Yampah provides a unique and valuable service to our community that I am proud to be a part of, particularly our ability to engage and re-engage our valley’s youth into school. Throughout this report you will see the students’ views on the issues presented.  At Yampah we believe that helping students learn to take ownership over their education is a life long valuable skill. The students’ attitudes about our school provides great insight toward the successful achievement Yampah is having in supporting students to be active participants in their educational futures.  
 
Governor Ritter has set a goal to decrease by 50% the dropouts in Colorado in ten years.  In Colorado, with less than 75% of all students, less than 69% of special education students and less than 57% of Latino students graduating from high school, Yampah plays a major role in supporting graduation rates in our valley. The Rebound, Wellspring and Yampah Alternative programs are primarily dropout prevention programs; they help to prevent students that may not find success at their home school pursue an alternative approach to completing their high school requirements.  The TPP is primarily a dropout recovery program, re-enrolling students who are no longer enrolled in any school.  Nationally, less than 1/3 of teen parents EVER finish their high school education, again, the TPP is a major player in modeling ways to address the needs of students already dropped out of school.  
 
At Yampah, our faculty is committed to reach a variety of student populations through our strong ability to create Relationships and our focus on Relevant education for each individual student.  However there is one more component that in the pockets of schools where dropout rates see a substantial decrease and achievement for traditionally low- performing students increases is always addressed, that component is Rigor.  Increasing the rigor of the curriculum to support increased student achievement and growth at YMHS is always a focus: we are developing the use of technology in the classroom, using research based classroom strategies known to support high levels of thinking and creating multiple tiers of responses to support the success of all students enrolled at YMHS.
 
However, the state assessment of academic rigor, the School Accountability Report or SAR (available under annual reports and in our office) based on the CSAP assessment is not favorable for Yampah, as we were rated “Low”.  We know that many of our students enroll at Yampah with skills below grade level, while others enroll with academic skills beyond their years.  We therefore need to be experts at supporting each student’s individual academic growth unique to their starting point.  We are excited that beginning this year the state will be looking at each student’s growth to determine the academic rigor of a school; at YMHS we will focus our efforts on helping each student grow in their academic achievements meeting their unique needs. As a staff we have been focusing on literacy strategies, and required literacy courses, to support student-reading abilities so they have the necessary skills for their future educational and career goals. We have spent at least one staff meeting each month reviewing the latest research based strategies to support reading in the classroom. Our focus on reading is based on research that strong literacy skills support increased performance in other content areas as well. With our creative staff we have the opportunity to be the best in all three components of our call to action- Relationships, Relevance & Rigor.
 
As we begin a new calendar year and the half way mark of our current school year, the Yampah staff is honored to work with the exceptional students enrolled at Yampah.  Please review our 2008 annual report and feel free to stop by or call any time to learn more, provide suggestions or share you expertise at Yampah.

Best Regards,  
Leigh McGown, MNM 
YMHS Principal