:30 PM)

- 23 May: All Students Last Day, Field Day (afternoon)

- 25 May: Graduation (2 PM)