February 20th - No School!

February 24th - Black History Month Block Party at West (more info to come!)

February 21st-March 3rd - TELPAS Testing (more information below)

March 6th-9th - Common Assessments (Schoolwide testing)

March 10th-17th - Spring Break (No school!)

 

Meet our New ACE Coordinator, Sarah Caldwell 

My name is Ms. Sarah Caldwell and I’ll be your student’s ACE Site Coordinator for the 22-23 School Year. This is my first year with YES Prep and I’m excited to partner with West staff and families to best serve our students. To best support our Marvels, please have your student complete an ACE Student Interest Survey (6 min). Families are also strongly encouraged to complete a Family Engagement Survey (4 min). Completing these forms ensures that the ACE program at West caters to the needs of our campus and community. 

The current activity schedule is attached: YES Prep West Spring 2023 Schedule. 

This week ACE has 2 additional events: 

Please join us for Line Dancing on Thursday and Open Gym on Saturday.  

Reminder: All YES Prep West programming ends no later than 6:15pm. Students are to be picked up no later than 6:30pm.  

Contact 

Cell: 713- 924- 5654 

Email: sarah.caldwell@yesprep.org 

 

Upcoming Testing

This message is to inform you that the week of March 6^th – 9^th students will be taking their Common Assessment exams in class. It is very important that students attend school and arrive to class on time this week so that they can complete their exams. The exams are 5% of their semester average. If students miss any exams and the opportunity to retake the exam, it will result in a grade of 50 being entered for each course in which an exam is missed. Some best practices to prepare for the exams are to rest, eat breakfast, and study.

Please ensure that your student is arriving on time with their laptop and charger. Thank you for your continued support.

 

TELPAS Schedule for Emerging Bilingual Students

Dear Families,

The Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS) fulfills federal requirements for assessing the English language proficiency of Emergent Bilinguals (EBs), formerly known as English Learners (ELs) in K – 12 in four language domains: listening, speaking, reading, writing. TELPAS evaluates the EB performance and progress on proficiency in the use of academic English on tested domains by using the following levels: beginning, intermediate, advanced, and advanced high. See TELPAS FAQs for Parents for more information.  

Students in grades K-12 who have been identified as EBs are required to take TELPAS, including EBs whose parents have declined bilingual or English as a Second Language (ESL) program services. They will participate in TELPAS until their language proficiency assessment committee (LPAC) determines that they are proficient in the English language and have met TEA reclassification criteria. This applies to all EBs even those who are not in a bilingual or ESL program. Once a student has met the state’s reclassification criteria, they will no longer be identified as an EB and will no longer have to participate in TELPAS. Information about the state’s reclassification criteria can be found on TEA’s Bilingual and ESL Programs webpage.

In grades 2-12, TELPAS includes two online assessments (one for reading and one for both listening and speaking) and holistically-rated student writing collections. The TELPAS reading test and listening and speaking test are designed especially for students who do not speak English as their first language. These tests are made up of test questions that span a full range of English reading, listening, and speaking ability. While the beginning level reading selections and questions include very common English words and many pictures, the advanced and advanced high reading selections and questions require a near-native understanding of English. Once students reach a proficiency rating of advanced high on the test, they have little difficulty understanding what they read in class and on state assessments of academic skills. The results in listening, speaking, and writing indicate how well students understand and use English during academic instruction.

The testing dates are as follows by date and grade level:

Secondary
Testing Dates	Grade Level
Tuesday, February 21 – Friday, February 24, 2023	Grade 6
Monday, February 27 – Tuesday, February 28, 2023 and Thursday, March 2 – Friday, March 3, 2023	Grade 10-12
Monday, March 20 – Friday, March 24, 2023	Grade 8 and Grade 9
Monday, March 27 – Friday, March 31, 2023	Grade 7 & Makeups

 

If you have additional questions about testing, please reach out to your  campus Literacy Specialist (holly.wight@yesprep.org). Additional information about TELPAS can also be found at the following website: www.tea.texas.gov/student.assessment/ell/telpas/.

Sincerely,

YES Prep Public Schools

Special Populations Department

Unified Tutorials Schedule

Unified Tutorials will run from 4:00-4:30 on the following days. If your student is scheduled to appear for Unified Tutorials, they should report to the cafeteria immediately following the dismissal bell. Attendance at Unified Tutorials is mandatory.