Henderson Middle School Newsletter
April 2019
Contact Henderson Middle School
Email: yaa.appiah.mcnulty@lrsd.org
Website: https://www.hendersonhawks.org/
Location: 401 John Barrow Road, Little Rock, AR, USA
Phone: 501-477-2800
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hendersonmiddleschoollrsd
Twitter: @MiddleLrsd
Principal’s Corner
Dear Henderson Families,
Welcome to the Month of April! This is a very busy month for our students as they will be taking the end of the year summative assessment known as ACT Aspire. This test is meant to measure student progress towards being college and career ready. All year long, our HMS staff have committed to helping students to understand the importance of doing their best on this assessment and any assessment they take as they are the building blocks for doing well in middle school and high school as well as helping to determine their options for getting into college. The key phrase for students and our families to understand is “the test does not go away”, so students must give their best effort each time.
As a school team, we have done few things differently in order to support the needs of our students and increase student achievement. As shared in previous newsletters, teachers have been working hard during their PLC (professional learning communities) time to select standards of focus, develop smart goals, create tests (common formative assessments), teach the skills, analyze student data, and figure out next steps and interventions when students are still not understanding the concepts taught. In addition to bettering our instruction to support positive student outcomes; we also have worked as a team to incorporate short term intervention time for all students based on our interim assessment (NWEA). Teachers last week created an ACT prep for students, so they are feeling more confident about the upcoming test. Last, but not least, we had an opportunity to goal set with individual students by reviewing with them their last year’s data and hearing their thoughts about their performance, and then, set reasonable goals for this year’s test. This work was done by several staff members in our building and students really appreciated the one on one attention.
Due to all of the hard work of the staff and students, we held an ACT Bust That Test Celebration on Friday, April 5th, at the end of the school day. This was a fun way for our staff and students to bond and indeed we did! The assembly consisted of staff and student performance, students’ words of encouragement for peers to do their best, and many laughs in between. It was a great time for all!
So, how can parents support HMS this month as we conduct testing? You can support our school efforts by sending your child to school on time ready to learn. This is critical as we are noticing that our attendance has gone down in the last few months. We need to tackle this issue and it requires your help as well as the work of our staff. You can also support us by talking to your child about following school rules, staying out of drama, making positive choices, and encouraging them to think before they act. We truly care about all students and want to see them continue to have a successful school year. Let’s work as a team to make this happen.
In this bulletin is a copy of our testing calendar for all families. Have a great month and please do not hesitate to contact school officials for support, concerns, or celebrations. Thank you for entrusting us with your children.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Appiah-McNulty
HMS ACT Testing Calendar
The calendar below captures our testing timeline for April and May. We plan to test students during the first and second periods. It is important that your child arrives at school by 8:45am daily. We also encourage students to get to bed early and eat a healthy breakfast!
Come ready to "Bust That Test" !