PULASKI COUNTY, Ark. – Mills Middle School responds to Arkansas Department of Education school letter grade with a road map for success. “We wanted to reassure you in light of the release of the Arkansas Department of Education public (and public charter) school letter grades that ‘learning is required’ at Mills Middle School,” says Dr. Lisa Watson, Principal of Mills Middle School. Mills Middle School received an F letter grade. “Although we are accountable for our school data, the letter grade we received does not reflect the work and growth taking place on our campus,” continued Dr. Watson.
Upon reviewing the Spring 2025 ATLAS data, Mills Middle School leadership and instructional teams created and launched the Mills Middle School Road Map for Success to ensure that the personalized academic and social needs of all scholars are met and that they are prepared for success. And a part of that success will be scholars meeting their individual ATLAS growth goals.
A significant component of the MMS Roadmap is the partnership with ADE’s Office of Learning Services to provide strategic professional development and coaching to our instructional team. “This further supports our mission to meet the personalized academic and social needs of our scholars,” says Dr. Watson. “We are excited and looking forward to sharing the progress we have made this year which will include the elevation of our letter grade.”
Here are few ways parents and guardians can help:
Encourage your scholar to read 20 minutes every day
A scholar who reads 20 minutes per day will be exposed to 1.8 million words per year and scores in the 90th percentile on standardized tests
Enroll your scholar in our after-school tutoring program
Dates: January 13 - April 9, 2026
Days: Tuesdays and Thursdays
Time: 3:50p - 5:50p
Talk with your scholar about the importance of their education, these annual assessments and celebrate their growth and accomplishments
The doors at Mills Middle School are always open and your suggestions and feedback are always welcome. Together we will prepare our scholars for success. The best is yet to come.