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Chris Jones Middle School Curriculum
Grades 6 - 8
The Carnegie Model
The early adolescent years are a critical part of the development phase from youth to adulthood. The Chris Jones Middle School at St. Luke’s Episcopal School provides a unique program with an innovative curriculum for grades six through eight to make the most of this exciting and challenging time in children’s lives. Its goal is to celebrate the wonderful aspects of their growth and change, and to nurture and support them during adolescence.
Educators in the United States consider the Carnegie Corporation Report, “Turning Points”, to be the seminal piece on middle school education. Produced in 1989 with an updated version published in 2000, it speaks specifically to curriculum, scheduling, faculty, community service, and social preparedness.
Middle school students learn best when the material they are learning has significance in their lives. Learning facts and skills in isolation makes as little sense to young adolescents as it would to adults in the day-to-day world of work. So the old “junior high school” model, with isolated courses taught in classes changing every 45 minutes, though still widely used, is not the best way to organize the learning day.
In this model, teachers work together in teams to integrate standards-based curricula across subjects and to enhance students’ intellectual development. It provides the best framework for the rigorous study of core curriculum which will best prepare students for high school and college while encouraging creativity, freedom, and independent thinking. |
