Parents of upper elementary school students:
the middle school (ARMS) is proposing some significant changes in the
school day schedule for next year's 7th and 8th graders.
On Thursday January 8th, at 7 PM (at the ARMS Library) the middle
school administration will be hosting an information night for the
school community at large where they will share their rationale for the
proposed schedule change and answer questions.
Information about the proposed schedule change is on the school website: http://arms.arps.org/
Here is a link to the rationale for the proposed schedule change:
http://arms.arps.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_927081/File/Rationale%20for%20ARMS%20Schedule%20Change.pdf
Here is a visual on the proposed schedule change:
http://arms.arps.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_927081/File/Schedule%20Change%20Visual%2012.23.pdf
Comments about the proposed changes can be directed to the ARMS principal, the superintendent and the school committee.
Some of the key changes embedded in and/or facilitated by the proposed schedule:
(from the link above)
• Co - teaching will be the model for inclusion.
• Students will have PE/Health every other day all year (from every other day for ½ the year)
• Music will be every other day (2.5 days per week or 162.5 minutes per
week), a decrease from 4 days per week or 197 minutes per week, a 17.5%
decrease). In addition, the schedule will have new music
classes, and there will also be intro to music classes and electives ,
addressing long - standing access issues and increasing access to music
from roughly 70% of students to over 90% (some students will continue to
need to access services during music) .
• Exploratories for
7th grade will be in quarters as they are now: however, two of the four
quarters will be introductions to two languages/cultures: French,
Spanish or Latin – students will register for their top two
languages/cultures and be guaranteed to receive one of them. 7th graders
will also have one quarter of Drama and one quarter of Art.
•
8th graders will have Exploratory or Language Electives. 8th graders
will choose either a full year of language 1 (Spanish, French or Latin
for a year of HS credit) or a choice mixture of semester drama, semester
art, semester dance/movement
• No more study halls – students
will be in music/PE and Exploratories in 7th and will choose between
full year of language 1 or semesters of Drama/Art/Dance in 8th
• World Language (WL) - Chinese 1A discontinued (1B still offered next year
for students currently in 1A) - While there may appear to be a risk of
having less student s in WL in 8th grade, currently (2014 - 2015) 48%
of 8th graders don’t take a language (50% of 8th graders are in language
1B and 2% are in language 1A) . We anticipate 50% or more of 8th
graders will continue to take language.
• Advisory in the
middle of the day, and longer Advisory will increase from 81 mins per
week to 135 (11 mins Mon and 20 mins Tues – Friday to 27 minutes each
day). Thus, all students’ schedules will have a one hour break from
academics in the middle of the day, as lunch and advisory will make up a
one hour section. This will increase our ability to deliver academic
support as well as our PBIS, social - emotional, school climate,
wellness and movement and social justice and equity curricula, and give
students a full hour each day of non-core time.
• Overall.
The balance between core academic time and aesthetics and World Language
shifts from 62.5% core (with 12.5% of that in core skills, in which
curricula could not be completed) and 37.5% aesthetics and World
Language (music, exploratories) to 66.6% core (all time focused on
curricula) and 33.3% aesthetics and World Language. While this is a
shift, we believe this shift is necessary to meet our mission of
bringing all students to proficiency according to the Mass standards
while attending to the social, emotional and physical needs of our
students. This balance (1/3+ of overall instructional time in non-core
classes) maintains Amherst Middle School’s and the Amherst and Pelham
region’s commitment to the whole child and a rich and wide variety of
opportunities to explore a range of means to engage, learn and grow.
