CMSN Redesignated National School To Watch & AR Diamond School

Cabot Middle School North is being recognized once again as both a National School To Watch and an Arkansas Diamond School.

The recognition is given to schools in Arkansas and across America who continually focus on improvement and student growth.

As part of the redesignation process, the Arkansas Diamond Schools To Watch team recently returned to CMSN to visit with administrators, teachers, students, and parents. CMSN learned by the end of the visit that their hard work had paid off.

Schools to Watch® is an initiative launched by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform in 1999.

Through the Schools to Watch® initiative, the National Forum identifies schools across the United States that are well on their way to meeting the Forum's criteria for high performance. Forum members believe that three things are true of high-performing middle-grades schools:

They are academically excellent — these schools challenge all students to use their minds well.

They are developmentally responsive — these schools are sensitive to the unique developmental challenges of early adolescence.

They are socially equitable — these schools are democratic and fair, providing every student with high-quality teachers, resources, and supports.

To achieve this level of performance, high-performing schools establish norms, structures, and organizational arrangements to support and sustain their trajectory toward excellence. They have a sense of purpose that drives every facet of practice and decision-making.

This is Cabot Middle School North's third time to be redesignated, which means CMSN has been involved in this initiative for 12 years. CMSN's goal is to improve in ways that will directly impact student learning each and every day.

Principal Dawn Peeples says there is always room for improvement and CMSN is thankful for the recognition of excellence in education at the middle school level. A group of staff members will travel to the state Schools to Watch Conference in Hot Springs in May and to the national conference in Washington, D.C. in the summer.

There have only been 13 schools from Arkansas designated as a National Schools to Watch, and two of those are both from Cabot - Cabot Middle School North and Cabot Middle School South!