Dear Superintendent Dr. Lauri Heinz :
Congratulations on the designation of Emerson Middle School being named a School to Watch®. The prestigious Schools to Watch® initiative, now in 18 states, is a signature initiative of the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform and is designed to identify and promote best practices in the middle grades.
I congratulate your district on the accomplishment and invite you and members of your school community to our 11th annual Schools to Watch Conference at the Marriott Crystal Gateway in Arlington, VA from June 24-27, 2015. The Schools to Watch conference will showcase and honor your wonderful school recognizing it for its capacity to promote academic achievement in a safe and caring learning environment where each and every student is positioned to succeed in high school and beyond.
The National Forum’s Schools to Watch® program offers a powerful set of criteria against which educators and parents can assess their school’s performance. What’s more, it mobilizes state-level partners to identify effective schools so that others may learn how to make high performance the norm, not the exception.
Your school will engage in networking sessions, be trained in middle grades advocacy, participate in a pre- arranged congressional visit, be honored at the gala dinner, and have the opportunity to select from over 70 sessions and round table discussions. The conference is a great venue for your school leaders to learn from other Schools to Watch sites across the nation. Sessions are full of energy, provide great information, and highlight practices that your leaders can put into action in your district.
We urge you to send a spirited delegation from your district to this special conference. Your school will be recognized for its accomplishments and will benefit from interactions with outstanding middle grades educators from around the country. Further information about the conference can be found at www.middlegradesforum.org.
Sincerely,
Deborah Kasak, Ed. D.
Executive Director