Is your child going into 6th or 7th grade?
Imagine...
A middle school that kids can't wait to get to (as opposed to merely tolerate), and:
Is driven by fun...
Is located on the UCLA campus...
Is private - but LOW tuition (ie under $10,000)...
Is small - 18-20 kids in each classroom, 2 classrooms per grade level...
Which features teachers who are energetic, dynamic, empowering and who have high expectations of their students, but know - from experience - that the way to best get those expectations met is by creating an environment in which learning is FUN and challenging...
Which uses the most engaging curriculae available, including:
Martin Scorcese's Visual Literacy Curriculum
Dr. Jane Goodall's "Roots & Shoots" Global Service Learning Curriculum
Junior Achievement's financial fluency training CurriculumLEGO Robotics STEM curriculum
CAVA/K12 online curriculum
We're a group of West LA area parents who are launching exactly this kind of middle school.
In association with the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center, we intend to educate the "whole child", and give them the tools to deal with their inner worlds as well as the world outside them.
Our methods are not matters of preference or opinion - they are all proven by research to generate superior learning outcomes in the three domains we're dedicated to:
1. Academic-Intellectual
2. Social-Emotional
3. Physical
Middle school is a time of great internal upheaval in kids. Hormones rage, and stresses build - and this is when they begin shaping their strategies for how they will handle stresses in life. Too many kids make bad choices because this is the the one area for which we usually give them little or no training.
In The Zone Middle School, "How do I solve a quadratic equation" is not a more important question than "How do I handle my internal stresses, impulses, peer pressure, parental pressure, and societal pressure?"
Some FAQ's:
Why the name "The Zone?"
It's called "The Zone," as in "being in the Zone,"... the Zone is a state in which humans (even kids) are functioning at their absolute best.
What's our goal?
Our goal as parents, is simple: to give our kids the skills to create the happiest lives they can...
Our goal as parents creating a middle school is also simple: to prepare them for THIS century, where the rate of change is accelerating, and their competition is not across the room but across the world, and where many may have jobs which haven't even been invented yet...
How in the world do we do THAT?
Our approach is based on building three "pillars" -- all of which have been research-proven to create
the greatest learning outcomes for students in the 21st Century...
Pillar #1: Academic-Intellectual -- Fun-driven "learning by doing" and "using what the student's passions are to drive learning." (The jargon is: "student centered", "project-based learning", "constructivist")
Pillar #2: Social-Emotional -- via an affiliation with UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center - we'll be giving students the tools to deal with their inner lives... (jargon: "mindfulness")
Pillar #3: Physical - each day will include 45-60 minutes of aerobic activty spread into chunks of 10-15 minutes, which research shows amps learning outcomes, as well as improving energy, mood, weight and fitness.
In addition to these pillars, we also will be creating relevant, fun and challenging learning through...
1. Being on the UCLA campus - imagine "going to college" in middle school. That alone is hugely empowering. It also allows us a "collegiate experience," whether it's heading for a rehearsal of the UCLA symphony, or a "star show" at the campus planetarium (they have one) or having "real people" on campus drop in to help us learn what being in the real world is like and how we might think about our place in it.
2. Service Learning - growing students into "global citizens" via a) "Skype Pals" (instead of "Pen Pals") - exposing them in video interactions and projects with students from across the globe, across the country and across town; and b) activities in which they make a real difference in the world.
3. Money & Entrepreneurship - One language that even college students graduate without having learned is "money." We've arranged for Junior Achievement to help us achieve age-appropriate "financial fluency". What does it take to run a household, get (and keep) a job, or create your own business?
4. Tech - We teach tech and teach with tech.
5. Small class size of no more than 20, and no more than 2 class rooms in each grade. Our first year of operation will be a sixth grade, in our second year we'll offer a 7th grade as well, and in our third year we'll add an 8th grade.
(Please note - depending on who the initial group of parents/students are, we may find it beneficial to everyone to do a 6/7 split (ie one classroom with both 6th and 7th graders). This can be done to the benefit of both groups, as the older kids gain leadership responsibilities (and enjoy them) and the younger kids often find it less intimidating. We of course would only do this with the approval of the parents involved.)
6. More time in school: Our school days will run till 3:30 and will number 190. Compared to say LAUSD's schedule, or many other private schools, this gives our kids the equivalent of an EXTRA 30 days of instruction. It's like lengthening the school year by 1.5 months, without breaking a sweat. Research shows that more time in school creates better outcomes.
7. A "normal" calendar - No August school (which LAUSD now mandates). We'll run from the first day after Labor Day, and end by the end of June, allowing you a "normal" summer.
8. Parent Volunteering - In addition to our low-tuition model ($10,000/yr or less - we're trying), we ask parents to volunteer for one day per month in class. Not to worry, we'll train you in how to be the best in-class volunteer possible. Plus, if you have any skills which you'd enjoy teaching, we'd love to hear about them!
And of course, Teachers - the teachers we have lined up have proven track records of success in running these kinds of classrooms. They are "total pros," one of whom comes from one of the most highly rated and well regarded charter schools around and the other from some of the most expensive private schools around. Their enthusiasm, energy, positivity, curiousity and outside the box attitudes will lead our kids day-in-day-out.
Some secondary FAQ's...
Q: Will the students take standardized tests and do you teach to the test?
A: Yes, we will be taking standardized tests, but no, we emphatically do not teach to any test. Research shows that if we educate our kids effectively, they will be able to sit down and take any standardized test, any place at any time, and do themselves justice. (by the way, "teaching to the test" actually results in lower test scores, so anyone who does it is simply out of touch with what works in education).
Q: Why don't you have sports teams, and extra-curricular activities?
A: Los Angeles is full of such programs - AYSO soccer, Little League, Drama, School of Rock, Cooking - ad infinitum. We can get those programs in a lot of different places - we don't need to duplicate them at the Zone school. What we offer is something unique which we can't find anywhere else - namely, the education we've described, above.
Q: Who's making money off this?
A: Nobody. We are doing this because it needs to be done, for our own kids, and yours. This is a break-even venture, in which salaries, rent, insurance and supplies are the major costs, and tuition is set by dividing those cost totals by the number of students.
If you are interested in joining us, we welcome you - simply fill in the contact form.
Please include
1. Your name
2. Email
3. Your student's current grade
4. Any skills you have which you may want to teach
5. Any questions, concerns, suggestions you may have - your input is more than welcome - it's needed.
6. Whether you can help us spread the word about The Zone to other parents
Imagine...
A middle school that kids can't wait to get to (as opposed to merely tolerate), and:
Is driven by fun...
Is located on the UCLA campus...
Is private - but LOW tuition (ie under $10,000)...
Is small - 18-20 kids in each classroom, 2 classrooms per grade level...
Which features teachers who are energetic, dynamic, empowering and who have high expectations of their students, but know - from experience - that the way to best get those expectations met is by creating an environment in which learning is FUN and challenging...
Which uses the most engaging curriculae available, including:
Martin Scorcese's Visual Literacy Curriculum
Dr. Jane Goodall's "Roots & Shoots" Global Service Learning Curriculum
Junior Achievement's financial fluency training CurriculumLEGO Robotics STEM curriculum
CAVA/K12 online curriculum
We're a group of West LA area parents who are launching exactly this kind of middle school.
In association with the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center, we intend to educate the "whole child", and give them the tools to deal with their inner worlds as well as the world outside them.
Our methods are not matters of preference or opinion - they are all proven by research to generate superior learning outcomes in the three domains we're dedicated to:
1. Academic-Intellectual
2. Social-Emotional
3. Physical
Middle school is a time of great internal upheaval in kids. Hormones rage, and stresses build - and this is when they begin shaping their strategies for how they will handle stresses in life. Too many kids make bad choices because this is the the one area for which we usually give them little or no training.
In The Zone Middle School, "How do I solve a quadratic equation" is not a more important question than "How do I handle my internal stresses, impulses, peer pressure, parental pressure, and societal pressure?"
Some FAQ's:
Why the name "The Zone?"
It's called "The Zone," as in "being in the Zone,"... the Zone is a state in which humans (even kids) are functioning at their absolute best.
What's our goal?
Our goal as parents, is simple: to give our kids the skills to create the happiest lives they can...
Our goal as parents creating a middle school is also simple: to prepare them for THIS century, where the rate of change is accelerating, and their competition is not across the room but across the world, and where many may have jobs which haven't even been invented yet...
How in the world do we do THAT?
Our approach is based on building three "pillars" -- all of which have been research-proven to create
the greatest learning outcomes for students in the 21st Century...
Pillar #1: Academic-Intellectual -- Fun-driven "learning by doing" and "using what the student's passions are to drive learning." (The jargon is: "student centered", "project-based learning", "constructivist")
Pillar #2: Social-Emotional -- via an affiliation with UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center - we'll be giving students the tools to deal with their inner lives... (jargon: "mindfulness")
Pillar #3: Physical - each day will include 45-60 minutes of aerobic activty spread into chunks of 10-15 minutes, which research shows amps learning outcomes, as well as improving energy, mood, weight and fitness.
In addition to these pillars, we also will be creating relevant, fun and challenging learning through...
1. Being on the UCLA campus - imagine "going to college" in middle school. That alone is hugely empowering. It also allows us a "collegiate experience," whether it's heading for a rehearsal of the UCLA symphony, or a "star show" at the campus planetarium (they have one) or having "real people" on campus drop in to help us learn what being in the real world is like and how we might think about our place in it.
2. Service Learning - growing students into "global citizens" via a) "Skype Pals" (instead of "Pen Pals") - exposing them in video interactions and projects with students from across the globe, across the country and across town; and b) activities in which they make a real difference in the world.
3. Money & Entrepreneurship - One language that even college students graduate without having learned is "money." We've arranged for Junior Achievement to help us achieve age-appropriate "financial fluency". What does it take to run a household, get (and keep) a job, or create your own business?
4. Tech - We teach tech and teach with tech.
5. Small class size of no more than 20, and no more than 2 class rooms in each grade. Our first year of operation will be a sixth grade, in our second year we'll offer a 7th grade as well, and in our third year we'll add an 8th grade.
(Please note - depending on who the initial group of parents/students are, we may find it beneficial to everyone to do a 6/7 split (ie one classroom with both 6th and 7th graders). This can be done to the benefit of both groups, as the older kids gain leadership responsibilities (and enjoy them) and the younger kids often find it less intimidating. We of course would only do this with the approval of the parents involved.)
6. More time in school: Our school days will run till 3:30 and will number 190. Compared to say LAUSD's schedule, or many other private schools, this gives our kids the equivalent of an EXTRA 30 days of instruction. It's like lengthening the school year by 1.5 months, without breaking a sweat. Research shows that more time in school creates better outcomes.
7. A "normal" calendar - No August school (which LAUSD now mandates). We'll run from the first day after Labor Day, and end by the end of June, allowing you a "normal" summer.
8. Parent Volunteering - In addition to our low-tuition model ($10,000/yr or less - we're trying), we ask parents to volunteer for one day per month in class. Not to worry, we'll train you in how to be the best in-class volunteer possible. Plus, if you have any skills which you'd enjoy teaching, we'd love to hear about them!
And of course, Teachers - the teachers we have lined up have proven track records of success in running these kinds of classrooms. They are "total pros," one of whom comes from one of the most highly rated and well regarded charter schools around and the other from some of the most expensive private schools around. Their enthusiasm, energy, positivity, curiousity and outside the box attitudes will lead our kids day-in-day-out.
Some secondary FAQ's...
Q: Will the students take standardized tests and do you teach to the test?
A: Yes, we will be taking standardized tests, but no, we emphatically do not teach to any test. Research shows that if we educate our kids effectively, they will be able to sit down and take any standardized test, any place at any time, and do themselves justice. (by the way, "teaching to the test" actually results in lower test scores, so anyone who does it is simply out of touch with what works in education).
Q: Why don't you have sports teams, and extra-curricular activities?
A: Los Angeles is full of such programs - AYSO soccer, Little League, Drama, School of Rock, Cooking - ad infinitum. We can get those programs in a lot of different places - we don't need to duplicate them at the Zone school. What we offer is something unique which we can't find anywhere else - namely, the education we've described, above.
Q: Who's making money off this?
A: Nobody. We are doing this because it needs to be done, for our own kids, and yours. This is a break-even venture, in which salaries, rent, insurance and supplies are the major costs, and tuition is set by dividing those cost totals by the number of students.
If you are interested in joining us, we welcome you - simply fill in the contact form.
Please include
1. Your name
2. Email
3. Your student's current grade
4. Any skills you have which you may want to teach
5. Any questions, concerns, suggestions you may have - your input is more than welcome - it's needed.
6. Whether you can help us spread the word about The Zone to other parents
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Can we launch in Fall 2012? We'd love to - and all the ducks are in a row to do that - if we get sufficient enrollment. Please forward this website address to anyone else you feel would be interested, and help us get the word out in time to make launching this fall, with two 6th grade classrooms, a reality. Don't worry about "losing" your spot - we will give accepted students priority in accordance with the order in which their initial response is received. If you'd like to join us, we'd love to have you. Warm regards, Janet and Bill Grundfest Parents |