AMS Curriculum

At Avonworth Middle School, our approach to education is guided by five key qualities that will best prepare our students
to thrive in today’s world:

• Knowledge & Thinking
  Developed using the college readiness assessment research of Stanford University's S.C.A.L.E division, this outcome expresses  the key knowledge and thinking skills needed to move all students toward college readiness in each core discipline. 
   
• Written Communication
  Substantial evidence suggests that writing is not only a key skill that  students need in nearly any career or college pathway, but the act of writing can also help students develop important and transferable thinking skills such as analysis, inference, logic, and rhetoric.
   
• Oral Communication
  Students not only need to be able to communicate and defend their ideas orally, but also develop confidence as public speakers. 
   
• Agency
  To have agency is to have ownership over one's own learning, using a growth mindset to improve in any area through effort, feedback, and practice.  Influenced heavily by the research of Carol Dweck and Camille Farrington, the agency outcome reflects the skills needed to effectively navigate the world as a lifelong learner.  
   
• Collaboration 
  Students need to know how to work well with others, whether it's in partnership, as a small team or a large group setting. 

 

Our school’s curriculum cultivates these qualities by focusing on deeper learning experiences that challenge students to
build on basics of literacy and numeracy and apply what they’ve learned. This approach allows us to meet and exceed the standards of middle school education.

 

Grading

Students at Avonworth Middle School are graded based on core learning outcomes related to the qualities we seek to
develop in every student.

Meeting standards and covering content are still the most important part of a student’s grade, while other outcomes
allow for a more well-rounded assessment of learning.