Greetings from Johnston-Edgefield-Trenton (J-E-T) Middle School! Our faculty and staff encourage all students to develop the World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by providing a student-centered community that prepares learners for the challenges of the future with an emphasis on skills necessary for success at the high school level and beyond. J-E-T Middle School promotes PRIDE (Personal Responsibility in Developing Excellence) and the students and staff begin each day by reciting our school creed to remind each other to exhibit PRIDE and to practice the 3 R’s: Respect, Responsibility, and Readiness to Learn. J-E-T also offers a plethora of opportunities for students to excel academically, athletically, socially, and emotionally through an emphasis on educating the whole child.
Accordingly, the administrators and teachers have worked to raise the academic rigor and authenticity of classroom instruction. To promote literacy, we encourage students to independently explore a variety of self-selected reading materials during Eagle Recon as well as during early-morning silent sustained reading. Furthermore, our young writers are recognized at the district and state levels for excellence in writing, and in 2017-2018, six students were recognized as Junior Scholars. Students also showed academic excellence by participating in Math Counts, Mock Trial, and HOSA competitions, and in our Beta Club. This year, our Math Counts team earned fifth place in the region. Additionally, seven of the eight competitors placed individually in the top thirty out of one hundred students. Our mock trial team earned a top spot in region competition and was a finalist in state competition. For its first year at J-E-T Middle, HOSA won awards at the South Carolina competition, both individually and as a team, which gave them the opportunity to take part in the national competition. Our Beta Club not only stresses excellence in academics but also in community involved as all members complete community service hours in order to better our community.
To further assist students with their academic performance and emotional growth, we have implemented single-gender and inclusion classes. Thus far, our high-stakes achievement scores have shown improvement therefore supporting the national research findings of David Chadwell and illustrate that the single-gender strategy is effective for many of our middle-school students. We have also discovered that there are some students who perform better academically in a mixed-gender classroom. Therefore, we provide both single-gender classrooms and mixed-gender classrooms. J-E-T Middle School also reinforces the implementation of the Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS). PBIS continues to proactively establish behavioral expectations and a social culture that meets the needs of all students.
J-E-T Middle School offers other avenues of achievement in addition to academics. Our fine arts department continues to achieve at the regional and state levels, both band and chorus. Our band is extremely successful; consequently, we had many students earn All-Region distinction and other students achieved All-State status. Eighth-grade male students are active with the Boys to Men Club, which engaged in projects such as collecting blankets for the elderly and delivering them to nursing homes. J-E-T Middle School students have excelled in basketball, football and volleyball as well, and our teams have won many regional championships since the school’s inception in 1993.
This past year we piloted many programs that will be fully launched during the 2018-2019 school year. These programs included STEM, the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, grade-level student leadership committees, personalized learning, and academic pep rallies. STEM was used in a few science and math classes this year. The seventh graders learned about probability by making connections between it and genetics. The grade-level student leadership committee, piloted with seventh graders, allowed students to practice interpersonal skills and to collaborate with administration to help lead their peers into growing as more proactive students. One way they did this was by reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens. (This was a book study in which a few classes participated.) Our hope for next year is that all students will read the book, will practice the seven habits in their daily lives (in and outside of school) and will grow socially and emotionally as well as academically.
Eagle Learning Communities (ELC's) provide weekly professional development for all teachers. Additionally, a few teachers had the opportunity to be trained with the State Department in personalized learning. They learned strategies to empower students to take ownership in their learning so they can become self-directed learners. Finally, students’ and teachers’ successes were celebrated during academic pep rallies. These events celebrated students who exhibited PRIDE, followed the three R’s, and made significant growth on MAP tests and Khan Academy assignments. Teachers were also celebrated based on displaying one of the seven habits, which students will also have the opportunity to do next year.
Building community and stakeholder relations is another important factor in the success of J-E-T Middle School, and through our Each One, Reach One program, local businesses are invited to spend a day experiencing middle-school life and discovering ways to become involved with our students. J-E-T’s PTO is very active in bringing our school family together through fundraisers such as dances and our second annual Color Run. Our previously-established School Improvement Council has been instrumental in creating a vision and a plan for bringing our school and our community together.
We invite you to visit our award-winning school any time.
Sincerely,
Debbie Courtney, Principal