SCHEDULING 

Middle school is a wonderful time for students to explore new interests, and challenge themselves within a safe and supportive environment!  With this in mind, we have committed to providing a vast scope of rigorous and challenging courses for our students.  In addition to our required courses, our 6th grade students participate in four exploratory courses to introduce them to other areas of learning that they will have the choice to explore further later on in their middle school career.  As students transition into 7th and 8th grade, students are able to select "elective" courses from a list of over 15 options!  It is our goal to include as much student voice and choice in our scheduling process as possible.  Students begin selecting courses in January of every year, and our building master schedule is custom-built based on the courses that students indicate they are interested in taking while in middle school.  

While students will have exploratory and elective classes with other students in the same grade level, Asa Clark Middle School is organized by grade level houses for grades 6 through 8. Under this model, each grade level is comprised of three houses (red, white, and black) of approximately 75 students and each house shares the same three teachers for English Language Arts, Math, and Science/Social Studies. The house model has the following goals: 

• Provide guidance and support for academic, social, and personal development

• Establish strong student and staff relationships

• Promote flexibility in learning to allow students to transfer knowledge across content areas

To accomplish these goals, students participate in the following activities

• Future Ready learning aligned to the PSD Graduate Profile indicators (Care, Compete, Contribute, Create, Connect and Commit)

• Academic and Career Planning (ACP)

• Academic work time

• Math and reading support (as needed)

Scheduling at each grade level has many similarities, but there are differences as well. To learn more about scheduling at each grade level, please visit the corresponding links below.