Middle School Curriculum Night

Just as the Lower and Upper School have required coursework to foster a well-rounded and rigorous academic experience, the Middle School’s requirements are as follows:

• Two full years of core subjects: Math, English, Science, Social Studies
• Two semesters of Innovation Institute courses: 
  • Engineer Design & Modeling or Intro to Entrepreneurship
  • Adventures in App Creation CS I or Automation and Robotics
• One full year of a MS World Language: French, Chinese, Spanish
• One semester of Life Management Skills (LMS) – course is available during the summer

First, talk with the student about what they are interested in studying. Our curriculum guide is broken down by semester and yearlong elective options and offers insight to each course. We encourage you to attend curriculum night and the elective fair, where you will have the opportunity to meet our dedicated faculty and ask questions about the coursework. Our goal is for students in Middle School to begin taking ownership of their course choices, specifically, electives they have a genuine passion or interest in.

• Rising 7^th Grade Students: 
  • 2 yearlong elective choices OR 4 semester elective choices
• Rising 8^th Grade Students:
  • 2-3 yearlong elective choices OR 5-6 semester elective choices

Our goal is to remain objective, using the summative data outlined below, to place students appropriately. Understanding there are variables that go into each student placement, we offer an appeals process for our leveled courses. The subject-specific appeal tests are created by our Middle School departments, focused on the foundational mastery of what students need to be appropriately challenged in an Honors level course.  

We use the following data to place our students:

• Independent School Entrance Exam (ISEE) stanine, appropriate for students new to LHP.
• Assessment Average (test, quiz, project/labs) using the previous year’s coursework.
• Teacher recommendation
• ERB’s Comprehensive Testing Program (CTP) Norm Referenced data 
• Subject-specific appeal tests (additional data point for contested initial placement)

All Middle School students are assigned an advisor for the school year. Every Wednesday students will attend an advisory lesson and Thursday a directed study period. Our goal is to utilize these weekly times for our advisors to mentor students during these important formative years. Advisory lessons will range from team building activities, appropriate usages of social media and technology, community service, and goal setting. Our directed study period will consist of grade checks and coaching students on ways to self-advocate and navigate study or subject struggles.

We offer Edison Resource and Math Lab as two electives to help students learn executive functioning skills and remediation. To discuss these options, among other electives, you can reach out to your child’s guidance counselor to help finalize your student’s elective option(s). 

                We breakdown our guidance roles in alphabetical order:

• Last Name A-L: Mrs. Sheena West, swest@lhps.org
• Last Name M-Z: Mrs. Janiece Valentine, jvalentine@lhps.org