(February 7, 2014) Jackson, Tenn.- The Jackson Madison County School System is moving forward with their academic middle school program.
Jackson Madison County School System superintendent Dr. Verna Ruffin provided more details about the new program at February’s First Friday Forum.
Dr. Ruffin expects the application process to being relatively soon. She told us that, “We expect that the application process will begin no later than the beginning of March, maybe a little bit earlier if we could.”
Dr. Ruffin laid out parts of the application process. She said that, “Part of the application process will be filling it out with pertinent information… along with wether the child is in the gifted intelligence program. Children that are in the gifted intelligence program currently, we call it the GEMS program here in Jackson, would qualify for that level school.”
GEMS students aren’t the only students that will be admitted. She continued, “Children that are not identified as GEMS still can qualify if they are accepting of the rigorous curriculum and course offerings that will be offered. We’re going to look at various things such as writing samples.”
The writing samples won’t be the only aspect of the application. She told us, “We are going to have a variety of assessments that we’re going to look at, not just TCAP, but we’re going to look at other things that kids may have taken while they were in middle school.”
This middle school will be a school within a school. There won’t be a separate building and the school that houses it won’t see a name change, they will call that something different. No principal or location has been announced yet, but those details are expected in the coming months.
Parents can begin preparing their children for the application now. Dr. Ruffin says that parents can, “Talk with them about their opportunities if they attended an academic magnet. Talk about the opportunities not only for high school, but in preparing for college and career readiness. Talk with them about opportunities for technology that might exist at that school. Right now, that might not be existing in all of the schools.”
Dr. Ruffin concluded, “Talk with them about their commitment to working really hard, but also working with intentionality. Not just working hard to have more homework, but working hard to be able to advance.”
