Dear Parents and Guardians

I am so excited to report that Mattson Middle School is a recipient of the 2011 Washington Achievement Award. 

Mattson is being honored for marked improvements in Closing the Achievement Gap.

This is an extraordinary accomplishment and is a direct reflection of the hard work of our students, the dedication of our teachers, and the support and guidance of our parents. Mattson’s award is well deserved. As many of you know, over the past two years Mattson has implemented numerous initiatives in an effort to support all learners, some of those include:

Tiered Instruction

Stang Time

Second Step

Positive Discipline Intervention Model

Student Goal Setting

School Improvement Team

The Washington Achievement Awards, sponsored by the Washington State Board of Education and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, celebrates the state’s top-performing schools and recognizes achievement in multiple categories. This highly selective award is based on our school’s performance on the Achievement Index, a comprehensive measurement of Washington schools’ performance over time.

The Washington Achievement Award is given to elementary, middle, high, and comprehensive schools in eight different categories: overall excellence, overall excellence for gifted programs, and special recognition for outstanding achievement in the following subcategories: language arts, math, science, extended graduation rate (high and comprehensive schools only), improvement, and closing the achievement gap.

I hope you will visit the OSPI Washington Achievement awards site to learn more about the awards, the criteria for selection, and the Achievement Index. The Achievement Index look up tool, available at sbe.wa.gov, provides a searchable database where you can find information about how all our schools in the district and the schools across the state are doing.

The selection process for the Washington Achievement Award is very rigorous, and all of us take great pride in this accomplishment.

Proudly,

Tammy J. Unruh- Principal