Curriculum

Together, as a Middle School Team, we will be providing your children with the best and most effective classroom instruction that current educational research has identified. The Middle School concept is especially organized to meet the needs of this particular developmental stage in children's lives.

According to the Carnegie Council of Adolescent Development there are eight essential principals for improving education at the Middle School level:

  1. Creation of smaller communities for learning so each student will receive sustained individual attention.
  2. Teaching a core of common knowledge to all students in ways that foster curiosity, problem solving, and critical thinking.
  3. Utilizing cooperative learning and other techniques suitable for this developmental phase to ensure success for virtually all students.
  4.  Major decision making responsibility about young adolescent’s schooling is given to teachers and principals.
  5. Teachers are experts at teaching young adolescents staff middle schools.
  6. The education and health of young adolescents are inextricably linked throughout the curriculum and the activities of the school.
  7. Families are allied with school staff through mutual respect, trust, and communication.
  8. Schools and communities are partners in educating young adolescents.

Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development. (1989, June). Turning Points: Preparing Youth for the 21 st century. The report of the Task Force on Education on Young Adolescents. New York: Ca

The Advisory Program has helped to create more individualized instruction and address the individual needs of our students through the creation of smaller multi aged groups or "Houses" from which students build connections and a sense of belonging.

Parents are encouraged and expected to be active contributors in their child’s education through service learning projects, the Alumni Association, the PTO, and many educational and cultural field trips.

The Mount de Sales Middle School programs offer a rigorous and academically challenging curriculum that prepares students to be successful in their upcoming high school studies. Please feel free to browse through our web pages to find out further information regarding our programs.