Dear Henderson Mill Community,

Excellence is what we strive for in everything that we do.  It is this quest that led us to realize part of our vision last year, to become a STEAM school, the first certified STEAM school in the State of Georgia.  It is this great achievement that encourages educators from around the State to come to our school, to see our students and teachers in action, and to attempt to replicate all that is wonderful about HMES at their school.

In a few short weeks, the Department of Education will publish our CCRPI score (College and Career Readiness Performance Indicator).  Although I do not have final numbers, I anticipate a drop in this score due to a lack of progress and achievement for last year’s 5^th graders in the area of English/Language Arts (ELA) on the spring 2017 administration of the Milestones assessment.  The unfortunate thing is that this is how our school is rated.  The assessment itself does not truly measure many of the 21^st century skills that we prize at HMES including creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, or citizenship.  In fact, it only evaluates student growth and achievement on the Milestones assessment in grades 3-5.  Further, in grades 3 and 4, only ELA and Math are assessed, not Science or Social Studies.  Only 5^th grade assesses those subjects.  This is how scores in one testing area at one grade, 5^th grade ELA, can have such an impact on a school’s overall score.

Despite the flaws in the measurement tool, it is the tool that the State uses and one that we must accept.  During my tenure, we have seen this score steadily climb higher through our combined efforts.  In our aim to adjust instruction to ensure authentic Project-Based Learning STEAM integration, we have taken a step backward in this area of the Milestones, one that is not atypical for a school who has recently received State certification.  I want you to rest assured that our leadership team took steps prior to the beginning of the 2017-18 school year to reverse this course.  We shifted personnel, hired new staff, reduced class size, expanded our tutorial offerings, and acquired a new online tool to more closely measure progress in order to ensure our future success.  I am certainly open to discussing this in more detail, if you would like.  Please feel free to send me an email to schedule a time to do so.

Thank you for your continued trust in HMES, our faculty and staff, and our ability and drive to continuously improve.

To meaningful collaboration,

Mitch
Mitch Green
Principal
Henderson Mill Elementary School