About Clear Creek Middle


  • Clear Creek Front Entrance

    Mascot: Wildcat
    Colors: Purple, Teal, and Black

    Bell Schedule

    2019-2022 School Improvement Plan

    Mission Statement

    Through a constant emphasis on Responsibility, Relationships, and Resilience, we will provide a superior academic, physical, and social/emotional education that supports all students towards being happy and healthy life-long learners, productive citizens, and caring adults.

    Motto

    • Responsibility: Take ownership of all your actions, decisions, and thoughts - right or wrong.
    • Relationships:   Conduct positive interactions with all people at all times.
    • Resilience:  Do better today than you did yesterday and success will come.

    Philosophy

    Clear Creek’s Mission Statement exhibits the commitment to providing a superior and well-rounded education that addresses the whole child to build a foundation for future success in school and the workplace. We work hard to create educational experiences for our students characterized by quality work and relevant learning through rigorous teaching and learning. Our goal is that each student will experience expected academic gains in all classes while constantly working to promote trust and safety through our motto. We believe that, regardless of academic ability, those who learn and practice the motto will be more successful than those who do not are. Core and elective courses, SUN School offerings, and other co-curricular activities provide opportunities for growth. We strive to maintain respectful partnerships with parents and the community through service and communication. High expectations for all, including students, staff, and parents make Clear Creek Middle School a great place.

    School Improvement Goals

    • Increase student achievement (performance & growth) as measured by state tests, common assessments, grades, work sample, promotion, behavior, and attendance data.
    • Increase meaningful community engagement and partnerships in the school as measured through CCPA activities, SUN data and programs, Parent Nights, and outreach efforts.

    School History

    Clear Creek Middle School was opened in September of 1993. Our school is located in Gresham, Oregon. If you were to visit Clear Creek, we would be proud to show you a facility that was designed with middle school students in mind. From well-planned instrumental and vocal music classrooms to classroom pod areas to a centralized media center, advanced computer lab, two makerspaces, and a newly renovated STEAM lab, you will see spaces that are well used and cared for by students and staff. In 2011, Clear Creek became the first school in Oregon to be recognized as an AVID National Demonstration Site.

    Through a collaborative 21st Century Career-Technical Education Grant from the Oregon Department of Education in 2013, Clear Creek and the Center for Advanced Learning began reimagining what STEAM education and career pathways could be. As the success of the STEAM program grew, additional grants and awards from competitions accelerated the technology available in the school to students and staff.

    • In 2017, CCMS recognized by Samsung Solve for Tomorrow as the state-level winner, garnering a $25,000 award for partnership with the local Lambert House adult care facility to create memory tasks for residents. This project began a tradition of STEAM partnerships to open opportunities for students.
    • In 2018, CCMS was again selected as the state-level winner and became 1 of 10 schools in the nation to attend a pitch event in New York for the “Life Hatch” for residents during hurricanes. The team brought home $50,000 in prize money for technology improvements in the school. 
    • In 2019, the STEAM project was not awarded by Samsung, but local partnerships got behind the creation of the mobile STEAM lab creating the Tomorrow Bus to open access and equity to district schools in need of technology and STEAM project resources.
    • In 2020, CCMS students and staff again were selected as the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow state-level winner, collecting $15,000 in prize money for their work to improve traffic flow for first responders. 
    • In 2020, CCMS was selected by Verizon Innovative Learning Schools (VILS), providing high-end laptops to every student and staff member, WIFI access, staff professional development, and an instructional technology coach on staff. 
    • In 2021, CCMS was awarded a Verizon and Heart of America grant to renovate our current STEAM classroom, transforming it into a state-of-the-art innovation lab. This project is currently underway and should complete in mid-November and open to students and staff in the fall of 2022.
    • Additional local grants and awards contributed funds to technology in classrooms, resulting in a shift in student-to-device ratios of 14:1 in 2011 to less than 1:1 currently. 

    To complement these recognitions and external partnerships, the Gresham community passed a bond to renovate schools, and CCMS was updated in 2020 with an $11 million. Students returned to hybrid learning in the fall of 2021 to a new media center, updated cafeteria, classrooms with new furniture and instructional technology, updated heating and air systems, roof repairs, and refreshed interior aspects. Reopening to in-person learning as the COVID-19 pandemic continued allowed students and staff the first opportunity to begin to fully enjoy the improvements and new offerings.

    Substantial investments from Measure 98 and the Student Success Act increased staffing levels in 2021. Additional courses were added to provide students with opportunities to learn core concepts through project-based, hands-on learning. In partnership with Portland General Electric, SOLVE, and the City of Gresham, reclamation efforts began on our 1-acre pond to create an ecology field site for science and elective classes. A collaboration with In4All will connect students with volunteers to apply design thinking models to study, collect data, research, and present solutions to improve the field site. This project continues to attract interest from partners and volunteer events to remove invasive species, re-introduce native plants, and develop and maintain outdoor learning areas and pathways.

    School Structure

    Although we are no longer able to offer the teaming and looping structure due to staffing reductions and declining student enrollment, the staff continues to hold the values of relationships and positive interactions with students and families to support the academic, behavioral, social, emotional, and physical development during the middle school experience. 6th-grade students will experience a structure similar to the teaming model as their classes will be in close proximity and provide support in a smaller setting as they acclimate to middle school. Similarly, the 8th-grade students will be grouped into a smaller setting to prepare for the transition to high school. Teachers continue to rely on effective practices related to Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBiS) and Multi-Tiered Systems of Support to assess and respond to students' academic, behavioral, and attendance needs.

    Programs, Core and Elective Classes

    Clear Creek Middle School is home to a staff and student body that strives for excellence. Adults and students work together to create a positive, caring learning community. We are not only proud of the building, but also of the programs we offer to the students attending Clear Creek. Along with those core area subjects, students who attend Clear Creek will at some time during their middle school years have the opportunity to take classes in vocal music, instrumental music, Science/Technology/Engineering/Art/Math (STEAM), art, AVID, and additional electives as the staffing and scheduling allow. All students have daily physical education or health classes.

    Students who are below grade level in math and/or reading also receive targeted instruction through courses based on Multi-Tiered Systems of Support. In response to district high school graduation data, CCMS hired additional math teachers and is developing math support for students to accelerate learning and close achievement and performance gaps prior to 9th-grade Integrated Math, which is the most failed class and a barrier to graduation for many students. CCMS math teachers are able to provide two math periods to identified students, allowing time for reteaching foundational skills as well as slowing down the learning to ensure students are improving. In support of this effort, staff selected to develop shared goals around literacy and math so students are relearning and applying math and reading skills in all their courses. Student progress on i-Ready diagnostic assessments is used by staff to target individuals and groups of students with leveled, intentional, and specific instructional support.

    At CCMS, staff and students strive for a Special Education inclusion model, reducing the time students are removed from general education classes. Highly qualified Educational Resource Teachers and assistants provide specially designed and differentiated instruction for students on IEPs in math, English language arts, and science classes. A highly successful English Language Development staff meets the needs of English Language Learners (ELL) and provides support to core teachers for monitored ELL students. Strategic hiring has attracted bilingual, bicultural staff who are able to supplement and extend support for ELL and other students who need additional exposure to and use of academic language. 

    Clear Creek is also designated by Multnomah County as a charter SUN School (Schools Uniting Neighborhoods). Through this program, a variety of after-school activities for students is available, as well as offerings to support parents and families. The classes provide academic support, STEM opportunities, athletics, and special interest classes to promote positive experiences and social interactions with peers, the community, and the environment. On average, approximately 60% of the student body participates in SUN co-curricular activities throughout the year before and after school. Students attending the after-school activities receive an evening meal and are transported home after 5:30 when the session ends. Additional programs are offered during winter, spring, and summer breaks. Since 2016, SUN has been managed by El Programa Hispano, and offers culturally specific services to students and families, while continuing to provide after-school programming for all students and families.

    At Clear Creek Middle School, we are all dedicated to helping students succeed academically while supporting their social, emotional, and physical development. We are proud of the student body and the successes they have shown and will continue to work for every student finding individual success. The staff’s commitment to preparing students for post-secondary success is an institutional core value.

     

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