Skip To Main Content

Menu Trigger Container

Navigation

Navigation

Sticy header

Navigation

Menu Trigger Container

Container

Landing-nav, don't delete

Breadcrumb, don't delete

Community Link

Comm_link_FALL2024-16.png
Group of students at lunch.

Community Link, our twice-yearly printed publication, highlights all of the exciting happenings around the North Clackamas School District. Every Fall and Spring, a publication is sent in the mail to every home within the NCSD boundary area.

Dr. James with students.

Welcome Aboard the S.S. NCSD: A New Journey Begins!


Welcome to our Fall 2024 Community Link! Although it’s hard to believe it’s been about nine weeks since we set sail in September, I can't help but think of the adventure that lies ahead as we head out into the open water of another school year together. 
 

As you’ll read in this newsletter, just like planning for a grand voyage, our amazing NCSD staff members have been busy preparing for this school year throughout the summer and into the fall, ensuring that every aspect of your students’ educational journey is shipshape and ready for an exciting year.
 
As you’ll read in our featured article, all North Clackamas teachers… particularly those in our youngest grades…have been busy adding new knowledge and strategies to their suitcases full of skills to enhance their reading instruction most effectively. Our latest assessments show this new approach to literacy district wide is helping all NCSD students navigate the vast seas of literature with confidence and enthusiasm in plotting our course toward ensuring all of our students are reading at or above grade-level proficiency.
 
Speaking of assessments, any seasoned traveler knows every journey has its challenges. Have you ever wondered what it’s like for our students to navigate the annual Oregon State Assessments in grades 3-12? This issue also maps out three different sample math problems for you to try to steer through as if you were in 3rd, 6th, or 9th grade. I encourage you to see if you can shore up the correct answers!
 
I'm always so proud of all NCSD staff members, and I am thrilled to announce that three members of our “crew” have been recognized as Teachers of the Year! As you’ll read for yourself, these dedicated educators exemplify our district’s mission of inspiring graduates empowered to act with courage in life, and we're so fortunate to have all three of them on board.
 
Finally, the best-planned voyages always anticipate potentially choppy seas. That's why we're grateful for our longstanding partnership with the Clackamas Educational Service District, which recently provided our bus drivers with important trauma-informed training to respond to student challenges with empathy, care, and understanding. These skills will help our drivers ensure that every student's journey to and from school is as calm and pleasant as possible.
 
As we cast off into this new school year, I'm filled with pride for our exceptional staff and students, and excitement for the adventures that await us. We’re excited to ensure our work is anchored in our district’s four Strategic Points: People & Culture, Family & Community Collaboration, Resources & Service, and Student Experience & Success. These are the guiding stars as our school year continues to sail forward.
 
Remember, we're all in this boat together. Your involvement and support are crucial to making this year's voyage successful. So, let's continue catching the wind in our sails as we embark together throughout this school year full of growth, discovery, and achievement!
 
Respectfully,
 
Dr. Shay James, Superintendent
 

Superintendant James during staff meeting.

Shout Out to the Shamrocks!

If your family has a student older than second grade, you likely know about the annual Oregon State Assessments administered to students across the state each spring in English/Language Arts and Math. The results for all Oregon school districts—including North Clackamas—were released in early October, and although results are down statewide, one NCSD middle school deserves a special shout out.  Congratulations to Rowe Middle School, one of the only middle schools in Oregon where students showed growth in both English/Language Arts and Math at all three grade levels for three straight years.

 

Math

Grade 21-22 23-24 increase
6 21.8% 24.7% +2.9%
7 8% 15.5% +7.5%
8 6.9% 7.9% +1.0%

 

English Language Arts

Grade 21-22 23-24 increase
6 24% 40.9% +16.9%
7 26% 31.2% +5.2%
8 21.7% 24.5% +2.8%

 

“What I love about Rowe is we have the most dedicated educators here. And our goal every day is to build relationships. Learning doesn't happen if there isn't a safe community to work in. I think when you let kids know they can do hard things, they step up every time. Kids love challenges, and they want to be successful. Being successful feels good. School is supposed to be collaborative. And we've been doing that for a long time and we're teaching kids again after the pandemic how to work together. Those are the skills that make Rowe a more successful place.” – Rowe 6th grade teacher Tim Hays.

 

Staff meeting at Rowe.
Staff meeting at Rowe.
Staff meeting at Rowe.
Staff meeting at Rowe.
Superintendant James during staff meeting.

Put Your Math Skills to the Test!

This issue of Community Link celebrates lots of our district’s academic achievements throughout this past fall. Whether you’re reading about how NCSD is turning to a new page in reading instruction for elementary school (page _) or why Rowe Middle School deserves a “Shamrock Shout Out” for its noteworthy improvements in reading and math proficiency for three consecutive years in all grades, you might be wondering where our assessment data comes from. 
 
In all grade levels, assessment could mean in-class quizzes or student presentations, but did you know that all 3rd-12th graders across the state—including in North Clackamas—also take standardized tests in English/Language Arts and Math? Just what do those tests look like? When it comes to last spring’s Math exams, we thought we’d show you a sample question from three different grades. Sharpen your pencil and see how you do!  (Answers below)

Student holding math problem.
Student holding math problem.
Student holding math problem.
Students reading to teacher.

A New Chapter in NCSD Reading Instruction

 It’s just after 12:30 at Scouters Mountain Elementary, and time for small groups of fourth graders to start shuffling around teacher Carey Bostwick’s colorful classroom during their daily Reading lessons. In one corner, four kids sit on the floor and start discussing the plot structure from the short story they’ve been assigned. Others are partnered up and reading aloud to each other.
 
Toward the front of the classroom is where Bostwick has arranged what looks like an old kitchen table, where groups of students gather around their teacher so Bostwick can listen to them read aloud and assess their progress. This is a favorite part of the day for 9-year-old Kai Hosaka, who proudly reads through the words on the page as peers listen closely. “Your fluency just keeps getting better and better,” says the impressed teacher. “I can tell you’ve been practicing.”
 
Hard to believe that when Hosaka started second grade just a couple years ago, he was struggling to read basic grade level words, languishing below benchmark reading standards and losing self-confidence. His second grade teacher at Scouters Mountain, Nicole Neil, was determined to do everything she could to make sure all of her students, including Hosaka, met or exceeded second grade reading benchmarks before sending them off to third grade.
 
“I don’t think it matters where you teach in our school district,” said Neil, now in her 14th year of teaching, “we’re all committed to making sure our kids gain the reading skills they need, and we’re thankful to the district for providing layers of support.”
 
Neil was part of an Emergent Literacy cohort group of elementary teachers, who met monthly with NCSD Literacy Coaches hired to help sharpen teachers’ instructional skills based on research-based practices proven to work in classrooms across the country. By January of Hosaka’s second grade year, his mother had written Neil a heartfelt email: “I thought you might get a kick out of this - twice in the last week I have busted Kai for staying up past his bedtime. He's been sneakily turning on a reading lamp to read the Wings of Fire book from the library. No pictures. His confidence has grown so much in the last few months. He came home the other day and was so proud he was beating his reading target.”
 
And thanks to the combined efforts of all NCSD teachers, coaches, and district office personnel, success stories like Hosaka’s are excitedly becoming more frequent…especially for students of color. The recently released Oregon English Language Arts Assessment results show double-digit proficiency improvements for NCSD’s African American students in 3rd, 6th, and 8th grade, along with more than 20% improvement rates for Pacific Islander students in 4th and 6th grades. The improvement data is also surfacing in the district's youngest grades, where nearly 10% more students started first grade this year with proficient reading skills as compared to last year, while kindergarten reading proficiency is up 35% since the grade's pre-pandemic level in 2019. 
 
What are the biggest contributors to the growing success? District leaders say the ongoing efforts to bring NCSD reading instruction to A+ level…really relies on three C’s: Cohorts, Curriculum, and Coaching.
 
NCSD has established collaborative teacher cohorts designed for educators to engage in professional learning and then apply new strategies in the classroom with the support of a dedicated coach to ensure successful implementation. Teachers routinely review student data to ensure their teaching matches the specific needs of each student.  
 
"My practice is changing as I analyze assessment data from my striving readers," said View Acres first grade teacher Michelle Emra.  "My students continue to surprise me as they become more successful in their letter and sound knowledge, their blending, and their spelling. That success is changing me!"
 
Of course, even the most dedicated and passionate classroom leaders still need access to top-notch curriculum materials. That’s why North Clackamas has invested in tools that dive deep into the Science of Reading, which is a collection of research gathered about how children best learn to read. NCSD teachers’ reading instruction is based on five big ideas: phonemic awareness (common sounds made in words), phonics (how letters and groups of letters link together), fluency (the ability to accurately read with speed and expression), vocabulary, and comprehension.
 
"Through our Phonics instruction, my striving readers are all of the sudden getting it," said Scouters Mountain third grade teacher Tamara Ireland. "They are blending more fluently and using their known blends and word families to figure out high frequency words. They are now able to read more independently and the books they can read are more interesting."
 
Finally, NCSD teachers know that reading instruction is a team effort, and every great team needs a great coach…or even 18. North Clackamas has added a Literacy Coach position at all 18 district elementary schools, who help teachers analyze their assessment data, debrief a lesson’s successes and areas for improvement, and prepare for upcoming instruction.
 
"Coaches have taught me how to look at the whole child as a reader," added Cannady first grade teacher Anna Tsoi. "During our last meeting, we talked about how reading skills are complex because they depend on each individual student. It's crucial we teach based on the student and not just on the curriculum."
 
North Clackamas is certainly proud to celebrate the efforts of teachers districtwide and the success of the district’s ever-improving literacy structure so far, but teachers and administrators know there’s still plenty of room for improvement.  Just ask students like Hosaka, who is looking forward to carrying his newfound love of reading into middle and high school.
 
“I can already read big books, but I want to get better and better to reach my goal of reading even bigger books in high school,” said the forward-thinking fourth grader.  And thanks to the collaborative efforts throughout North Clackamas, that goal is well within reach.   

Student reading at their desk.
Students reading to teacher.
Student reading at their desk.
Student reading.
Three people on a bus.

 

NCSD Bus Drivers Taking New Skills for a Test Drive

For many North Clackamas students, they’re the first staff members they see in the morning…and the last ones they see before heading home. Who are these safety superheroes who know students by name and often offer a high five as each one passes by? They’re our NCSD bus drivers, who safely steer students to and from school each day, along with thousands of field trips and athletic events each year. 

school bus.

But how do these highway heroes manage to calmly put the brakes on challenging bus behaviors from students? That’s where NCSD turns to  Elaine Merighi Morelock, who works as the staff support coordinator with the Clackamas Education Services District (CESD). After spending time at NCSD’s Transportation Center last August, Merighi Morelock trained more than 150 NCSD bus drivers how to respond to student bus misbehavior with empathy, care, and understanding.

“Bus drivers are a vital part of the beginning and end of most kids' day before they get home, and we want to prepare all staff to become confident and empathetic toward all students regardless of their background and experiences,” said Merighi Morelock, who is in her third year as a CESD Training Coordinator. “Our goal was to share trauma-informed strategies to support each other toward becoming a safe, caring adult that students trust.”

And NCSD bus drivers are right on board when it comes to putting their new learning into practice. “There were a lot of things that I think were important for drivers to learn,” said driver/dispatcher Terry Davidson. “When students are upset, drivers don’t know exactly where the feeling is coming from. It could be coming from home, so it's important to learn the why from kids and for drivers to control their own emotions and not get in a struggle with kids.”

North Clackamas is always thankful for its partnership with the Clackamas ESD, especially when it comes to keeping our students and drivers safe as they rack up more than 6,000 miles in bus routes across the district each day!

Bus Driver Sitting on Bus
Bus driver on bus.
Three people on a bus.
Group of bus drivers during training.
Group of bus drivers during training.
Group of bus drivers during training.
Curtis and Teacher recording the podcast.

Proud To Be Preschool in NCSD!  - From the Proud To Be NCSD Podcast

Since Oregon state policy says students need to be five years old before entering public kindergarten, none of our schools in North Clackamas enroll students younger than that, right?  Well, not exactly…did you know that in one NCSD elementary school, you’ll find one colorful classroom where thriving three- and four-year-olds playfully paint, sing, and even snooze as they learn to be a part of a classroom community?  In a recent episode of our district's Proud To Be NCSD podcast, host Curtis Long sat down (in tiny chairs) with “Ms. Melinda” at Oak Grove Elementary, who teaches NCSD’s newest preschool classroom. The 25-minute episode focuses on both the silly…and the serious sounds of preschool…and why Melinda Hayward says she wouldn’t want to teach anywhere else!

Listen to the full episode

Curtis and Teacher recording the podcast.
Photo of Classroom
Photo of preschool student.
Photo of two preschool students.
Photo of preschool student.
One teacher of the year.

3 Oregon Teachers of the Year at 3 NCSD Schools!

It was less than three weeks into the school year, and as Robert Parker was getting ready to start his third period class at NCSD’s Sabin-Schellenberg Professional Technical Center, the Architecture & Design teacher was taken aback when the district superintendent suddenly walked through the door. Then came the principal, and behind him, more people holding balloons. That’s when to the excitement of cheering students and colleagues, Parker was named the 2024-25 Regional Teacher of the Year for Clackamas County. 

Parker laughed as he held up the oversized $1,000 check presented by the Oregon Lottery. “It’s kind of mind blowing and super humbling,” he said, still trying to calm his nerves from the surprise announcement. “I just want to give my appreciation for this award, and while I did not enter teaching to receive it, I take it as a reflection on some success and hopefully growing to do more and better for future students.”

And although the current school year is barely two months old, Parker isn’t the only NCSD teacher to already earn prestigious, statewide awards. In September, The Oregon Council of Teachers of English awarded Rex Putnam High School Language Arts teacher Laura Mundorff the Oregon Excellence in Teaching the Language Arts Award.

Now in her fifth year at Rex Putnam, Mundorff said she was thrilled to be the only high school teacher to receive the award, and owes much of the credit to her Putnam teammates. “Good teaching is necessarily collaborative, so I share this award with my many talented colleagues.” The busy Language Arts teacher, who also helped start a Unified basketball program at Putnam for students with developmental disabilities,  is also nominated for a similar award at the national level to be awarded later this year.

Another decorated NCSD teacher is also up for a national award. Milwaukie High School’s Alyson Battistel was named the 2024 Oregon History Teacher of the Year by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History last July, qualifying her as one of 53 finalists for the institute’s National History Teacher of the Year award.

“I feel equal parts deeply honored and mortified,” said Battistel, who’s spent all 17 years of her teaching career at Milwaukie High/Milwaukie Academy of the Arts. “I have great respect for Gilder Lehrman, and to receive an honor from that institution is particularly gratifying. That a panel of teachers, administrators, and scholars made the selection is icing on the cake!”

 

One teacher of the year.
One oregon teacher of the year.
One teacher of the year.
Front of Wichita Center.

Community Commitment Continues for Years to Come

After months of good-faith negotiations between the North Clackamas School District and the North Clackamas Parks & Recreation District, NCSD is proud to announce that our district has officially purchased the property and building that currently houses our Wichita Center for Family and Community. We are sincerely thankful for our continued partnership with NCPRD, and excited to continue offering our community access to the wide array of services available, including assistance with food, clothing, housing, dental care, and after-school programs.
 
Would you like to donate to the Wichita Center? Food donations, including shelf-stable food and produce, are accepted during building hours Monday-Friday, 8:00-4:30. The Center also accepts clothing and shoes for students, and is currently collecting new or gently used coats for its annual Winter Coat Drive throughout the fall.
 

Wichita Center volunteer
Front of Wichita Center.
Wichita Center volunteer.

Read Previous Community Links