SILVER MESA ELEMENTARY
Principal:	Joy Sanford
Address:	8920 S. 1700 East Sandy, UT 84093
Phone:	(801) 565-7492
Fax:	(801) 302-4958
Mascot:	Eagles
School Colors:	Blue & White
Home Page:	http://schools.jordandistrict.org/silver/default.htm
	View school boundary description.

• Silver Mesa Elementary is on a traditional 180 day, nine-month calendar.
• The school day begins at 8:20 and ends at 2:55 except on Fridays when school is dismissed at 1:15.
• The morning kindergarten begins at 8:20 and ends at 11:00 except on Friday when it releases at 10:20.
• The afternoon kindergarten begins at 12:15 and ends at 2:55 except on Fridays when class begins at 11:15 and ends at 1:15.
• All students who live within Silver Mesa’s boundaries are within walking distance of the school.  There are no buses.
• Volunteer opportunities include: PTA, I Can Read tutoring, Masterpiece Art and Junior Achievement.
• Students at Silver Mesa learn and practice social skills as well as academic skills. 
• Using the Jordan School District Universal Values of Character Education (Caring, Citizenship, Respect, Responsibility and Integrity) the Faculty, Staff and PTA reinforce the children for applying these values in everyday situations.
• The PTA sponsors a Character Education Award that every student has the opportunity to earn.  Each month the principal reads a book to the students to illustrate a character value.
• The mission of our Faculty and Staff is to teach our students the skills and knowledge needed to become independent learners, critical thinkers, problem solvers and good citizens. 

• LEARNING
• Balanced Literacy: Students are taught reading and writing skills with an approach called “Balanced Literacy.”  This approach includes skill training in phonics, hearing parts of words, strategies for understanding what is read, spelling and writing. We teach students writing using the “Six-Traits” approach and spelling with Rebecca Sitton’s Spelling Program.  Accelerated Reading is used to encourage independent reading.

• Math: Our school is one of three Jordan School District Elementary schools selected to participate in a joint program with the University of Utah Department of Teaching and Learning.  Pre-service teachers and faculty members will take math courses together and implement what they learn together in our classrooms.  Students learn problem-solving methods and practice basic facts.  Manipulatives, models and graphic organizers are used during instruction.  Students continually review skills using Mountain Math and we participate each year in the Monster Math A competition.
• Science: Teachers use a hands-on approach to teaching the State Core Curriculum concepts to students.  Sixth Grade students participate in a school and district science fair.
• Technology: Students use technology as part of the learning process.  Brochures, posters, reports and presentations are created using Microsoft Word, Powerpoint and Appleworks.  Using Graph Master, Kidpix and Inspiration, students create visual representations of information.  Students use a computer lab, mobile lab and classroom computers to learn and practice computer skills.
• Physical Education: Our school uses the Leadership in Fitness Training equipment and curriculum.  Students build strength using kid-sized weight equipment and coordination skills through specific training and games.

• TEACHING
• Silver Mesa’s Faculty includes 24 Professional Staff Members.
• Over 50% of our teachers have Masters’ Degrees
• Teachers have an average of 18 years of experience
• Many of our teachers have endorsements to their teaching license.  These include: Special Education, Gifted and Talented, Early Childhood Education and English as a Second Language.
• Silver Mesa is a training site for the University of Utah’s Department of Teaching and Learning.  During the 2005-2006 school year we will host ten student teachers.
• Our school is the home of the Jordan School District Department of Alternative Language Services.
• Teri Mattson, Gifted and Talented Teacher Specialist and John Barainca, Mission to Mars Teacher Specialist are housed in our school.

Criterion Referenced Tests (CRT)
The Core Criterion Referenced Tests (CRTs) are administered at the end of each school year to help assess how well students have mastered the standards and objectives set forth in the State of Utah Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science core curricula.   Student achievement is reported as the percent of students reaching “proficient” by earning a Level 3 or Level 4 performance on the Core CRT.

Year	1st Lang. Arts	1st Math	2nd Lang. Arts	2nd Math	3rd Lang. Arts	3rd Math
2003-04	79%	90%	87%	92%	93%	86%
2004-05	79%	63%	89%	95%	85%	80%
2005-06	83%	78%	90%	83%	88%	76%
2006-07	88%	75%	93%	91%	85%	79%
2007-08			83%	80%	91%	82%
Year	4th Lang. Arts	4th Math	4th Science	5th Lang. Arts	5th Math	5th Science
2003-04	91%	87%	88%	91%	88%	82%
2004-05	89%	86%	82%	93%	86%	83%
2005-06	84%	81%	83%	87%	87%	89%
2006-07	92%	89%	76%	79%	68%	71%
2007-08	76%	71%	73%	87%	88%	82%
Year	6th Lang. Arts	6th Math	6th Science
2003-04	95%	92%	91%
2004-05	88%	91%	85%
2005-06	88%	87%	72%
2006-07	87%	78%	74%
2007-08	80%	66%	78%

IOWA Tests
The IOWA Test of Basic Skills provides a comparison of achievement to students across the United States in reading, language arts, math, science and social studies.  The IOWA test is given each fall to students in grades 3, 5, and 8.  The Jordan School District School also administers the IOWA to students in grade 6.  Results are reported as the average percentile rank.  The national average is the 50th percentile in each area.
 

3rd Grade
Norms	Year	Reading	Language	Math	Core Total	Soc. Studies	Science	Total Composite
2000 Norms	2004-05	76	62	65	69	71	77	74
2000 Norms	2005-06	77	73	71	74	74	77	78
2005 Norms*	2006-07	76	67	64	71	73	72	74
2005 Norms*	2007-08	74	70	61	69	72	71	72
5th Grade
Norms	Year	Reading	Language	Math	Core Total	Soc. Studies	Science	Total Composite
2000 Norms	2004-05	72	61	60	64	69	74	69
2000 Norms	2005-06	72	64	66	67	66	78	71
2005 Norms*	2006-07	63	58	58	60	59	72	65
2005 Norms*	2007-08	59	58	51	56	59	75	63
6th Grade
Norms	Year	Reading	Language	Math	Total Survey
2000 Norms	2004-05	61	62	63	63
2000 Norms	2005-06	65	63	68	67
2005 Norms*	2006-07	72	74	69	73
2005 Norms*	2007-08	58	64	56	61

* It is not appropriate to formally compare school results between the old norms and the new norms.

Direct Writing Assessment (DWA)
The Direct Writing Assessment (DWA) is designed to assess the writing skills of 6th and 9th grade students in February and March each year.  The following six components of writing are assessed: ideas & content, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions.
 

Grade 6	Average Points Earned
Year	Ideas / Content	Organization	Voice	Word Choice	Sentence Fluency	Conventions	Composite
2003/04	3.5	3.6	3.6	3.3	3.6	3.5	21.1
2004/05	3.3	3.3	3.5	3.3	3.5	3.4	20.1
2005/06	3.2	3.2	3.4	3.2	3.2	3.2	19.4
2006/07	3.2	3.2	3.3	3.2	3.2	3.2	19.3
2007/08*	2.5	2.5	2.7	2.6	2.7	2.7	15.7

* Each year the direct writing prompt changes, therefore caution should be used in making year to year conclusions.