July 9, 2010

Dear Johnston Middle School Stakeholder,

The 2009-2010 school year was truly a historic year at Johnston Middle School in every sense of the word. We celebrated our 50th year in Meyerland on April 10th, and Greyhounds of all ages showed up in huge numbers. Our students posted robust gains on every area of the TAKS test. 94% of our students met the standard for TAKS reading school-wide, and 91% met the standard for math school-wide. 99% of our eighth grade students met the standard for social studies, and 99% of our seventh grade students met the standard for writing. In only the third year science has counted in the accountability system, 90% of our 8th graders met the standard, one of the highest scores in all of the Houston Independent School District. Of the 25 academic categories used by the Texas Education Association to assign accountability ratings, twenty performed at the exemplary level, and another five performed at the recognized level. Not only did the number of Johnston Middle School students meeting the standard for each test increase, but the number of our students achieving commended status increased as well. Additionally, the majority of our students scored above the average on the Stanford test in comparison to their peers across the country. Most importantly, Johnston Middle School achieved a TEA preliminary rating of Exemplary for the first time in school history and was nominated by the State of Texas to receive the United States Department of Education's Blue Ribbon Award, the highest honor an American school can receive. Other highlights from 2009-2010 include:

• JMS earned a TEA preliminary rating of Exemplary for the first time in school history.
• JMS was nominated to receive the Blue Ribbon Award, the highest honor that can be bestowed upon an American school.
• JMS received TEA Gold Performance Acknowledgments in Science, Reading, Writing, and Social Studies based on the number of students achieving commended status on the TAKS tests..
• Quartile I growth in Math, Science, Language Arts, Reading, and Social Studies based on HISD’s ASPIRE model.
• Johnston Middle School continued its status as an International Spanish Academy, a prestigious designation given out by the Kingdom of Spain.
• 4 JMS students were selected to travel to Chiba, Japan as ambassadors of the City of Houston.
• JMS received a $405,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to help develop the Japanese and Chinese programs.
• JMS was designated a "NO Place for Hate" school for the ninth consecutive year by the Anti-Defamation League.
• 2 JMS students were state finalists in the Library of Congress "Letters About Literature" contest.
• The Advanced Orchestra received UIL Superior ratings for the 25th consecutive year, and the JMS Intermediate Orchestra earned straight superior ratings as well.
• Our 7th cohort of students took the Spanish AP exam. We expect these 31 students to receive high school and college credit when the results are sent to us later in July.
• 22 JMS students advanced to the Region 23 Honor Choir and Clinic. The Non-Varsity Treble, Varsity Mixed, Varsity Tenor-Bass, and Varsity Treble earned Excellent, Sweepstakes, Sweepstakes, and Excellent ratings respectively at the UIL Concert and Sight-reading Contest.
• 14 JMS students placed in the District History Fair, and 3 JMS students placed in the State History Fair in Austin.
• 12 JMS students advanced to the City Science Fair from the West Region
• The JMS Jazz Ensemble was again invited to perform all around the region.
• JMS artists were awarded 1st, 2nd, or honorable mention in various prestigious art competitions, including the Houston Livestock show and rodeo art competition.
• 137 KickStart students earned belts in the fall and spring belt ceremonies. 2 JMS students qualified for the state karate competition, and 13 greyhounds captured medals at the spring tournament
• 9 JMS students qualified for state recognition with the Duke University Talent Search
• The JMS Art Department hosted the Rodeo Art Open House for the third year in a row.
• Two JMS pianists were accepted into the classical piano program at HSPVA, which is 40% of their freshman class.
• Broadcast Journalism students earned 2 superior ratings for the second year in a row in a national high school competition.
• The JMS Name That Book team took 4th place out of 20 schools.
• 3 JMS students earned first chair honors in the All-City Band, and another 15 earned chairs. 5 Greyhounds earned chairs in the Region Band
• The JMS Theatre Department captured 3rd Place in the UIL One Act Play competition out of 20 schools, and 8 students brought home individual awards.
• The JMS girls' UIL soccer team won first place in the zone.
• At the HISD District Track Meet, 7 girls and 5 boys placed.
• The JMS 8th grade boys and girls teams were zone champions in basketball.
• The JMS 8th grade boys swim team captured 1st place at the zone meet, and the 7th and 8th grade girls' swim teams earned 2nd.

I am enormously proud of the accomplishments of our students and faculty. Your support is instrumental in our success. I am enclosing a copy of our bell schedule. Please note that the dismissal time remains at 3:47, and there will be one early dismissal per month. All returning Johnston Middle School students were issued a book near the end of school. Please make sure your student reads the book and completes the assignment over the summer. It is vitally important that all students engage in some summer reading and math during the break. We want all of our students to return to us sharp and ready to go for the 2010-2011 school year.

The Dress Code for the 2010-2011 school year will remain the same. Please see the attachment for more information. Please note that all outer shirts MUST be purchased from the PTO. On Fridays, students will be allowed to wear club shirts or a shirt purchased from the PTO.

On behalf of all of us at Johnston Middle School, I want to wish you a safe and restful summer.

Sincerely,

Dave D. Wheat
Principal