Artwork by Kiera Classen

On Friday February 3, Dentists across Colorado have volunteered for Give Kids a Smile Day to provide free dental attention to children without dental insurance or the ability to afford dental care.

Colorado mission mercy is a large-scale dental clinic in which dental services are provided at no cost and, on February 3^rd, the Colorado mission mercy (also known as COMOM) is coming to various dental locations in the metro area in order to provide dental care.

It is the nation’s largest project to help children from low-income families with their dental needs, and to draw attention to the problem that many families face when trying to access basic dental care. The free screening includes a dental exam, oral healthcare instruction, fluoride treatments, and free dental hygiene materials, such as toothbrushes, floss and toothpaste.

Nearly one in four children, aged two to 11 years old have untreated cavities in their baby teeth, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many children enrolled in Medicaid receive no dental services throughout the year. The Dental Association has a mission to change that and keep kids smiling.

Many kids are expected to show up, so the COMOM is asking for all family members to come early. Doors open at 6 A.M. patients are served on a first come, first serve basis, and no appointment is necessary. The number of participants expected to show up as of January 25 is 405,086 around the nation. There are also 9,507 volunteering dentists.

This year will be the 10^th year anniversary of the American Dental Association Give Kids A Smile program; their mission is to eliminate cavities in children by 2020. “I think this is a really good program for the less privileged,” said Nurse Betty Richmeier.  Doctors around the nation plan to make this an annual event to raise awareness of the need to build local public and private partnerships to increase access to oral health care for children.

Artwork by Kiera Classen

On Saturday, February 11^th, TJHS will host the annual Eros Dance in the gymnasium from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Eros is TJ’s traditional Sadie Hawkins dance that takes place every winter, in which tables are turned and the girls are expected to ask the boys out.  “I love Eros because it gives the girls the opportunity to get creative and ask the guys.  My friends and I always have a lot of fun helping each other with asking our dates, plus it shows them [the boys] how asking someone to a dance is really done,” said Senior Maddi Doro.

Each year Eros Royalty is nominated by teachers, and includes a King and Queen, Prince and Princess, Duke and Duchess, and Count and Countess.  Royalty nominees will be announced on the Spartan Edition within the next few weeks, and students will be able to vote after they arrive at the dance.  Ballots will be counted as students dance the night away with their friends and significant others and, finally, royalty will be announced at the end of the night.

Foreign Language Teacher Kyler Jackson will DJ the dance, and TJ Partners will provide refreshments outside of the gym for students to enjoy as they take a break from getting their boogie on.

“The one thing different this year is that we are not selling couples tickets.  We’re really just trying to encourage everybody to go without the pressure of getting a date,” said Administrator JoAnne Moreno.  All tickets will be sold for ten dollars, and ticket sales will begin on February 1^st in the Treasurer’s Office.

Photo by Kiera Classen

In life most people are trying to communicate their own unique view of the world; some people believe that the most profound way for a person to get his or her view recognized is through different types of artistic expression. Michael Canady is a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School, who views the world – and expresses his art – through his Canon-60D. He constantly captures beauty in snapshots of the world that surrounds him.

Michael had no interest in photography until his sophomore year of high school when he entered into Jeff Coleman’s Photojournalism 1 class. “At first photo started as the average class. Mr. Coleman would give us our assignments and provide the gear, so I would just go out and take some photos for the class. But as we got further into the year I found that I really enjoyed taking photos and that there was a lot to offer,” Michael said.

Photo by Michael Canady

Michael is always trying new things to make his photos stand out. “I’m always pushing myself to be a better photographer. I’m always looking up trick tips and techniques to broaden my horizons,” said Michael.

Michael began taking Coleman’s class his sophomore year and continued into his Photojournalism 2 course. “In all my years as the photojournalism teacher, Michael is one of the top ten photographers in my classes,” Coleman said. Michael dedicates a large amount of his time to finding new techniques to advance his photographic skills. “He is very self-motivated, and curious about new techniques. Michael uses everything he learns to become a better photographer,” Coleman said.

Michael loves going to different locations to take pictures, but he says that generally in the mountains are his favorite. “I’m always looking up new places, and trying different types of photography to further myself,” Michael said, who has already traveled to Guanella Pass to take pictures. “The mountains are my top place to photograph. I really enjoy nature and the beauty of the mountains,” Michael explained. He also aspires to travel and take photographs of the sand dunes of Southern Colorado; Moab, Utah; Scandinavia; Norway; and Sweden. “ I want to travel so I can see great things and put them on a canvas,” Michael explained.

Photo by Michael Canady

Michael tries to show passion in every aspect of school and through his many other interests. “Michael is a very dedicated, hard-working student,” Coleman said. Michael balances everything from maintaining his 3.8 GPA, to being the varsity goalie on the South/TJ combined Lacrosse Team. Michael also enjoys snowboarding through Keystone A-51, filming videos for Matthew Spampinato’s Video Intern class, has a great passion for the outdoors, and is also a BMX biker.

Michael’s other interests also strengthen his photography skills. “I’m always bringing my camera everywhere I go. Whether I’m snowboarding, hiking, or traveling, I’m always trying to find something that no other photographer would be able to capture.” Michael’s amity for action and sports photography, like snowboarding and lacrosse shoots, comes from his idol Cole Barash.

Cole Barash is a twenty-two year old sports photographer. At the age of thirteen he was recognized for his amazing shots; he now has some of the most publicized snowboarding photographs in the world.

Michael says he is determined to have photography in his future along with attending Colorado School Of Mines while studying to enter into a type of medical career. “Photography might not be my main career goal in my future, but it still strengthens me as a person. It makes me push myself in a different way with every new project I start for myself.”

Seniors Mallory Baker and Becca Hansen hit the books to fight senioritis. Photo by Ed Gloor

It’s January and college acceptance letters are piling up, certifying every senior’s wishful thoughts of future days. However, teachers and parents are urging students to stay focused through this final time. For those of you in AP classes, your attention in these last months can be the difference between having to take that dreaded math or science class next year instead of being able to minimize your schedule and enjoy extracurricular activities in college to the fullest. And for those striving to get their last, needed credits, every day is all the more important with graduation on the line. As much fun as it was to paint your senior parking spot last summer, it won’t be as exciting next year.  So if you bare this in mind you may learn the few essential tips that will keep you moving full speed ahead.

Look Forward to Interim Events: Thinking about the next five months as a whole will make the rest of your year drag along like an eternity. Instead of spending your days daydreaming of summer break, focus on events such as Eros (Feb 11), the week off for CSAP (March 5-9), Spring break (March 26-30), the Mr. TJ Pageant (April 13), and Prom (April 21).

Stay Busy- DO MORE not less: Just because you’re tired of school doesn’t mean you should give up all activities relating to it. Join a club or even a sport; spring activities are right around the corner. For the guys: lacrosse, baseball, swimming, and track. For the girls: tennis, soccer, golf, and track. This will help keep you going and will be an extra release. Participation in a sport requires passing grades, so this may be the motivation you need. You may even meet someone new!

Take Pride: Strive to be proud of yourself for finishing strongly. When you sit down in the crowd of graduates, realize how much you deserve to be there, knowing how much work you put into it all. It’s important to remember that the energy you finish with one year will be the energy you begin with the next year. College will be a new and exciting time without a doubt; however, if you spent the last year of high school sliding by and taking classes that didn’t truly push you, you may find yourself trying to furiously catch up rather than easily adjusting and soaking the experience in.

Plan Ahead: College applications are long and tedious. The fact that you must completely expose everything about yourself in order to be accepted is pressure enough, and that’s not even including the burden of writing the numerous essays that scholarships require. Trying to balance all of this on top of making the most out of the time with your friends and family can be more than hectic. Look at every scholarship that relates  to you and apply! Map it all out. Write down the dates of when scholarships are due to help you space out the whole application. Using your planner or a calendar for the next few months will help you organize and prioritize, saving you from a complete mental breakdown.

Have Fun: Gandhi put it best: “There is nothing that wastes the body like worry.” Applying for everything is important, but in the midst of all the turmoil it’s easy to forget to enjoy it all. Many adults find that reliving their high school days is what keeps them young. This may in fact be one of the best times of your life, so enjoy it to the fullest and don’t regret a moment.

I have good news for the class of 2012: The end (…or the beginning) is in sight.

Photo by Kiera Classen

Connor Hickman is a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School. He is also a very well rounded individual. “I have lettered in Academics and Drama three times. I am also involved in the Computer Magnet (now Center for Communications Technology). It is too bad the Magnet does not give letters.”

Connor is also involved in the Drama department at TJHS, and has been in TJ’s Technical Crew for four years now. He has participated in five shows at TJ including Moon Over Buffalo (2009), Footloose (2010), RENT (2010), Noises Off (2011), and The Fourth Wall (2011). Connor says his favorite play of all these was Moon Over Buffalo. “The Moon Over Buffalo tech crew was the best. We had so much fun and worked very well together,” exclaimed Connor.

Connor says he really enjoyed this year’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. “The play is a horrible messed-up love game; everyone loves someone else. It is like a cat-and-mouse game, then these fairies come out and decide to play around with people and wreak havoc with everyone’s love life.”

In the previous years Connor has been in tech he has participated in manning the light board, painting, building sets, sound, lifting, moving, curtains, etc. But this year it is all about lights. Connor was the Head Lighting Technician for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He says he really enjoyed the lighting design because this play incorporates a lot of different light combinations. Connor says on a normal day, a tech practice consists of, “…sitting at my light board and making sure my cues are right.”

This year the technical crew for Thomas Jefferson’s interpretation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream consists of a large cast and crew. Connor declares, “This year’s Tech Crew is going to be great. We have a lot of hard working people who, if told what to do, will get a lot done. Our set is all built and needs a few adjustments but it is almost there. After we had that construction crew accidentally set off the fire alarm system and drop all that water on our set, the amount of damage was actually way less than expected.” Elaborating, Connor says, “The accidental water drop could have caused much more damage than it did. When the construction crew came to fix the damage that it did cause, they set our practice schedule back a little bit but we dealt with it well.”

Connor is not sure where he would like to go to college, but he knows that he likes Colorado State University. He explains, “I have a low GPA but I got a very high ACT score. I am confident that I will be accepted.”

Connor believes that even if he does not pursue a technical career, being on the tech crew at TJ will significantly enhance his résumé. His friends believe that Connor will go far in this field if he wants to. Senior Keith Hussey said, “Connor knows the theater like the back of his hand. He has years of experience. Connor has been a major part of every production TJ has had in the past four years.”

Photo courtesy of Connor Hickman People working on Connors Eagle project

Boy Scouts is another activity in which Connor is avidly involved. He recollects, “I have been in Boy Scouts fourteen years, since first grade. Wow, that is a lot longer than I thought.” Connor has been an Eagle Scout for almost a year now and he completed his Eagle project last March. He explained what exactly an Eagle project is and what some of the regulations behind it are. “To become an Eagle Scout you have to plan your own project then carry it out without actually doing any of the work; this shows leadership skills.” The rules are, “Plan, develop and give any leadership that is beneficial to any non-profit organization.” Connor noted, “For my Eagle project last March, I revamped the bathrooms at Roman’s Park.”

The roles of an Eagle Scout include “…providing community service in neighborhoods; we do about three hundred or more hours a year.” Connor clarified his roles in scouting, saying, “As a scout, being as much of a leader as I can be is great. I do not have a specific position, but I am always someone you can come to for help.  I am in the Boy Scouts but I am technically an Eagle Scout. An Eagle Scout is the highest rank as a youth leader that you can receive in the Boy Scouts.”

Those who know Connor know that he has had a considerable limp a on a regular basis. Connor’s foot has been in a boot multiple times throughout the years, and he is also a regular on crutches and in a wheelchair. “I was born with club feet, meaning that my feet were facing the wrong way. So when I was ten months old they had to fix it, but it did not get entirely fixed. So the past few years I have had to have more corrective surgery on my heels.  But, thankfully I’m done; no more surgery for me,” he said.

In the end, Connor is a technical extraordinaire, a leader in Boy Scouts, a decorated Eagle scout, and a great friend. Some believe that the most prevalent of these attributes is his being a great friend. Chris Rosales says, “When I think of Connor I think Fee Fi Fo Fum, like the giant.”

Keith Hussey adds, “Connor has a great personality; he is really funny and he is a great person to have around when you need something off of that tallest shelf.”

Christoff's daughter sporting a classy sweater-vest. Artwork by Ed Gloor

Mike Christoff, TJ Assistant Principal, became a recent member of the TJ family last year himself when he joined the crew from Morey Middle School, but he also just added on to his own family. In the wee hours of the morning, Christoff’s wife Ashley gave birth to a little girl. “Her name is Jocelyn Ginger Christoff and weighed seven pounds and thirteen ounces. She was nineteen inches,” said the proud father.

There is a little history behind the name of this little Spartan. “We decided on the name Jocelyn together and then her middle name is one that runs in the family. Ginger is my wife’s grandma’s name, so we thought that was a perfect name,” said Christoff.

With a new addition to the family, some changes came along with her. As many know, sleeping and babies don’t mix. “I definitely get a lot less sleep. Now, I start getting ready for bed around seven, which is a change for me. We have to work on Jocelyn’s schedule, which is boloney,” commented Christoff. The family of three also finds it harder to go on outings. “Everything takes longer now; we have to start getting ready about two hours before we want to go somewhere.”

Even though Christoff had to make some changes, he says he has no complaints. “I love being a father for the first time; it is better than I thought it would be. I was excited to be a father the whole time, but it is different now that she is actually here. It’s weird because your kid is like a mini you.”

Jocelyn is definitely a mini Christoff, as she already has the hairstyle down. “I like to think that she looks more like me. She has a bunch of hair already and it kind of looks like mine. Unfortunately, Jocelyn got most of my looks,” Christoff said with a giggle.

So far, the new father says the baby is a joy to have around. “She gets a little fussy when she wants to eat but she doesn’t cry more than the normal baby,” he says.

Jocelyn Christoff is going to be brought in very soon to meet the Spartan family. Watch out for a mini Christoff in the halls, and make sure to give her a nice TJ welcome!

Photo courtesy Jerry Esparza

Jerry Esparza lives by these words from Ecclesiastes 9:10: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.” He is one that truly understands commitment and gives everything that he has to all aspects of his life.

Esparza was born and raised in Corona, California along with four siblings. At the age of nine Esparza’s mother became a single parent, left to care for the five children on her own. “My mother worked incredibly hard. On top of raising us and working she was also going to school to get her degree. She’s the one who taught me the true value of education,” said Esparza. Despite his mother’s endurance, life wasn’t about to get any easier for his family when his brother left when Esparza was still a young boy at the age of 14. “My older brother was the head of the household and with him gone I was left in charge.” Esparza said he found himself having an incredibly hard time dealing with such great responsibility.

As Esparza began to feel unable to meet the expectations set for him as head of the house, he rebelled by associating with bad peer influences. This group proved to be worse for him when his mother left for a month to go to Africa to experience education abroad. “When my friends found out my mother was going to be out-of-town, and my house being two stories and having a pool, it became the party house.” The rest of his siblings stayed with relatives, allowing Esparza the home to himself. It became the summertime escape for everyone, where night after night parties emerged at his now deteriorating home. Esparza grimly reflected on its appearance. “The pool turned green, the walls were littered with graffiti, things were broken, and it reeked of alcohol and smoke.”

Once the month had expired his mother returned naively in the night, unable to assess the damage to its full extent. In the middle of the night, however, his house was broken into by one of the frequenters to his parties. Esparza sadly recalled the night saying, “When my mom got home she put all her souvenirs out on her kitchen table then headed off to bed. Later that night I heard some rustling in the house but was too scared to check it out. My mom started screaming, asking if it was me, and when I told her it wasn’t she rushed out of her room and downstairs to find her gifts gone.” Even after the tragedy of the night, Esparza’s mother lacked the words to lecture him and beyond a light scolding; he was let off the hook.

In the interim of this all, Esparza was also communicating with his older brother, Larry, who was in the Navy, through harsh letters. “We would write back and forth extremely negatively, using the most degrading words, until one day I opened up his letter to read something completely surprising.” Larry’s words were full of understanding and forgiveness for his brother, telling him how he had found peace and urging him to follow the words of the Lord. During his time in Panama, Larry had been exposed to a dedicated Christian family in which the father was a preacher. As fate would have it, the family his brother met in Panama moved five miles away from where Esparza lived in California. Esparza soon began to go to church services, and says he slowly learned the ways of Christ. With his new influences, Esparza submitted himself to a radical change. “I began to completely rethink life. I didn’t give up my friends; and even though they gave me a hard time about becoming a born again Christian – calling me names like preacher boy – they accepted me for the new person I was.” He says he gave up all previous bad habits, he stopped smoking and quit cussing, and was led to do only wholesome things.

At the age of 16 Esparza left the public school system and attended Pomona Bible Missionary Christian School for two years. To further his religious education, he continued on to the Bible Missionary Institute in Rock Island, Illinois. “I loved my time there but I knew that despite my passion for it I didn’t want to have a career related to Christian ministry.” He decided to change paths and, being that he was already in Illinois, he decided to stay there and attend community college. Altogether he spent 12 years in the college, and despite working while getting his Associates Degree in Psychology, he managed to find time to meet his wonderful wife, Heather. He and his wife moved to Iowa where he attended school to get his teaching degree with an emphasis on science. “DPS (Denver Public Schools) recruited me before I was even done student teaching.”

Throughout his time in Colorado, Esparza has worked at Kepner Middle School as a science teacher, Grant Middle School as a technology teacher, School to Career as a resource specialist, Grant Ranch K-8 as a resource specialist, and his latest at Thomas Jefferson High School as a CCT Magnet teacher. “All together I’ve been teaching for 23 years and have really enjoyed it. Someday I wish to be an administrator in a middle school, but I’m certainly in no hurry.”

Despite the teacher persona, Esparza does in fact enjoy things outside of school. “I love to go hiking and do wood working; I even have my own shop. I also love photography; whenever I go somewhere I have my camera right with me.” He says he doesn’t enjoy watching television or movies or even sports, but all the same he’s a huge Tim Tebow fan. “Tebow’s not afraid to share his faith wherever he is; it’s not a show, and that’s just who he is and I appreciate that about him. I find him extremely commendable.”

Esparza says his family is one of the most important aspects of his life. His children are following in his footsteps; all three attend Hobe Sound Bible College in Hobe Sound, Florida, just north of West Palm Beach. “My daughter is doing mission aviation, learning to fly to take missionaries around the world. My son, even though he’s going to the bible school wants a career in criminal justice; he wants to get more into investigation. My oldest son is a business multimedia specialist; he’s mainly learning how to run a business and building websites.” Esparza was highly looking forward to their return for Christmas.

Photo courtesy of Kayla Albert

While facing an uncertain career path, a tip from a friend and a spark from an old passion ignited in the Journal newsroom at TJ, lead Spartan Alumna Kayla Albert to work for the largest newspaper in the Denver Metro area, the Denver Post.

Albert started her journey as a Spartan a little late, switching to TJ for her junior and senior years from Denver School of the Arts (DSA). Throughout her academic career at TJ she was a hard working student taking honors and AP classes with high expectations of herself. “I was always really hard on myself when it came to academics, so I was an A and B student throughout high school. Good grades certainly paid off in the end, but I probably could have cut myself a little bit of slack in that area,” reflects Albert.

Out of all the many classes Albert took at TJ, she said her favorites were Unified Sports and Newspaper. “I was in Unified my senior year and I absolutely loved it. I also really enjoyed taking Newspaper because I had a lot of friends in my class, and our class was really fun,” said Albert.

Newspaper Advisor, Matt Spampinato, was teaching the newspaper class during Albert’s time on the Journal staff. “Kayla was a natural born editor; her attention to detail, style, and mechanics were among her strongest assets,” said Spampinato.  “I was not at all surprised when I heard she had landed a great job at the Post.  They are lucky to have her.”

After graduating in 2005, Albert planned to attend CU Boulder. Shortly before school was scheduled to begin she realized Boulder wasn’t for her and she chose a different path. She instead applied to CU Denver and majored in Elementary Education. However, she was unsure of what she wanted to do exactly as a career.

As a senior applying to college, Albert says she was fortunate with the financial aspect of attending college. Her advise for seniors when struggling with the financial restrictions of attending college ensues, is to apply for scholarships and to be wise when applying for loans. “I really lucked out when it came to paying for college — I never had to take out loans because my family had saved money for me. But my best advice would be to pay attention to the field you’re going into. If you want to go into social work, don’t take out $100,000 in loans. Be financially responsible in addition to choosing a great school — and, yes, that is possible,” said Albert.

Her uncertainty about her career path cleared when she was offered a job at the Denver Post working for the newspaper’s YourHub section. This feature of the Post showcases stories written and submitted by community members around Colorado. “I started my job with The Denver Post about two and a half months ago. I was actually told about the job by a friend who had also applied. When I started the job, I was incredibly overwhelmed. I had never worked for a newspaper before and I wasn’t used to the environment. But once I realized that I was totally capable of doing the things they expected of me, I felt completely comfortable,” said Albert.

Albert is now the Community Manager for YourHub at the Denver Post. She fulfills several duties including (among others) editing, updating the site with new articles, and managing the Facebook and Twitter account for YourHub. Albert describes her job as unique and fun and says she loves working for a large metropolitan newspaper. “I love being able to interact with new people everyday. There’s something about working for a major newspaper that opens doors to people and organizations that wouldn’t normally be interested in sharing information. I also just really love the people I work with, and that makes all the difference in the world,” said Albert.

Albert makes use of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter on a daily basis in her job with the Post and says the utilization of social media is essential to what she does. “Social media is basically the foundation of a community manager’s job; it’s how we get the community to pay attention to what YourHub is doing and reach out to people who might have a story to tell. I post at least ten times a day on two different Twitter accounts (mostly news and events going on in Denver) and at least once a day on Facebook,” said Albert.

Having a good job she enjoys with a steady income Albert considers herself lucky. She also encourages students, particularly seniors, looking down the road towards choosing career paths to be flexible. “I like where I’m at in my life right now. For all the people my age it’s hard to find jobs. It’s taken a lot of work. Don’t get discouraged and pigeonhole yourself to one job. This wouldn’t have been a job I would have thought of in high school,” said Albert.

When making choices of where to apply to college and what possible career fields to go into in the future, Albert says to focus on what intrigues one the most. “When thinking about what you want to do when you’re older, think about what you have fun doing. If you do something you enjoy doing you’ll work harder at it,” said Albert.

Albert does not claim to know what lies ahead; she says that the future is unpredictable and cannot be planned for. “After graduating college and doing so many miscellaneous jobs, I’ve realized that planning for the future doesn’t always work. I may meet someone six months from now that will open the door to an opportunity I don’t have today, so I am completely open to whatever comes my way. In fact, that’s much more exciting, anyway,” said Albert.

Artwork by Ed Gloor

LEAP is an acronym that stands for Leading Effective Academic Practice, and is Colorado’s new teacher evaluation program which teachers at Thomas Jefferson High School will be getting to know intimately this year.

This new pilot program during the 11-12 school year in DPS schools involves all classroom teachers, specials/electives teachers, intervention teachers and all special education teachers as subjects for how this program can be effectively implemented. TJ Assistant Principal Scott Lessard says, “LEAP will focus teachers on 21 identified best practices, identified by experts with the objective of teachers growing their skill in these areas and therefore improving student learning overall.”

Teachers will be evaluated four times in a school year; twice by an administration member at the school, and twice by a “peer observer.” The LEAP website for DPS defines “Peer Observers as, “… fellow teachers who have been hired specifically for this role because they are recognized for their experience and expertise in content, classroom instruction, student achievement, and best practices.” Software Engineering Teacher Stacey Fornstrom says he doesn’t mind the peer evaluations. “Many people have come to visit/observe my class through the years. I haven’t gone through peer observation yet, so it will be interesting to get input from someone new.”

Since this is a pilot program, schools in the Denver Public Schools district had the choice to participate in this program. All teachers voted and the decision was made based on a majority vote specific to each school. Fornstrom also talked about the voting process. “TJ as a school voted for the pilot; it’s either everyone in or everyone out. TJ teachers voted yes so they can see what is involved in the new evaluation system and make recommendations as to what the final form should look like,”  he said. Since this is a pilot program, no teachers will be affected by program outcomes.

This program is a response to Senate Bill 191, which has the same criteria as the LEAP program, and was lobbied for and made an initiative by teacher unions according to The Denver Post. It is already state law, DPS is just figuring out how best to implement it. This response is the LEAP program. The bill states its purpose as “…to serve as a basis for the improvement of instruction; enhance the implementation of programs of curriculum; serve as a measurement of the professional growth and development of licensed personnel; and evaluate the level of performance based on the effectiveness of licensed personnel; and provide a basis for making decisions in the areas of hiring, compensation, promotion, assignment, professional development, earning and retaining non-probationary status, dismissal, and nonrenewal of contract.”

Lessard explains this as, “The big difference [in the changes from using the LEAP system] is historically teachers were granted continuing employment based solely on the evaluation of their school administrator. Under SB 191 the administrator’s opinion is now only worth about 12.5 percent of a teacher’s evaluation. The rest is made up of a peer observation, student perception surveys and 50% is based on student growth as measured by a variety of assessments.”

The program measures teachers through 21 indicators, including: 21st Century Skills, Academic Language Development, Masterful Content Knowledge, Differentiation, High Impact Instructional Moves, Standards-Based Goals, Effective Classroom Management, and Positive Classroom Culture & Climate. Teachers score from “Not-meeting” to “Distinguished.” The grading scale is broken up into four groups: Not Meeting (1-2 points), Approaching (3-4 points), Effective (5-6 points), Distinguished (7 points). “The teacher receives a grade in each of the 21 categories and then the teacher focuses on two predetermined areas for growth. If there is growth from the beginning of the year to the end of the year the teacher is given a good grade,” said Lessard.

The administrative evaluation comprises 25% of the total scores for teachers. Test scores (CSAP, benchmarks, etc) make up 50%, and student and peer evaluation are 25%.

The most important factor of the student evaluation portion of this program is measuring student growth, which is defined by an individual’s growth rate compared to students with the same score. For example, Student “A” has a specific score on, say, her 9th grade Reading CSAP. Next year, her score improves by 112 points. That score is not only compared to her previous score, but to the range of scores that other students in 10th grade who also had the same score as student “A” in 9th grade had.

DPS is not using the “Student Outcomes” bracket for the pilot program. This section is still in development.

Fornstrom and Lessard also spoke on their personal thoughts about the program. “One positive for student learning is that it will require teachers to be very intentional about everything that happens in their classroom. I think this will help students because teachers will put new emphasis on things that might not be one of their strengths,” said Fornstrom.

Lessard agreed, saying, “I think the 21 best practices are very important skills a teacher should work to master. If they master them then the hope is that teachers will be more effective and therefore students will be better taught. Student learning should improve and there will be much rejoicing.”

Photo by Kiera Classen

On Tuesday, December 6^th Thomas Jefferson High School’s DECA Chapter participated in the District 13 Leadership conference; the Spartans walked away with sixteen state qualifiers out of forty-four TJ participants. Matthew Nicolo, the DECA advisor at TJ, said, “Our students performed right on par for where we should be. We had a good mix of first timers and veterans that qualified for state. It will be interesting to see how these students perform at the state level.”

Some of the schools that competed in this competition are: Arapahoe, Gateway, Grandview, Heritage, Hinkley, Littleton, Martin Luther King Jr. Early College, Overland, Rangeview, West, and Thomas Jefferson High Schools.

TJ has three different DECA classes: the first year class, Marketing; the second year class, Algebraic Principals of Marketing; and the third year class, School Store. Every year Nicolo requests that students from each class take part in district competition, which is a choice for students but is recommended by Nicolo if they want to excel in the business field.

At DECA districts students select a category in which they would like to compete. Categories range from accounting, to apparel and accessories, to management. There are thirteen categories in total. There are also team categories where two people compete together in some of the same categories.

To receive the honor to qualify and participate in state competition the students must receive one of the few top scores in their category. For example, the category of Marketing Management had seven competitors district-wide, but only the top four scorers qualify for state. Students are scored cumulatively on their test and their two role-plays. Each role-play and the test are worth 100 points each, meaning the highest possible score is 300 points.

The DECA test is composed of general marketing questions from all twelve DECA categories. A role-play is somewhat like acting, but students rely on previous knowledge to propose a solution to the problem. Each competitor at districts has two role-plays, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, whether team or individual. Students are given a scenario and five or six indicators, which they must answer. Students receive ten minutes to prepare their presentation for the judge. After the preparation time students go in front of a judge and present the resolution to their scenario for ten minutes, and finally the judge reserves five minutes to ask questions.

This year DECA districts were held on December 6^th at the Doubletree Hotel in the Denver Tech Center. In previous years this district competition has been held at Johnson and Wales and the Brown Palace. The state competition is held at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs every year.

The state competition is three days in length it is held at the end of February the 25^th-28^th. At the state competition students also have to take a test and perform two role-plays. But the last day of the state competition students get to participate in a social dance. Tyler Bybee said, “The dance is the best part of the whole competition. It is the part of the competition that we all get to relax because we know it is over.”

Danny Showers, the Thomas Jefferson High School Career and Technology Resource Specialist stated, “All the state qualifiers worked exceptionally hard to attain this tremendous honor. They each displayed great character, class, and integrity to reach this goal.”

State Qualifiers: