Academics
Classroom lessons are based on the Colorado Academic Standards.Our goal is for all students to reach proficiency by the end of an acadmic year. You can access the standards for all courses and grade levels on the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) website. Detailed information and curriculum links can be found on the specific content pages.
Curriculum Maps
Click the content area under More Information to explore curriculum maps.
Explore the Standards
Assessment
EPMS uses standardized assessments and other testing to measure student growth, identify student needs, inform parents, guide curriculum, and communicate district performance.
Overview of the Middle School Standards
Reference: https://www.cde.state.co.us/apps/standards/
Reading, Writing & Communication
The reading, writing, and communicating standards in the middle school grades ask students to be critical readers of complex literary and informational texts. The standards require that students develop the writing skills necessary to convey their experience in the world, to produce thoughtful analyses of academic and real-world topics, and to develop well-reasoned arguments on relevant topics in their lives. The standards foster opportunities for students to work collaboratively with others as they develop the literacy skills to be academically successful and prepared for life after high school.
Mathematics
Build on students' understanding of number and quantity. Students apply more formal statistics, probability, and algebra to model phenomena in the world around them. Students gain a deeper understanding of geometry and its application. Students also persevere in solving problems as they use strategies to apply their new tools and techniques.
Science
The Colorado Academic Standards for middle school science are presented as a single 6-8 band of standards, rather than broken down by grade level.
Social Studies
Building on the social studies skills developed in the elementary grades, students in the middle school years begin with a study of people, cultures, and ideas in the Western Hemisphere and move from there to explorations of the Eastern Hemisphere, ending with the early history of the United States. In each grade, students investigate historical events, examine geographic features and resources, consider economic decision-making processes, and understand types of governments and civic responsibility.
Physical Education
Physical education standards in Grades 6-12 focus on enhancing health-related components of fitness and skill-related components of fitness and personal activity.
Comprehensive Health
The comprehensive health standards in grades six through eight focus on enhancing and strengthening skills in the areas of physical, social, and emotional wellness and using those individual skills in family, school, and community environments. In each grade, the standards ask students to deepen their understanding of ways to set and maintain healthy relationships and continue to investigate healthy eating/living habits, positive communication strategies, effective decision making, and ways to ensure personal and community safety.
The Arts
The visual arts standards in the middle school years build on the general art knowledge and skills developed at the elementary level.
The music standards in the secondary years are differentiated for skill development: Novice, Intermediate, Proficient, and Accomplished. These levels allow for individualized rigorous musical experiences for students, middle school through high school.
Computer Science
Computer science may be taught at all levels preschool through high school, but the State of Colorado only has standards for computer science in high school.
World Languages
Instead of being organized by grade level, the world languages standards are organized into ranges that describe the progression of learning a student should experience as they grow from novice language learners to an advanced user.
Language proficiency refers to the degree of skill with which a person can use a language to understand, speak, read, write, and listen in real-life situations. Colorado’s standards provide guidance for the introduction of a new language (novice-low) through the minimum proficiency range deemed postsecondary and workforce ready (advanced-low).
Collaborative Literacy Curriculum, Grade 6
The Colorado Reading to Ensure Academic Development Act (Colorado READ Act) focuses on early literacy development for all K–3 students. The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) provides districts with the READ Act Advisory List of Instructional Programming, which is rigorously vetted for alignment with the Science of Reading and evidence-based practices in literacy instruction.
Center for the Collaborative Classroom is proud to have Being a Reader and SIPPS (Systematic Instruction in Phonological Awareness, Phonics, and Sight Words) on the CDE’s READ Act Advisory List of Instructional Programming.