9th and 10th grade students will be taking Reading and Math MAP tests on January 21 and 22.  Please read the attached parent letter for more information.

Parent Information for January 2021 NWEA MAP Administration

Harmony Public Schools administers the NWEA MAP Growth tests in the middle of the year to measure the growth of our scholars from the beginning of the year in reading and math.

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.

Technology

Your scholar is scheduled to take these online assessments on January 21 and 22. We are asking each family to complete this technology check by Jan. 19 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 .

Students that do not have a compatible device need to pick up a Chromebook from the school by January 19. Please complete the following forms:

● https://hsisl.harmonytx.org/technology-survey-form/

● https://hsisl.harmonytx.org/student-chromebook-request-form/

Log in

Each student will log on to the NWEA MAP testing platform from their MyHarmony student portal account. The student will click the “nwea student” icon.

If you receive an error message, check to see if you have a red error indicator in the address bar blocking pop-ups. If so, click on the icon and choose “Always allow…” and “Done” to fix it.

On the login screen, there will be an opportunity to take a practice test if your student is unfamiliar with this testing platform. The practice test is not scored in any way and will simply serve as a tool to help familiarize them with the platform and format of the assessments. Session name and password for practice are both grow.

How

All NWEA MAP Sessions will be proctored via Zoom by personnel from your scholar’s campus. Zoom testing session links will be emailed to your scholar’s school email address by Jan. 19. They can also be found listed in the MAP Zoom links document.

When

The Jan. 2021 NWEA MAP Administration is scheduled to be administered from January 19 – February 3. 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 January 19th.

● If your scholar is unfamiliar with the MAP testing platform, please have them complete the practice test by January 19th to help them become familiar with the platform.

● 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 .

Gifted and Talented Parent Night

10th, 11th and 12th grades

Gifted and Talented Parent Night

Please join us for the HSI-Sugar Land virtual GATE Parent Night on Thursday, December 17, 2020, between 5:30 pm and 6:30 pm at https://harmonytx.zoom.us/j/87270764166

Both parents and students are welcome to participate.

Please contact ms Zadeh at zzadeh@harmonytx.org should you have questions or concerns.

See you on Thursday!

Semester 1 final exams will take place December 14-17. Please see the attached letter for more information.

Please click on the image below.

Beginning November 2^nd, Harmony Public Schools will offer free meals for all children ages 18 and under. Students under 21 who are currently enrolled in a school and are identified as mentally or physically disabled are also eligible. Free breakfast and lunch will be available daily for students attending classes at the school. For distance learners, meal boxes will be available for pick up at 13522 W Airport Blvd, Sugar Land, TX, 77478 on Monday’s from 9:00 – 10:00 Meal distribution is open to our students, their siblings, and the community.

Parents wishing to pick up a meal box without children present will need to present one of the following to verify guardianship:

∙ Individual student report cards

∙ Attendance record from parent portal of a school website

∙ Birth certificate

∙ Official letter/email from facility or school listing children enrolled

∙ Other official ID cards (for example, IDs issued by a child care facility)

If you have any questions, please contact Shima Alawi at 281-302-6445 ext.102 or Salawi@harmonytx.org

Fall Reading Challenge – Grades 9 – 12

October 5, 2020 – January 3, 2021

This challenge is based on The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller. Reading skills are foundational to educational success for all students.  Reading is a skill that students will continue to rely on as they move into their adult lives, and a love of reading is one of the best gifts we can impart to our students.  Pushing students to read more and discover more about who they are as readers is what this challenge is all about.  

So, what’s the challenge?

Donalyn Miller’s challenge is for students to read 40 books in a school year.  For the inaugural year of this challenge here at Harmony, we are going to start out a little slower, and instead of an entire school year, we are starting with the fall semester.  For the fall, we are asking every 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th-grade  student to challenge themselves to read at least 12 novels. It is not a class grade, but teachers should make this a part of their class with regular updates on progress, celebrations of achievements, and book chats on what everyone is reading. 

As a way to explore who we are as readers and push those self-imposed boundaries, we are asking students to explore a variety of reading genres as noted below:

Note:  Books over 300 pages will count as 2 books.

Students will —

1. Read a book from one of the categories listed above. 
2. When finished reading the book, record their progress on the Reading Challenge Progress Form (This is a sample Google Form.  Teachers, make a copy of this form, revise your copy as needed, then add the link to your form to this document).

3. To help classmates find books they want to read, students will do a review on at least 5 of the books they have read.  Add reviews to the  Book Reviews form. (Teachers, make a copy of this form, revise the title, then link your document here.)   Students have a choice of how to review their books – a written review in a Google doc, a video, or a drawing or picture that symbolizes the book.

Zoom meeting invitation;

Join Zoom Meeting
https://harmonytx.zoom.us/j/83552981773

Meeting ID: 835 5298 1773
One tap mobile
+13462487799,,83552981773# US (Houston)
+12532158782,,83552981773# US (Tacoma)

We hope this message finds your families safe. All online instruction WILL continue today, Wednesday, September 23rd.