Course Designations

Middle school core courses in Humble ISD are offered as on-level or Advanced (ADV). A student's course of study may be a combination of courses with different designations. The student, parent, and school will work together to determine the best combination for each learner.

On-Level Courses

These core courses prepare students for college and post-secondary instruction using a variety of teaching strategies, student activities, and assessments. The curriculum requires students to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills as well as master the core content.

Advanced Courses

Advanced courses are designed to challenge motivated students and prepare them for success in college-level coursework in high school and beyond. These advanced courses move at a faster pace, are more academically challenging, and require more independent learning than on-level courses. When selecting advanced courses, it is important to keep the following in mind:

• Humble ISD's On-Level curriculum is a college-bound curriculum.

• While Advanced courses are designed to better prepare students for advanced academic coursework, Advanced courses are not a requirement for enrolling in most AP, IB, and dual credit courses.

• Some AP courses have course prerequisites that must be completed. Check the course catalog for prerequisites.

• Advanced courses are not "all or nothing." Students may take one or more of their core classes as Advanced level courses.

• Students develop academic readiness at different rates and may not be ready for Advanced courses at the same time as their friends or classmates.

• For most courses, it is possible to move from on-level to Advanced sections from one year to the next. In mathematics, it is more difficult due to the acceleration and compacting of the curriculum in 6th and 7th grades. A student who moves from on-level to Advanced mathematics may require additional support in making the transition.

Advanced Entry Guidelines

The purpose of the Advanced entry guidelines is to provide information to facilitate placement of students in academically challenging courses.

1. Humble ISD recognizes the value of student participation in advanced academic coursework and encourages students to graduate from high school with at least one advanced course credit, such as AP or dual credit. Humble ISD has an inclusive enrollment model for AP and Advanced courses that provides support systems for student success. Students are encouraged to access the most rigorous curriculum in which they can be successful, generally defined as earning a C or better semester average.

2. Advanced courses are designed to challenge students beyond on-level courses and prepare them for success in future advanced-level coursework. Data provided by student performance in related courses and teacher input are important elements for parents and students to consider in selecting advanced coursework.

3. To participate in Advanced courses, demonstration of mastery on course-related state-mandated performance assessments, including STAAR, is necessary. Students should recognize the long term benefits of participation, seek assistance when needed, and be committed to staying in the course for a minimum of one semester.
   Note: Due to the curricular differences between on-level and Advanced courses and for the benefit of students, entry into an Advanced course from an on-level course is discouraged after the start of the school year. It is recommended that students enter advanced courses only at the beginning of the course. Exceptions must have principal approval.

Advanced Exit Guidelines

Exit processes are in place to assist students in making sound course selection decisions. Students and parents must be aware that grades earned in an Advanced course follow the student to the on-level course and will be included in the student's overall course average.

1. It is expected that students seek assistance when needed to be successful in the course.

2. Students are expected to remain in the Advanced course at least one full semester.

3. Students petitioning to exit an Advanced course should meet the following criteria:

   1. Conference with the teacher

   2. Completion of course assignments

   3. Attendance at recommended tutorials

The decision to exit will be based on input from the teacher, student performance in the course, availability of space in other courses and timing of the request. Students experiencing success (able to maintain a C or better semester average) in the course should remain in the course for the semester.

Before a student exits an Advanced course, we want to make sure they are making the decision after academic support has been attempted. By definition, an Advanced class comes with higher expectations which students can attain with appropriate learner behaviors and school support. The district recommends that a "C" average or better in the course is acceptable for a child to remain in the course. Per district policy, before the student can exit the class, he/she must:

• Seek before/after school tutoring to aid them with the things they need help with;

• Complete all assignments that are due for the course ( including taking advantage of the re-assessment opportunities available); and

• Conference with the parents, counselor and/or grade level administrator, and teacher to discuss reasons for possible exit and academic abilities of the child.

The target is that the child completes one full semester of the course. However, after a parent initiates a possible schedule change out of an Advanced class, and the preceding criteria have taken place, the district requires a three-week monitoring period to make sure this is the best academic move for the child. If the course change is granted by the administrator, the grade for the course will be transferred to the on-level class that the student is moved to.

AMS Award Criteria 

At the end of each school year, AMS teachers select 2 students per course section (i.e. 6 math classes = 12 award recipients) for "Academic Excellence" in that course. AMS does not dictate what the criteria for "Academic Excellence" entail. AMS teachers are encouraged to give an "Academic Excellence" award to a student based on any of these scenarios:

• student(s) with one of the highest achieving grades in the class

• student(s) that add value to the class based on his/her participation and academic contributions

• student(s) that exhibit a high degree of effort and growth in the course throughout the year

AMS is blessed with many knowledgeable and hardworking students with supportive parents keeping them accountable for their learning.  AMS knows there are many more deserving students who deserve personal recognition with an award than the actual number of awards distributed to students. That is why we have a blend of accessible awards such as All "A" Honor Roll & Perfect Attendance and selection awards such as "Academic Excellence".

Lastly, we try to recognize student throughout the year for their academic contributions each grading cycle:

• All A's & 2 B's (or better) Honor Roll - students receive a privilege card to getting in the lunch line first, drop your lowest formative grade, excuse a tardy, and other privileges; students receive PBIS Tiger Points in their PBIS bank

• Tiger 10 Card - students who improve at least 10 points or higher in a core subject from one report card grading cycle to another; students receive PBIS Tiger Points in their PBIS bank

• Tiger of the Quarter - any staff member can nominate any student for their academic, school spirit, or citizenship contributions to AMS. Every student is recognized in a small ceremony with a small treat.

Special Awards

Tom Matthews Award

• Selected by the industrial arts teacher, this student is a role model for others in class. (Named for a former AMS industrial arts teacher)

Berlin Award of Integrity

• These students demonstrate integrity in their daily lives, whether they are in class, at an extra-curricular activity, or out in the community.

American Legion Award

• Nominated and voted by their teachers, these students are excellent examples of being an American citizen. Their teachers have observed them applying the rules of good citizenship every day.

Hart Award

• Nominated by the teachers and chosen by the counselors, these students exhibit caring for their peers and others above and beyond (named for a former AMs counselor, Mrs. Saradel Hart)

Students of Character Award

• Nominated and voted by their peers, these students consistently exhibit the pillars of character: fairness, trustworthiness, responsibility, citizenship, caring, and respect for others.

We just want to remind parents/guardians of bike riders of our bike rack practices. While our bike rack is locked during the school day, we encourage students to keep their bikes locked up at all times with a personal bike lock. Remember that our bike rack is NOT locked outside of school hours. 

Student's Cell Phone Use: 

Cell phones between 8:30 - 4:00 pm should be used for instructional use only: research, formative assessment tools such as Kahoot, checking grades online, reading an e-book, and other things related to instruction. 

If a student has their cell phone out and visible, it may be confiscated by an AMS staff member and turned into the grade-level office. Students may pick up their cell phone at the end of the school day from the grade-level office.

AMS Disciplinary Consequences for Cell Phones

Additionally, students should not be wearing/using earbuds/headphones, etc. in the hallway. Even if not in use, they will be taken up and students are issued a consequence.

Other AMS practices regarding personal technology include:

• Cell phones are off and away when not in use.

• Cell phone use is for academic purposes and ONLY as directed by the teacher.

• Cell phones are not permitted to be in use after 8:30 in the hallways, bathrooms, cafeteria, etc.

We need help from parents to guide our children to be good digital citizens, make responsible choices with their cell phone, and align their choices with campus practices.

Please reinforce with your child to: 

• Go to the nurse when feeling ill, not call a parent. We call parents from the nurse. If your child calls you b/c they are ill you tell them "Go to the nurse. Call me from the nurse."

• If your child calls you during the day ask them: "Do you have permission from an adult?" If the answer is "no" then direct them to gain permission from an adult.

• If your child is experiencing a crisis or emergency they need to seek an adult to provide support.

While in our custody, our counselors and teachers are here to provide emotional and academic support. If there is a crisis or emergency the school personnel need to address it immediately. We will investigate and contact a parent to inform you of what happened. If you tell your child "Call me anytime" you are asking your child to be insubordinate to the school. It is not healthy for one authority figure to "pit" a child against another authority figure, whether from the school or from home. We become adversaries instead of partners when we tell our children to do something contrary to another authority figure. 

The district’s dress code is established to teach grooming and hygiene, prevent disruption, and minimize safety hazards. Students and parents may determine a student’s personal dress and grooming standards, provided that they comply with district and campus expectations. 

Some specific expectations for AMS, as they align with the district, are: 

HISD Handbook states: If the principal determines that a student’s grooming or clothing violates the school’s dress code, the student will be given an opportunity to correct the problem at school. If not corrected, the student may be assigned to in-school suspension for the remainder of the day, until the problem is corrected, or until a parent or designee brings an acceptable change of clothing to the school.  

AMS Practice: Students referred to the office due to dress code violations will be directed to call home (1) to make parents aware of the violation, and (2) to attempt to get a change of clothes.  Students will remain with office staff for no more than 30 min awaiting a change of clothes.  An alternative option is to change in to AMS “out of dress code” clothes, (clean, sanitized, and individually packaged) and return to class.  If clothes are not provided or the AMS clothes are not preferred, the student will remain in ISS for the remainder of that school day.  NOTE: If a child elects to use the AMS clothes, he/she will have to leave their clothes with the office to ensure the return of ours. Unreturned clothes are the responsibility of the borrowing student if not returned, lost, or damaged. 

Students are only allowed to consume food or drink in the AMS Cafeteria while on campus, during school hours.  All food purchased in the cafeteria during either their breakfast or their lunch should be consumed during that time, and not purchased for later consumption.  Students eating or drinking in the hallway will have their food items confiscated by AMS staff. 

The only drink students can have (or should we say "consume") outside the cafeteria is water with a secure lid

Drop offs, student messages, and forgotten items:

Continuing our goal at Atascocita Middle School to minimize the number of interruptions in the classroom while maximizing the learning time, students will receive drop-offs, student messages, and forgotten items at their assigned lunch period. We do not interrupt classrooms for non-emergency items & messages (projects, dropping off lunch/lunch kit, homework, glasses, gym bag and/or shoes, etc.).

We ONLY deliver items once a day, during your child’s assigned lunch.  There will be three carts in the vestibule labeled A, B, C, to correspond to their assigned lunch period.  The cart will be taken to the cafeteria at the start of each lunch. This is the ONLY time a child may receive a forgotten item.  These items must be left on the cart and labeled with the student’s name and grade level.  

We ask that parents have a system in place with their student for forgotten items.  Student lunch periods are assigned by their 4th-period teacher. Parents may only bring/deliver food to their own child.  Food cannot be brought and shared with other students (this includes desserts).  We also are aware of some delivery apps that students have begun to use to have their food delivered.  No fast food deliveries are accepted, from parents and/or 3rd party deliveries. Food choices for students should come from parents or the school cafeteria.

Also, telephones are for business purposes only, parents are asked not to call their children except in cases of emergency.  We are not able to call students out of class to make a call home. Students may use the student phone located in the grade-level offices during passing periods to make phone calls. In the event of an emergency we will send a message to the student.

AMS Grading Practices

Grades and report cards will accurately reflect understanding and achievement of learner outcomes defined by the Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills (TEKS). Learning is a process in which learners increase knowledge, understanding, and skills as a result of effort, instruction, feedback from teachers and peers, and self-assessment and adjustment.  To ensure accurate reporting of achievement, a grade should not be based on work habits (i.e. neatness), completion grades, bonus points, absences,, and group scores.  Additional points i.e. extra credit  should only be awarded to reflect a higher level of achievement after additional practice & assessment of the TEKS.

District grading practices:

(1) No grade can count towards more than 25% of the overall grade; (2) A re-test is required if 50% or greater of the students in a class fail the assessment.  The higher of the two grades shall be recorded for each student.

Grade Percentages:

On-level + Advanced 6th/7th: Summative assessments 60%, Formative assessments 40%

Advanced 8th (+ ALG): Summative assessments 70%, Formative assessments 30%

Grading practices (points taken off, partial credit, total points vs. percentages) within a team of teachers delivering the same content must be consistent.

Number of Assessments:

To comply with district grading policy, the minimum number of summative assessments are 3 in OL and 3 in Advanced classes.  Best practice is that each summative assessment is preceded by a minimum of 1 formative assessment that aligned in content and performance and communicates to students if he/she is on track.  Teachers update grades in Schoology and sync to the TAC grade book weekly. There should be an average of at least two new grades a week. At a minimum, there should be 3 summative grades and 12 formative grades for each report card cycle.  The weighting of grades (0.5, 2) other than 1x must be consistent by the department.  The weighting of grades (other than 1x) is permissible in formative assessments but discouraged in summative assessments.

Re-assessment:

Students learn at different rates.  Therefore, there may be times when additional time and support will be provided, followed by additional assessment to measure evidence of growth (more understanding).  Students in 6th, 7th, & 8th grade can re-assess 1x per subject area per grading cycle. Teachers have the option to reassess the entire assessment or opt to re-assess on individual standards. Re-assessment is not a right, but the result of additional effort to learn the material. The teacher has the discretion to refuse re-assessment if the following conditions are not met:

• Students must consult with the teacher prior to retesting to discuss what additional effort/practice will look like. Examples include: tutoring, oral assessment with teacher, test corrections, revising/editing written piece.

• The student has completed all missing assignments within that unit to indicate he/she has put forth the effort to be successful on the summative assessment. If allowable & within timeframes, a student can complete the missing assignments to meet this condition.

• Students must demonstrate additional effort/practice to re-learn the material prior to re-assessment (i.e. test corrections, re-teach at tutoring, evidence of additional practice at home, dialogue with teacher, and others approved by the classroom teacher).

• Re-assessment should occur within 5 (school) days after receiving the initial (graded) assessment (re-test deadline in the grade book).  

Students can earn full credit back (up to 100%) for the re-assessment.  For performance assessments, teachers may choose to re-assess using a different format (short answer essay, oral Q&A are some examples).  A re-assessment will be noted in the grade book as a decimal. For example, an original summative grade of 65% with a re-assessment of 77% will be noted 77.65% in the grade book.

Cheating or Academic Dishonesty:

Academic honesty, within Honor & Respect, is a core value at AMS.  For documentation of cheating teachers write a referral. Students who take part in academic dishonesty (cheating or plagiarism) will receive behavioral consequences, plus be re-assessed to determine his/her actual level of understanding.  Students will not receive a zero as a behavioral consequence.  Students can earn up to 70% (30-point deduction) on the re-assessment.  The method of re-assessment is at the teacher’s discretion (does not have to be the same assessment).  This practice holds true for formative and summative assessments.

Group work:

Group work (cooperative learning) is an effective instructional strategy, but is not an effective assessment measure.  Cooperative learning is a form of formative assessment.  Any grade resulting from group work will be graded individually.

Eligibility:

Students must pass all classes with a 70 or higher to remain academically eligible to participate in UIL contests or activities.

AMS ID Badge Practices

Students will be issued their first ID badge and lanyard at no cost to them. 

Why do all students wear badges?

The badge will be used for identification, lunch purposes, library book check-outs, tardies, testing, etc.
Student IDs are an essential part of our campus safety practices as they allow AMS staff to quickly and easily identify AMS students.

How do I wear my badge?

Student’s ID badge must be visible at all times, on the front of the student located somewhere between the  neck and waist area. It may be worn on a lanyard, a clip, a retractable pin, etc.

Can I decorate my badge in anyway?

The ID badge is not be be drawn on, covered with stickers, or defaced in anyway that hides the photo, the grade level, the name, or damages the barcode.  Student’s ID badges are property of AMS, and may be taken up at anytime for improper use or defacement and replaced at the student's expense.  

What do I do if I lose my school issued badge?

Lost or damaged badges must be replaced at the student’s expense, for a replacement cost of $5.00.  These can be purchased in the commons, from 8:00 - 8:30 ONLY.

Is there any incentive for wearing my school-issued badge?

• Students wearing school-issued badges are dismissed to the lunch lines first

• You are allowed out of the classroom for personal needs, with an agenda!

• You are eligible to participate in broadcast announcements

• You are permitted to attend school pep rallies/assemblies

• You may have the option of dining on the patio tables outside

• You may have the choice of your seat in the cafeteria at lunch time!

• You can attend club meetings or visit the library before school

• You can check out books at any time (without an ID, you are not afforded this privilege)

• If you have an idea for a fun incentive, please let your grade-level office know.

What if I leave my badge at home?

You must receive a temporary ID sticker from the commons from 8:00 - 8:30. Temporary IDs cost $1. In addition to purchasing a temporary ID, you are excluded from the incentives listed above for the day.

What happens if I share or swap IDs with a peer?

The ID(s) are confiscated, and both parties are issued a consequence.
(1st incident - warning, 2nd incident - detention)

Is there anything my parents can do to help me?

YES!! You can designate a SAFE, CONSISTENT place for your badge EVERY day.  Get in a routine and you will ensure access to all the incentives we can think of!!!

All students are expected to attend school regularly and be on time for all classes. Students have 4 minutes to transition between classes, including lunch. Students are considered tardy if they are not inside the classroom by the end of the tardy bell for their specific grade level. At middle school, tardies are described as being late to class, being admitted after school begins, or returning to class without a hall pass.

AMS Disciplinary Consequences for Tardies

Sweep Exemptions

Students who earn a Privilege Card can be excused from a tardy sweep up to two times per nine weeks. Students must present the card (on their ID) at the time of the tardy.

Recording Tardies

Teachers record student tardies as part of their attendance. Parents/ guardians are able to view their student's attendance and tardies in Home Access Center (HAC). Tardies are updated in real-time. Parents will receive communication via email and/or text at the end of the day if their student was marked tardy at any point during the day.

At AMS, students now have access to their textbooks online. We will no longer be distributing books, for students, to take home. If a student wants to have a textbook, for a specific subject, a parent/guardian will need to fill out a textbook request. Students who request a hard copy textbook will only be issued a textbook for social studies and Spanish 1. Math and science classes have student books that remain in the classroom. Students are able to remove pages at the teacher’s direction to complete at home. If there are any questions or concerns, please contact Wendy DeGood at 281-641-4610 or Email Wendy DeGood

that time for professional development and developing/planning collaborative units.  We recognize that this alternative schedule makes it more challenging for our parents.  Therefore, we try to be good stewards of this time. 

Teachers engage in professional work from 8:00 - 10:00 am.  We do not have tutorial sessions during this time unless it is a special session often available around STAAR testing.

The Opt Out program is available to parents who cannot bring their child to school after 8:00 am.  In an effort to avoid confusion and leave students unsupervised, if the family decision is to have your son/daughter opt out of the late arrival, we need to have those students at AMS by 8:00 a.m. Students should only be dropped off at the patio between 7:45 – 8:15. Students will enter the building/cafeteria at 8:00 am. Students who walk or ride their bike need to be in Opt Out (cafeteria) by 8:15 am. Students should not be dropped off between 8:15 – 9:45 am as this is a safety concern. 
At AMS, students may be able to use it as a study hall environment to work on school assignments or project, read or work on school assignments.