CCS MIDDLE SCHOOL

CCS Middle School developed out of a shared community belief that all students deserve a school environment that supports their social, emotional, cognitive, physical and moral needs as they experience the many changes brought on by early adolescence.  Developed as the natural progression from CCS Elementary.  Our middle school continues the foundation laid, utilizing such educationally sound ideas as individualized and differentiated instruction; small class size; developmentally appropriate practices; integrated curriculum; project based learning; and a highly experienced and gifted teaching staff.

Middle school students experience tremendous growth during this period of their lives, establishing themselves as individuals, experiencing the world on a more global basis, developing their own opinions about society and culture.  Physical changes occur at a pace unmatched by any other period of their lives outside their first two years.

To help meet these changing needs, our middle school has developed a unique structure to the school lives of our students, offering a variety of choice and required electives, core classes taught by teams of teachers and an advisory program to ensure that every student has an advocate whom they can turn to for help and guidance as needed.

Middle School Principles

• An inviting, supportive, and safe environment.
• High expectations for every member of the learning community .
• Students and teachers engaged in active problem based learning
• An advisory advocate for every student Integrated curriculum that is relevant, challenging, integrative, and exploratory
• Multiple learning and teaching approaches that respond to the learning diversity of our students Class sizes of 20-24 students with many smaller group opportunities
• 3 year “loop” with core teachers staying with the same group of students for 3 years

Assessment and Testing

At CCS, ongoing assessment constantly drives our instruction, thereby enabling teachers to individualize instruction and promote student learning at the highest level.  All assessments are authentic in nature, meaning that students do not “prepare” for a test.  Rather, assessment is used as a tool to inform and guide teachers as they make instructional decisions.  CCS teachers utilize a variety of assessment techniques in order to cover the various domains of learning.  Therefore assessments take on many forms such as performance based tasks, teacher anecdotal notes based on oral discussions and/or written responses, cooperative group work, portfolios, and also, the more traditional paper-and-pencil “tests.”  Along with administering high-quality assessments that target the “whys” and “hows” not just the “whats”, teachers promote student ownership of their learning by providing specific feedback to students as they learn.  By working together as partners in the teaching and learning process, teachers stay informed of their students’ learning, and students are thereby empowered and motivated to reach their full potential as learners.
          Being a public charter school in North Carolina, CCS follows the curriculum mandated by the state.  As a result, CCS students take End-of-Grade tests beginning in Grade 3.  While we acknowledge standardized test-taking as a component of our balanced assessment program, we do not teach to the test.  Rather, we engage the students in meaningful hands-on learning experiences linked directly to the curriculum all year long, and then six weeks before the test, we teach our students test-taking strategies and skills in order to promote their best performance on this particular mode of assessment.  All in all, our assessment program is about balance, so parents and students can expect to see a variety of assessment techniques utilized, with specific feedback given to both students and parents, in order to maximize the learning potential of each individual student.

Individualized Instruction and Differentiation

          Individualized instruction means meeting the needs of individual learners as they move along their learning journey.  This does not mean a one-to-one teacher/student ratio, but rather it’s a way of viewing each student as a unique human being consisting of distinct and specific learning needs.  At CCS, teachers use the method of differentiation as a means of teaching essential content in a way that addresses the varied needs of each individual learner.  This student-centered, instructional approach is built on volumes of research that indicate people differ as learners, and teachers are most effective when they connect with their students, study their students’ learning needs, and adapt instruction accordingly.  It is rooted in key principles such as classroom community, high-quality curriculum, respectful tasks for all students, and on-going assessment to inform instruction.  Through differentiation, teachers are able to attend to individual students’ differences in readiness, interest, and learning profiles.  Teachers achieve this by implementing a wide variety of instructional techniques that address content, process, product, affect, and the overall learning environment.  On top of allowing students to take greater responsibility for ownership of their own learning, another outcome of differentiated instruction is that multiple pathways to learning are established, thereby maximizing the possibility that all students will experience success and reach their full potential as learners.

Hands-On Learning
         
At CCS, we believe that students learn best when they gain knowledge through exploration and active learning.  Therefore, we do not rely on text books and lectures to teach content.  Rather, we engage students in meaningful, hands-on, real-life experiences that challenge them to think and explain their reasoning instead of memorizing and reciting facts.  This allows students to make connections among and between the different disciplines, thereby enabling them to construct deep, conceptual understandings of over-arching themes and concepts within our world.  As a result of this type of learning, passions are ignited and student motivation soars.  Students fulfill their brain’s innate desire to make meaning of information, while also learning how to think critically about the learning process, as well as the experiences, themselves.

High School Overview:

CCS High School will be built, once again, on the foundation laid by our middle and elementary schools.  Students will be offered a wide array of choices and independence as they begin their journeys towards college and beyond.  As older adolescents, our students will be developmentally capable of the challenges and depth offered in our courses.  At the same time, opportunities for insternships, mentor relationships and community service will be presented.  Students will be afforded the ability to delve deeply into projects culminating in exhibitions to demonstrate newfound knowledge and skills.  Advisory will continue in high school as well, tackling topics of importance to older adolescents and gearing toward the college application process by their  junior and senior years.