Orting Middle School Philosophy
Educational Philosophy: Orting Middle School is committed to providing its students an exciting, challenging, and rewarding opportunity to participate in powerful learning at Orting Middle School. To that end, staff, students, and parents strive to achieve excellence in education for all students.
Curriculum: Within each grade level core teams of instructors provide the basic curriculum of Language Arts/Reading, Mathematics, Social Studies, and Science. This team approach offers the most supportive atmosphere for each student to engage in powerful learning at Orting Middle School. Fitness, Health, Choir, Band, Art, and the other flex classes are also very essential to the student's efforts to demonstrate academic and behavioral growth at Orting Middle School. With our concerted effort to "Teach the Mind…Touch the Heart," our on-going curriculum development efforts offer opportunities for staff, parents, and students to work collaboratively in an accelerated learning environment.
Social Goals:
- Provide guidance that promotes a positive self-image and personal accountability through understanding, self-direction, and self-discipline.
- Foster an awareness of good citizenship, civil rights, and responsibility to self and others.
- Encourage respect and understanding when interacting with people of other cultural, ethnic, and differentiated backgrounds and abilities.
- Promote understanding and practice of democratic ideas and ideals.
Academic Goals:
- Provide a general education stressing academic excellence in all classes.
- Emphasize skills in reading, writing, speaking, and understanding to enable effective communication across the curriculum.
- Emphasize mathematics as a preparatory tool across the curriculum for student success in life.
- Stimulate the use of full potential by developing the student's powers of observation, examination, and problem solving in an academic environment that supports inquiry learning.
- Develop an awareness of changes in the world and the ability to meet present and future challenges through an understanding of the past.
- Encourage intellectual curiosity, pride in achievement, and a positive attitude toward life long learning.
- Promote creative self expression through various media and encourage cultural appreciation of the fine arts.
- Provide an effective transition from fifth grade to sixth grade, sixth to seventh grade, seventh to eighth grade, and eighth grade to the high school.
- Provide relevance in our instructional presentations for every class offered at Orting Middle School.
Promotion Policy
Credits
A total of 5.5 credits can be earned in a school year, and are awarded as follows:
*Mathematics - 0.25 credit x 4 quarters = 1 credit in a school year
*Science - 0.25 credit x 4 quarters = 1 credit in a school year
*Social Studies - 0.25 credit x 4 quarters = 1 credit in a school year
*Language Arts/Reading - 0.25 credit x 4 quarters = 1 credit in a school year
Elective Class (PE, Health, Band, Choir, or Art) - 0.25 credit x 4 quarters = 1 credit in a school year
Flex Class - 0.125 credit x 4 quarters = 0.5 credit in a school year
*Core Class
A passing grade is defined as any grade higher than "F."
An "F" grade results in the loss of credit for a class.
To qualify for promotion from one grade to the next, a student must :
- earn a minimum of 4.25 credits in a school year.
Retrieving Credits for Promotion - Summer School
- A student is eligible to retrieve 1.25 credits in Summer School or other pre-approved credit retrieval options, 0.25 credit each for Language Arts/Reading, Science, Mathematics, and Social Studies, and 0.25 credit for a specially designed project.
- If a student does not qualify for promotion because he/she earned less than 4.25 credits at the end of a school year, then before the start of the next school year he/she must retrieve enough credits to bring total credits earned to at least 4.25 to be promoted to the next grade level.
- If a student does not qualify for promotion because he/she did not successfully pass at least three (3) quarters of all core classes, then before the start of the next school year he/she must retrieve credits in all the core classes he/she failed to successfully pass at least three (3) quarters of during the school year to be promoted to the next grade level.
- Before the start of the next school year he/she must retrieve credits in all the core classes he/she failed in the last quarter during the school year to be promoted to the next grade level.
- If a student does not qualify for promotion and does not elect to attend Summer School or attain other acceptable credits before the start of the next school year, then the student will not be promoted to the next grade level.
Academic Review Team (ART)
- The ART is comprised of the student, the student's teachers, a counselor, and the principal (or designee) of Orting Middle School (and of Orting High School for an eighth grade student), and the parent(s)/guardian(s).
- The ART reviews a student's educational progress and makes decisions regarding placement, promotion, credit retrieval, and guidelines for students on a probationary promotion status.
- The ART may recommend and/or review student placement in any grade level or class offered at Orting Middle School.
- Based on the ART's recommendation, a student may be reassigned to another grade level or class during any portion of the school year.
- Credit retrieval options other than Summer School at Orting School District must be pre-approved by the ART.
- The ART may be convened at any time during the school year to assess the student's placement and progress.
- At the request of a parent/guardian the ART may convene to consider any extenuating circumstances surrounding a student's failure to be promoted to the next grade level.
- The principal (or designee) can convene the ART as deemed necessary.
- The meeting of the ART may occur during the school day. In all cases, a summary of the meeting shall be provided to the parent of the student being evaluated.
- All reviews, actions, and recommendations of the ART are subject to the procedures outlined in this promotion policy.
Administrative Procedures
Orting Middle School will provide each student who fails a class during any quarter a minimum of one notice from the school indicating that continued lack of academic performance may place the student in jeopardy of not being promoted to the next grade level for the following school year.
This promotion policy may be modified or amended to accommodate the school calendar and master schedule both in terms of dates, timelines, and course/credit offerings. This policy may be reviewed annually. A copy of this promotion policy is provided to all students by October 1st. Students are expected to take the policy home to parents.
