Dual Credit Courses Registration for SPRING 2021

How to Register Dual Credit Classes for Spring 2021

Dear Students & Parents/Guardians

Submission DEADLINE: Friday, November 13, 2020 at 4:00 pm.

Dual credit course Registration for Spring 2021 opens on October 19th, 2020 – November 13th, 2020for ONLY the students continuing with dual credit classes listed below:

• AP/Dual English Language (By Lone Star College)
• AP/Dual English Literature (By Lone Star College)
• Dual Anatomy & Physiology (By Lone Star College)
• Dual Economics (By Houston Community College)
• Dual Pre-Calculus (By Lone Star College)

Students who are already placed in these courses listed above in Skyward for Spring 2021 semester MUST submit the required documents signed by parents/guardians and assigned counselors through the online submission forms provided below:

LONE STAR COLLEGE

• Required Documents
• LSC Online Submission Form

HOUSTON COMMUNITY COLLEGE

• Required Documents
• HCC Online Submission Form

NOTES:

1. Any application form submitted without parent /guardian and counselor signature will NOT be considered. Please make sure to have them before submission.
2. Please do not turn in any form to either your course teacher, front office staff members, or your counselor. We will ONLY ACCEPT online submissions via online submission forms provided above.
3. Unfortunately, we will not be able to accept any new application. We will consider ONLY submissions by students who are already placed in dual courses in Skyward during the course selection period.

Please contact your assigned counselor if you need any further help.

Have a wonderful day!!!

Best,

Mr. Walter Morgan (As known as Mr. Ciftci), M.Ed

Dean of College & Career | Harmony School of Innovation-Sugar Land
Address: 13522 W. Airport Blvd. Sugar Land, TX 77478Phone: 2813026445 Ext: 323 | Fax: 2813026745 | Website: https://hsisl.harmonytx.org/

On Tuesday, November 3, students in grades 10-12 will have the unique opportunity to take the ASVAB Career Exploration Exam and participate in the follow up career seminar on Tuesday, November 17.  Please read the attached letter for more information about the program and exam.  The deadline to register for the exam is Wednesday, October 28.

ASVAB CEP Registration Form

2020 ASVAB CEP Informational Letter

Please Join our ESL Parent:

Back to School Event Friday 9/25/20 @ 4:00 pm

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!

https://www.smore.com/y46c8

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.

PDF Version of The Letter

Harmony School of Innovation – Sugar Land

13522 W Airport Blvd, Sugar Land, TX 77478 | Tel: (281) 302- 6445

Friday, September 18, 2020

Dear Parents and Guardians:

SUBJECT: PSAT and SAT

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:

Dear HSI-SL Family,

Getting Smart published the first of a new blog series about Harmony

Enjoy it!

Back to School with Harmony

By Eric Nentrup September 1, 2020

• TOPICS
• PERSONALIZED LEARNING
• PROJECT-BASED LEARNING

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Harmony Through The Years

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.

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.

Additional Resources:

• Harmony Microcredential Initiative
• Harmony Microcredential Initiative FAQ
• Bite-sized, Tailored, and Job-embedded
• Micro-credential Guidance

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).

For more, see:

• Supporting District Change Through Learner-Centered Leadership
• A New Way Forward: A Virtual Summit on Building a Learner-Centered Future
• Smart Review | Learner-Centered Innovation

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Stay in-the-know with innovations in learning by signing up for the weekly Smart Update.

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

DEADLINE: Next Week on Monday, August 31, 2020, at 4:00 pm.

Dear Mustang Students & Parent/Guardians;

Dear Parents/Guardians and Students,

Dear HSI Sugar Land Students

I am pleased to welcome you back to the 2020-21 school year! I would like to extend a special welcome to all of the new students joining HSI Sugar Land this year and welcome back all of our returning students as well.

As announced earlier, our campus will start the academic year on Monday, August 17 in an online-only setting. Classes will continue online-only until at least Tuesday, September 8.

Please read below important reminders and click on the links to watch the videos explaining how to access Harmony Portal. Once students get access to Harmony Portal, they will have access to all other resources such as Student Emails, Schoology, CLEVER, etc.

Please follow these steps to ensure you have access before Monday, August 17, 2020.

• Logging into Schoology through My Harmony Portal : If you do not remember your Student ID, or are new and did not receive it, please ask your parents to check their emails listed in Skyward. Student IDs have been sent to parent email addresses individually.
• Schoology Student View : Watch this video to learn the basics of navigating Schoology. All of the classes on your schedule in Skyward will automatically appear in Schoology on 8/17 – please note that unfortunately, you won’t be able to see your classes in Schoology until the first day of school. Students will not need access codes for classes – as long as they are on your Skyward schedule, they will be added to your Schoology automatically. Parents will need parent access codes, which will be shared by the school on August 17, 2020.
• On the morning of August 17, the first day of school, students must log in to Skyward and check which class they have Lesson 1 on Monday. Then log in to Schoology and visit that class to find the Zoom link for the class meeting.
• Messaging a Teacher :  You can send messages to your teachers or other school staff by clicking on the little envelope near your username and typing your teacher’s name. This feature is already active.
• Schedule Briefing : Read this document for a quick overview of this year’s schedule, grade level by grade level
• For additional support on Schoology, please click here.

Gokay Besli

Principal