Our School
Welcome to Northshore Middle School
Lead Positively • Engage Fully • Accept Readily • Decide Responsibly
Northshore Middle School (NMS) is committed to helping all students stay on track for graduation and supporting student success in school and beyond. Such successes include meeting graduation requirements as measured by state assessments (Reading, Writing, Math, and Science) to help give them opportunities for their future.
Our goal is to personalize the school experience for the 900+ students who attend NMS. Research indicates that for optimum success, each student should be known well by at least one adult in school. The staff is dedicated to supporting students to feel connected to school. We believe in building strong, positive relationships with all students as the junior high years can be challenging for students. As research would indicate, teenagers’ brains are continuing to develop and it is important for them to make connections for learning to occur.
In the 2011-12 school year, we had the opportunity to be a “Community School” and partner with the University of Washington-Bothell, Cascadia Community College, the Northshore YMCA, to name a few. With these partnerships we were able to create interventions to support our most struggling learners. The interventions included mentor rooms and after-school programs. Students and staff from the partnering agencies became mentors for our junior high students. The mentors provided homework help, student activities and so much more.
We were also able to continue to utilize staff to develop specific courses that support 9th-graders’ preparations for being successful on the End of Year Math Course exams. These exams are Washington state graduation requirements and our goal is to support students being on track for graduation in the 9th grade.
With our partnerships and program design we have seen great success at meeting our goal. For example, in 2012-13, we had 12 students (approx. 5% of the 9th grade class) not on track for graduation (i.e. students failed one or more graduation requirements). This percentage been consistent over the last couple years, and in previous years approximately 10% + of our 9th graders would not be on track for graduation at the end of their 9th grade year.
We have a great staff that are very dedicated and committed to seeing students succeed at school and in life.