Dear Thompson Community,
I hope you are having a terrific early fall season! Our 2024-25 calendar is moving at full speed, and we look forward to another successful school year for our students and families.
The first new days of a school year are filled with back-to-school events and other activities for students to get to know their teachers and staff. On the district side, it is also a time to reflect on our successes as we fine-tune our educational plans for the new year and beyond. The Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS) program is the formal mechanism that the State of Colorado uses to evaluate student and district achievement. Completed each spring, the CMAS assessments are critical tools to gauge the instruction that students are experiencing and highlight building-wide and district-wide successes. Assessment results are released in August each year, allowing districts to make adjustments and create student opportunities for the upcoming year.
We are pleased to announce that Thompson School District is celebrating its highest rating since 2016 on the Colorado District Performance Framework when the state began using this tool to rate school districts. TSD achieved many gains in student growth and achievement across the district, with four district schools receiving a performance rating at or above 74 points – some of the highest ratings for schools in the state. Additionally, the number of schools receiving the highly desirable rating of Performance increased this year to twenty-four schools, up from nineteen last year.
Every TSD high school demonstrated a solid rating on Performance, with PSAT and SAT scores exceeding the state in 9th, 10th, and 11th grade English Language Arts and 10th grade Math. Our 2023 graduation rate reached an all-time high of 91.1%, and we also experienced improvements in attendance and enrollment data. Elementary and middle school students saw gains in mathematics, with academic growth surpassing last year’s levels, and overall average scores also increased district-wide, with notable gains in 3rd, 6th, and 8th grades. English Language Arts scores increased in growth and achievement, with averages increasing in 3rd, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades.
TSD is especially grateful for the staff, students, families, and community members who have worked hard to support the recuperation of learning loss caused by the pandemic. Our school district continues to make strong academic gains through high-quality teaching and learning in our classrooms.
You may be wondering about the long-term significance of the results I’ve shared. Ultimately, our district has established a strong foundation that allows us to celebrate and continue our successes while focusing on growth opportunities in critical areas across TSD. Our staff members are fully dedicated to providing the best possible education to each student in Thompson School District. And with your support, we are confident that we will achieve our established goals.
We look forward to continuing to strive for excellence this year and beyond!
Sincerely,
Dr. Marc Schaffer
Superintendent
Thompson School District