I would like to extend an invitation for you to participate in a financial aid information session/workshop. During this session, you and your Scholar will have an opportunity to review the financial aid process, participate in a demonstration for filling out necessary financial aid forms, and complete the Financial Aid Form for Student Application (FAFSA) with the help of a financial aid expert.
Financial aid is available to help students pay for college – and the first step to accessing those funds is to complete a FAFSA.
Event: Harmony School of Innovation – Sugar Land Financial Aid Night
Date: Thursday, October 1st, 2020
Time: 6:00 pm.
Location: Virtual Meeting through Zoom Meeting Time
In order to complete the FAFSA, the following documents are required:
Social Security Number of Student
Student`s alien registration or permanent resident card if not a U.S. citizen
Driver’s License of Student (if any)
Financial information from the previous year (ex. for the 2020-21 school year, students will need financial information from 2019)
Financial information includes the following:
W-2 Forms and other records of money earned in the previous year (if any) o Student`s Federal Income Tax Return from the previous year (if any)
Parents Federal Income Tax Return (if Students are considered a dependent)
Student`s untaxed income records—(i.e. worker’s compensation, child support received)
Student`s current bank statements (if any)
Student`s investment records (if any)
An FSA ID to sign electronically. (This can be created beforehand at fsaid.ed.gov, or at the time of application.)
List of colleges you are considering.
Notes:
Parental information is required unless you are at least 24 years of age or meet the criteria for filing as an independent student as described on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®). Refer to www.fafsa.gov.
Only parents who do not have a Social Security number can enter 000-00-0000 on the FAFSA.
You must report income and assets for yourself and for your parents (if you are a dependent student) or your spouse (if you are married).
If you haven’t done your taxes by the time you fill out your FAFSA, it’s okay to estimate the amounts. You might want to base your estimates on last year’s tax return. If your income changed drastically since last year’s tax return, you may click on “Income Estimator” when completing your FAFSA online at www.fafsa.gov. The Income Estimator will help you estimate adjusted gross income (AGI). After you file your taxes, you’ll need to log back into the FAFSA and correct any estimated information that was wrong.
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You are invited to join our virtual Back to School event for ESL Parents. We will share information regarding ESL programming, EOCs, TELPAS and how to support your child.
Please see the linked invite below. Hope to see you there!
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During the month of October, HSI-Sugar Land will offer the PSAT to students in grades 9-11 and the SAT to students in grade 12. Please read the attached letter for more information. Specific test dates and links to the sign-up forms are included in the letter.
In October, HSI – Sugar Land will offer the PSAT to students in grades 9-11 and SAT to students in grade 12. These assessments focus on the knowledge and skills evidence shows matters most for college and career readiness. Our counselors and teachers will be speaking with students about what to expect on the tests and tips to be successful. They will address the format of the tests, strategies for answering questions, and information about why they are important.
In order to adhere to social distancing guidelines, the test dates will be spread out over four testing dates, one date selected for each grade level. Remote testing is not available for the PSAT and SAT. Students must take the tests in person, on campus, on the designated test date. Due to the current circumstances in regards to COVID-19, the school understands that all students may not be comfortable testing on campus, and therefore it is not mandatory for students to take these tests on these dates. In order to get a better idea of how many students to prepare for, we are asking students to sign-up for the appropriate grade level test if they do plan on taking the test. Any student not planning on taking the test does not need to complete the form. Sign-up forms were emailed to students on September 17 and links to each form are included below in the chart.
Following is the testing information for teacher grade level:
The student guides contain detailed information about the tests for parents and students as well as sample questions. Additional practice tests are available online at College Board (wwww.collegeboard.org/psatpractice and online at Khan Academy (https://khanacademy.org/).
ww.collegeboard.org/psatpractice)
Students who are testing need to arrive on time to school on their test day, bring #2 pencils, an approved calculator, and if desired, a quick snack to eat during the short break between test sections. Students are encouraged to get a restful night’s sleep before the test and to eat a healthy breakfast on the day of testing.
Additionally, please remind your child not to bring his/her cell phone or other electronic devices into the testing room. As per College Board rules, students caught with these prohibited devices will have their scores cancelled.
Lastly, on test day, HSI-Sugar Land will be closed to all visitors and parents, including lunch drop-offs, until testing is complete. The estimated end time for testing is 1:00 pm.
Thank you for your continued support. Harmony School of Innovation – Sugar Land
**Calculator Information:
There are two parts of the Math section on the PSAT and SAT. In the second part, the students have the option to use calculators. The school is not obligated to provide calculators to students, and all questions can be answered without the use of a calculator. We do encourage students to bring an approved calculator on the day of the test. It is best if they have had an opportunity to practice using their calculator at home, prior to the testing day.
Calculators permitted during testing include:
Most graphing calculators (see chart below)
All scientific calculators
All four-function calculators (not recommended)
Below is the list of College Board approved calculators:
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Reading skills are foundational to educational success for all students.
Encouraging students to read more improves their skills and promotes a love of reading they can continue throughout their educational years and into adulthood.
That’s why Harmony Public Schools is hosting a fall Reading Challenge for all students in all campuses.
Join your classmates from across your campus and across the state from Monday, October 5, 2020 though Sunday, January 3, 2021 as together we show our love for reading and discover new and exciting ideas, authors, and stories through our favorite books.
Along the way, we’ll recognize our top readers and campuses each month, share favorite book picks, and ask for your reviews on some of your favorite reads.
The Annual Parent and Family Engagement Title I meeting is scheduled for September 25. It will be a virtual meeting. Please see the attached invitation for the meeting information and the zoom link.
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Due to the inclement weather Parent Orientation is postponed to next week. You can find the updated invitation information below.
Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.
Stay safe!
You are cordially invited to attend the orientation. There will be a special session that has been designed specifically with parents in mind, giving them an opportunity to meet and ask questions of the school staff.
Parent orientation will be held Thursday, September 3 from 5:00 – 6:30 PM.
Please find the zoom meeting information below;
Ali Kucuk is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: HSI-Sugar Land Parent Orientation (Live)
Time: Sep 3, 2020 05:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
In 2016, Getting Smart produced a serieson Harmony Public Schools of Houston, Texas. At the time, the staff was focused on growing in a sustainable way, attracting attention from families wanting a different learning experience for their children. Harmony was serving over thirty thousand students shared across 40+ schools and led by over 3,000 teachers, administrators, and support staff. At the launch of the 2020-2021 school year, administration is expected to see enrollment near 40,000.
2016 (then)
2020 (now)
# of Schools
46
58
# of Students Enrolled
30,735
38,976
# of Students Applied
47,421
52,880
# of Educators
3,151
3,752
Exactly what changes have been made to elicit such progress in just a few years? Where has the school network’s focus been after getting their STEM program up and running? Robert Thornton, a curriculum director and grant facilitator for Harmony said, “There’s a sustained focus from what we were doing then and we didn’t quit—we doubled down.” With that, Getting Smart is once again taking a close look at the bold innovations being implemented by the Harmony team.The Harmony team has developed an attractive learner-centered experience chock full of engaging STEM and project-based work for students. This progress stems from a bedrock culture the staff have cultivated over the past twenty years and recent indicators show they have even more innovation to prove yet. As their staff says about Harmony’s culture, it’s a school that puts core values into action.
Investing in Students By Investing in Teachers
Specifically, we are curious about their progress implementing a grant-funded, radical new approach to how they invest in the professional development of their teaching staff. But first let’s revisit the steps taken a few years ago to position this public charter school system to become the fastest growing of its kind in not only the region, but across the country as well.
Firstly, and even as they continue expanding, Harmony is still dedicated to a very personalized learning experience, an innovation mindset, high expectations for all members of the learning community, personalized, STEM, and project-based learning (PBL), and a college-bound disposition for graduates. From administration, to teaching staff guiding students with parental support, the success stories abound across the charter network.
Recent graduate, Muntazir Panjwani says, “Harmony has teachers that are energetic and love what they do.” Muntazir was a founding member of Harmony’s Innovation Lab and still works there today. “Not every school is giving their teachers this opportunity to further their studies. That gives us a severe edge because we’re already ahead of the game. It’s an amazing edge they’re giving us.”
Harmony in a Time of Global Discord
As the pandemic shut down school operations around the world, Harmony rallied. Teachers and leaders in Harmony launched an initiative with their students to support healthcare workers to the extent they were able. Students took this real-world problem of the COVID-19 outbreak and used their PBL expertise along with the school’s 3D printers to mass-produce shields and masks that were donated to local health care institutions. This is the sort of contribution and responsiveness that demonstrates the leadership capabilities of the students working with the right guidance to make a laudable contribution in their community. Harmony is committed to difference making as the means to learning and preparing students for what comes next.
Harmony Innovation Lab students assembling face shields. Image courtesy of HPS.
In another example of what can happen when Harmony students are empowered by their instructors, students have used the Innovation Lab to serve other needs. Last year, they even produced prosthetic limbs for a young amputee.
There’s a sense of purpose driving students into solving real-world problems. That purpose has staying power, as a number of Harmony graduates continue to stay involved, but now as part time employees at the Innovation Lab while they continue their own postsecondary work as college freshmen. These students see it as their mission to give back.
Imran Abukaker, a 2019 graduate said, “I’ve amassed this knowledge I want to pass along to other kids. All of us at the Lab have an affinity for teaching… My parents wanted to expose me to as many different perspectives as possible, and at HPS there are people of all different backgrounds.” This includes the staff.
The stories, awards, and other notable accomplishments of students and staff at Harmony are the fruits of their labor and commitment to excellence. In order to sustain that in a manner equitable to all, Harmony has worked intensively to direct their energies on maintaining that high level of performance, particularly with cultivating talent in a commendable way.
Agency in Professional Learning
The leadership of Harmony has taken principles and best practices of competency-based education that we’ve known to be a better way of assessing student growth and applied it as an investment in their staff as well. Harmony has built a competency-based approach to career advancement for educators. Using BloomBoard, Harmony developed a replete set of competencies to be nurtured in their educators, awarding achievement with micro-credentials and incentive compensation. Their method is a departure from the top-down observation models prevalent in most school systems in the US and arguably more effective in developing modern practitioners. It includes short term action research and validating the informal continuing education teachers experience in their practice.
We sat down with a number of Harmony educators to hear how the program was impacting their practice. Assistant Principal of Harmony School of Endeavor in Houston, Mehmet Cellik, says, “What makes this work is the action research component. You can read a book and write a paper. This microcredential program goes beyond the paper.” His peers share a similar sense of what is valuable.
Over the next four posts in the series, we will share how HPS has elevated professional learning just as they have for students—by empowering teachers to take charge of their own career advancement.
This post is a part one of a five blog series in the upcoming “Getting Smart on Competency-Based Career Advancement at Harmony Public Schools” produced in partnership with Harmony Public Schools (@HarmonyEdu).
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Parent Information for Fall 2020 NWEA MAP (revised Aug. 31)
Students in grades 9 and 10 will take MAP tests in Reading and Math. Test days are September 9th and 10th. Since all teachers will be needed to administer the exams, there will be no live classes on MAP testing days. Non-testing students are required to log into their classes and complete independent study lessons. Please see the attached parent informational letter for more details about MAP testing.
Harmony Public Schools administers the NWEA MAP Growth tests at the beginning of the year each year to establish baseline data for our scholars as well as to measure growth for our returning scholars that tested the previous year. This data is used to drive our instructional focus for each scholar as well as to identify trends within our campuses and district. As you know, this year is unique in that we are all beginning this instructional year remotely and we will need your assistance in ensuring that the integrity and validity of our assessments are maintained. To do this, we have created this document for you to help you navigate the NWEA MAP assessment and answer any questions you may have.
Who
At the high school level, students in grades 9 and 10 (with limited exceptions) will take the NWEA MAP Growth Test. Please use the chart below to see which tests each grade will be administered.
The only students that are not required to test (but may if the campus would like) are STAAR Alt2 students. Campus Testing Coordinators will submit names of STAAR Alt2 students to the central office to have those students removed from internal reporting.
Technology
Your scholar is scheduled to take these online assessments on September 9th and 10th. We are asking each family to complete this technology check by Sept. 3th so that we may help you troubleshoot any issues that your family may experience before the testing window begins. To check if your device meets the minimum requirements, please click here.
How
All NWEA MAP Sessions will be proctored via Zoom by personnel from your scholar’s campus. Your scholar’s instructors will provide them with the Zoom session information as well as any required test-specific log in information for your scholar. Zoom session links will also be emailed to your scholar’s school email address.
When
The Fall 2020 NWEA MAP Administration is scheduled to be administered from September 8 – 28. In this unique time of all online learning, we have developed a standardized schedule to administer MAP to make sure that it is done uniformly across the system. The administration window will be as follows. Testing will begin at 9:00 AM each day.
Make-up testing may be completed after the student tests on the same day or into the next week at the guardian’s request. While these tests do not have a time limit, the average time spent by Harmony students in 2019 was just over one hour. We urge our families to monitor their scholar(s) closely when they are taking this assessment to make sure that their scholar is taking their time, using their testing strategies, and putting forward their best efforts to ensure that we receive the most accurate data about your student.
Test Security
During an in-person administration of this assessment, the test proctor is able to walk around the room to monitor each scholar and make sure that each scholar is taking their time and behaving responsibly. In this new virtual setting, we are asking for your assistance in making sure that your scholar’s test is secure and they are following testing expectations such as the following
Make sure they have completed the technology check by September 3rd
If your scholar is unfamiliar with the MAP testing platform, please have them complete the practice test by September 8th to help them become familiar with the platform. Additionally, ELA teachers will be going over MAP log-in and Zoom testing norms with students the week of August 31st.
During the Zoom test administration, please monitor your scholar to make sure they are taking their time and using their testing strategies
During the Zoom test administration, please do not allow your scholar to have any other windows open on their computer other than their MAP test and their Zoom.
During the Zoom test administration, please do not allow your scholar to use any outside resources. Students are allowed to use dictionaries on the Reading test only.
During the Zoom test administration, please make sure that your scholar does not have access to their cell phone.
Accessibility
For our scholars with documented supports needed for STAAR testing, we will implement those supports as much as possible for the corresponding MAP tests.
Troubleshooting and Additional Questions
For any troubleshooting or additional questions, please contact your Campus Testing Coordinator at dgerard@harmonytx.org.
In accordance with the Texas State Plan for the Education of Gifted/Talented students, Harmony Public Schools will begin taking referrals for all newly- enrolled students in grades 9-12 for gifted and talented screening. Anyone interested in the educational welfare of these students may refer them for assessment. Referral forms are also available on the school’s website. Read more
