Clinton Middle School has adopted a mission statement that is built on three pillars: creating a safe and nurturing environment, promoting an instructional environment that is defined by high quality teaching and learning, and preparing students for their journeys beyond Clinton Middle School. Both directly and indirectly, this mission statement serves as a pathway for students to gain the knowledge, skills, and traits that are synonymous with the expectations that are held for future graduates as outlined in the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate.
There are many steps that Clinton Middle School has taken in order to provide students with the knowledge to be successful in their journeys, including:
- Grade level teachers have common planning periods, enabling teachers with the same grade level and content to plan together. This allows teachers to maintain the autonomy in teaching style; however, it ensures that all teachers are holding students accountable with rigorous standards.
- A district initiative has devoted time in both ELA and Math to bringing together elementary, middle, and high school teachers to create a dialogue and plan for the vertical articulation of standards. This allows educators to know not only what students have learned, but also what they need to know as they move forward.
- A dedicated and data-driven Tier 2 intervention aims to create opportunities for students to fill learning gaps that may exist. For students with ELA deficiencies as identified through Fountas & Pinnell assessments, a prescribed approach with Level Literacy Intervention (LLI) is used. For students identified as having gaps in Math learning as noted in MAP stand data, tailor made lessons help students to grow in these areas.
- The continuation of Clinton Middle School's Wildcat Academy allows for students to receive after school one-to-one tutoring with a certified teacher. This program provides the parents of students with the opportunity to set a tutoring schedule at no-cost with the flexibility to work best for the student and the parent.
- Clinton Middle School was able to offer students the potential to earn up to five high school credits, including English I, Algebra I, Spanish I, Discovering Computer Science, and AP Human Geography. At least one of these courses, Discovering Computer Science, was made available as a potential option to nearly all 7th or 8th grade students.
- In understanding the impact of education across the spectrum, Clinton Middle School offered three Project Lead the Way (PLTW) courses in 2022-23, including Design and Modeling, Medical Detective, and Flight and Aviation. This was an addition to an expansive offering of elective courses that include, but were not limited to, Ceramics, Textiles, Band, Theater, and the traditional Art class.
The Profile of the South Carolina Graduate promotes the needs for students to have world-class skills as they embark on their educational journey. Clinton Middle School has worked to achieve this in numerous ways, including:
- Many teachers and staff members have participated in different professional learning opportunities that highlight the importance of skills needed by students. These opportunities include Science teachers meeting once a month to discuss the implementation of new Science standards and the hands-on parts of these standards, a book study on the Ted Dintersmith book What School Could Be, and a professional learning opportunity on how to overcome the challenges of teaching students from backgrounds of poverty.
- The Tier 2 program previously identified also has an element of enrichment opportunities for those students not in need of intervention. As part of these enrichment courses, students are exposed to classes such as Public Speaking, Project-Based Learning, and Career Clusters. These courses all encourage critical thinking, collaboration, and communication.
- The Wildcat Academy after school program previously referenced also includes an enrichment component with several classes provided for students that indirectly aim to enhance a student's grasp of the world class skills described in the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate. Between the tutoring and enrichment components of the Wildcat Academy program, nearly 65% of Clinton Middle School students have had the opportunity to participate in this program.
There are many life and career characteristics that are identified in the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate. Many of these, such as self-direction, work ethic, perseverance, and interpersonal skills, are embedded into the day-to-day learning experiences that take place throughout our building; however, there are still intentional opportunities that have been created by our school, the most profound of which is described as follows:
- For the 2022-23 school year, Clinton Middle School started a daily morning meeting that would take place on a virtual platform at a prescribed time daily and would involve the entire school. The morning meeting included the traditional morning announcements, but also involved schoolwide book studies of the book Crash by Jerry Spinelli and On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer. These books led to writing prompts that created a reflective learning and discussion opportunity that would transcend the typical learning experience in the classroom. On each Friday, community members would join students on the virtual platform to talk about their career experiences, how they got to that point, and what advice they would provide to their middle school self.
- During the 2022-23 school year, Clinton Middle School also instituted ROAR cards for students. These cards could be exchanged for a variety of rewards and were signed by teachers, administrators, and staff when students displayed actions that were (R) respectful, (O) organized, (A) admirable, and/or (R) responsible.
Over the course of the 2022-23 school year, Clinton Middle School made tremendous strides in sticking to the core beliefs of its mission statement and in turn, promoting the expectations outlined in the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate. Because of the commitment of teachers, staff, administrators, and district office personnel, Clinton Middle School is creating an environment that provides students with the knowledge to thrive, the skills to be successful, and the life and career characteristics to build a foundation for the longevity of their education and life journey.