Learning: the guarantee of a strong, viable curriculum with instruction that meets students where they are in their educational journey.

Agency: the building of self-efficacy and desire on the part of all learners and teachers to take action to improve their college and career readiness.

Character: the deliberate nurturing of learners to examine their decisions and responsibilities through the lens of empathy and understanding for all.

Relationships: the development of positive, growth focused interactions resulting in a strong sense of belonging and safety for everyone in the school community.

Common Scheduling: each middle school will have a single learner-centered pathway, built upon instructional best practices that integrate each of the characteristics listed above. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Team Time: each middle school has a period built into each school day that is designated for collaboration within a team of teachers (team time). Expectations for purposeful use of team time include data analysis, planning for intervention/response to behavior, parent meetings/phone calls, PD and discussion with instructional coaches, and meeting with administration.

• PBIS/MTSS: each middle school utilizes PBIS (Positive behavioral interventions and supports) and MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Supports) strategies in order to provide a framework of support and responsiveness for targeted intervention. This approach allows our educators to identify and respond to struggling students quickly while focusing on a whole-child system of support.

• Advisory: each middle school has an advisory period built into the school day. Advisory programs offer the structure to meet students' developmental needs because it is the one place in school where students are intimately known as a “whole child.” Advisory programs have the potential to ensure that every child has a meaningful relationship with an adult and belongs to a community of peers.

• Scheduling: students start the school year with a pre-scheduled daily schedule that outlines what content class the learner has each period of the school day. As a team, staff will analyze classroom data, assessment data, and behavioral data to make needed adjustments to instructional groupings or tasks at least two times per quarter during Team and PLC times. Each school may use a different method to facilitate scheduling changes.