The Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School Newsletter
http://www1.pgcps.org/martinlutherkingjr
Thank you for sending your child to school every day ready to learn.
December 9, 2016
Dear Parents,
On December 2nd, two hundred and sixty-eight students were recognized for their first quarter achievements at the
Renaissance Honor Card Recognition Assembly. The Renaissance program inspires the excitement for academics that
is traditionally reserved for athletics. Its aim is to increase student performance and teacher enthusiasm, and to raise the
level of community participation in schools. The Renaissance program does this through positive reinforcement in the
classroom with “Living the Dream” cards, at the end of each week with the Renaissance Roll, with teacher incentives to
encourage ongoing recognition of student achievement, by honoring students and staff members on the “Living the Dream”
board, and by celebrating academic excellence, good attendance, and positive behavior at the Honor Card assemblies. The
students completed the honor card application after receiving their report cards. Fifty-two students earned Bronze cards
with grade point averages from 3.0 to 3.49. One hundred twenty-three students received Silver cards for having GPA
averages of 3.5 to 3.99. Ninety-three students earned Gold Honor cards by having a 4.0 GPA. The Gold card holders will
receive Renaissance t-shirts, which they will be able to wear on any Friday in place of their uniform shirt. In addition to their
honor cards, all Honor Card students received Renaissance pencils and a special treat. Four students and a teacher were
nominated for the Renaissance Living the Dream Award by the MLK staff: Miles Brown, Yadhira Carrillo, Samantha Lynch,
Pari Smith and Ms. Sara Littlejohn. Congratulations to all Renaissance Honor Card holders.
Thanks to the many guest speakers and staff members who made this year’s Career Day a success. We had 30
presenters consisting of parents and members of the surrounding community who represented a wide range of
careers. Guest speakers encouraged every student to set goals and make positive choices towards reaching those
goals. We would like to thank all of the presenters for taking time out of their busy schedules to speak to our students about
their career experiences. Their willingness and commitment to our school community is greatly appreciated. A huge thank
you is extended to the teachers and students for their cooperation in helping Career Day run smoothly. Kudos to the
guidance department for a job well done. Thank you, Kings and Queens for serving as hosts to our guests.
This past Monday, the boys’ basketball team played Morningside Middle School. The boys did a great job and won
the game with a score of 55 to 27. Both teams look forward to playing again next week against Buck Lodge (away)
and Eisenhower (home) Middle Schools. Our Cobras continue to grow and show great teamwork.
PARCC is Maryland’s new accountability program, replacing the Maryland School Assessment (MSA). It is the first
assessment aligned to Maryland’s College and Career Ready Standards, and sets a higher bar for student learning. PARCC
tests require students to demonstrate critical thinking, problem solving and clear writing. The assessment indicates how
close a student is to meeting the new standards, and results are categorized into one of five performance levels: Level 1:
Did Not Yet Meet Expectation; Level 2: Partially Met Expectations; Level 3: Approached Expectations; Level 4: Met
Expectations; and Level 5: Exceeded Expectations. Students achieving at levels 4 or 5 are considered college ready. For
the second year in a row, the PARCC consortium has released authentic test items from the 2015-16 assessments for
grades 3 through 8. The test items, which are actual questions from last year's assessments and can be found on
the Partnership Resource Center (PRC), are designed to provide students, teachers, and parents with unparalleled
transparency about the tests, and to serve as a resource to prepare for the upcoming spring assessments. The released
assessment items, in PDF format, represent approximately one full test per grade level, for both English Language
Arts/literacy and mathematics. Also posted on the PRC are scoring rubrics associated with the test questions, along with
learning standards guidelines that demonstrate specifically which competencies are being measured by each question. For
the open-ended writing portions of the PARCC assessments, there are anonymous student responses for each of the five
PARCC scoring levels to provide the most accurate representations of what kinds of answers will earn various scores. To
view more information about the released items, click here. A recently-released study from the Collaborative for Student
Success reported that "among the more than 40 states that have adopted and maintained high standards, the vast majority
have seen proficiency rates improve." In particular, third grade students in these states, who have spent their entire
academic careers learning according to these standards, have seen math proficiency rates rise by more than three
percentage points. PARCC states in particular have seen strong growth among third graders, with the District of
Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, and Rhode Island all showing student proficiency rate increases of over 5 percent
in just one year. Of the states that were measured, four PARCC states (D.C., Md., N.J., and R.I.) were the top four
states for growth among third-graders.
Congratulations to the Renaissance Roll winners from December 2, 2016. Students who demonstrated good
citizenship, academic achievement and the King Principles are recognized by their teachers with Renaissance Living the
Dream cards. Part of each card is placed in the weekly Renaissance drawing. Prizes this week were pencils, pencil
sharpeners, erasers, bookmarks and pencil pouches.
Team M-6
Asia Arrington
Mamoun Al Hendi
Kalyn Nixon
Odalis Torres
Team L-7
Gabriela Diaz
Thu Nguyen
Yalmilka Osorio
Bryan Tejada Vasquez
Team K-8
Comfort Ahanmisi
Catherine Erroa
Jasmine Major
Tariq Slater
SAT WORD of the Week: Pretentious (adj.)—Making an exaggerated outward show.
The pretentious boy said that he was the fastest runner, but he finished last in the race.
(Synonyms: pompous, showy)
Don’t forget: Chorus concert on Tuesday, December 13, 2016
in the MPR at 7:00 PM. Join Mr. Harris and his students for a
great evening of holiday entertainment.
Please send your Box Tops to the main office!