September 2, 2025

Dear ER9 Middle School Families,

Throughout the school year, students participate in ongoing assessments in language arts and mathematics to help us understand their learning needs and monitor progress. In addition to classroom-based assessments, students complete diagnostic assessments three times a year—in the fall, winter, and spring. These benchmarks offer us valuable insights into how students are progressing toward grade-level expectations, allowing us to assess the effectiveness of our core curriculum and instruction.

At JRMS & HKMS, these benchmark assessments are scheduled within a three-week window and are carefully spaced to avoid overloading students with too many assessments at once. When needed, students may also be asked to take additional diagnostic assessments to better target their specific learning needs.

This year, we are excited to introduce i-Ready Diagnostic for both mathematics (grades 5–8) and reading (grades 6–8). Please note that JRMS houses grade 5 therefore this letter includes the fifth grade assessment info as well. The i-Ready Diagnostic replaces the NWEA tests used in the past and provides detailed information about each student’s academic growth over time.

i-Ready is an adaptive assessment, which means that the difficulty of questions adjusts based on student responses. The goal is not to assign a score or grade, but to pinpoint where students are in their learning and how best to support them. These diagnostics are given three times a year and help guide instruction at an individual level. For more information, you can view an overview video about i-Ready.

After each assessment window closes, family reports will be available through PowerSchool. We will notify you as soon as those reports are ready

Sincerely, 

Steve Clapp, Ed.D.

Principal of HKMS

&

Principal of JRMS