Bates Middle School is committed to student success and following the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate in imparting world class knowledge.  To do this we implement rigorous standards in Language Arts and Math for career and college readiness, and provide instruction in foreign language, Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM), Arts and Social Sciences.

As a nationally certified STEM school, our teachers and students work in interdisciplinary teams, applying the instructional tenets of Project Based Learning/STEM in solving real-word problems. Students engage in fully integrated inquiry based instruction during core subject and elective classroom time, independently finding solutions to problems with teachers acting as facilitators.  The PBL/STEM units are student centered, and provide students the opportunity to work independently and cooperatively identifying the core problems in the scenario, conducting research on causes and possible solutions, and implementing solution design and testing.  Through this independent work, student understanding increases in subjects throughout the curriculum. As facilitators, teachers help guide the research and solution design process, and while doing this, stress and encourage student practice of the soft skills employers crave that are so necessary to survive in modern society. By their involvement in PBL/STEM, our students reap the benefits, learning both directly and indirectly, skills that will serve them well in the globally oriented world we live in today.  We supplement this with AVID methodologies to include organization skills and focused note-taking.