New West Educational Plan
New West was conceived by a small group of parents who wanted the best middle school experience they could imagine for their children.
These founders worked with educational consultants and charter school experts to create the operational details of the school's educational plan. They visited and studied the five highest performing, like-sized, demographically similar, middle schools in California. The curriculum now in place reflects the best practices and policies of these top-performing schools blended with New West's vision and state-mandated grade-level curricular standards. Change is to be expected and encouraged as New West's educators revise the educational plan in the best interests of the school's students.
Grade-Level Content Standards and Frameworks
New West teaches an academically rigorous middle school curriculum that prepares students for a college preparatory program when they enter high school. The content and sequence of New West's curriculum embody the state grade-level Standards for core academic subjects (reading and language arts, mathematics, science, and history and social science). The curriculum in these subjects reflects the grade-level considerations, instructional strategies, and assessment guidelines outlined in the state Frameworks developed by the California Department of Education (CDE). The complete California Content Standards and Frameworks for each subject are available on the CDE website. New West supplements the core curriculum with instruction in world languages, visual and performing arts, and physical education and health.
Goals and Objectives
- Innovation and excellence in education, using the California content standards for reading and language arts, mathematics, science, and history and social science as a "floor" or "foundation," not a "ceiling."
- Multi-disciplinary studies in a curriculum that takes an energetic, rigorous approach to all subjects, with special emphasis on reading and language arts and mathematics.
- Greater learning opportunities for students through small school size, small class size, longer school days, and longer school year.
- Individualized learning through differentiated instruction that maximizes the abilities of each student.
- Strong partnerships among students, parents, teachers, administrators, staff, and community members to provide the best possible environment for educating middle school students.
- Creative, high achieving students, whose interactions with others are characterized by confidence, diplomacy, and integrity – i.e., the "leaders of tomorrow."
- Gender-neutral approaches to education that support all students' access, real and perceived, to all aspects of school life.
- Systems of individual and collective accountability to measure student achievement and the school's progress toward its educational goals.
- Community involvement in the school as well as school involvement in the community.
Enrichment and Extracurricular Programs
New West is developing in-school enrichment programs and after-school extracurricular activities. These programs supplement and complement classroom instruction in the core academic areas, and provide ancillary experiences that broaden the skills, knowledge, and attitudes of students. The nature and schedule of activities varies as parents come and go, as community members volunteer their time, as the educational needs of classroom teachers evolve, and as the interests and talents of the student body change from year to year.