Highlights of Exemplary Practices Aligned with the 18 Characteristics of Successful Middle Schools

Essential Attribute: An education for young adolescents should be Responsive

At Learning Community Charter School, middle school programming is intentionally designed to reflect and respond to student interests and needs. Weekly elective courses are offered to provide engaging learning opportunities beyond the core academic subjects, and a wide range of extracurricular clubs—such as chess, Dungeons & Dragons, cosmetology, personal finance, and podcasting—are created based on student input.

Students also participate in two “What I Need” (WIN) periods each week, allowing for personalized support through intervention, enrichment, or extended time with teachers. Social-emotional well-being is a school-wide priority, supported not only by three beloved therapy dogs who are present during arrival, dismissal, and throughout the day, but also through regular feedback opportunities. Quarterly student focus groups, led by the school counselor, shape academic offerings, school practices, and inform how faculty can better support students.

The school also fosters strong relationships through regular, affirming communication: faculty send personalized postcards to students following professional learning community sessions, and every middle school student receives a handwritten message over the summer from both the Head of School and the school counselor.

Essential Attribute: An education for young adolescents should be Challenging

The middle school academic program at LCCS is designed to challenge students while fostering critical thinking, cultural awareness, and collaboration. All 8th-grade students take Algebra I, with the opportunity to earn high school credit upon successful completion. Across all grade levels, curricular materials are selected with an emphasis on cultural responsiveness to ensure engagement and relevance for every student. 6th graders research a personal hero and produce a research paper and their own version of a TED talk about that personal hero at our school’s hero museum. In 7th grade, all students participate in the National History Day program, where they develop secondary-level research and presentation skills through in-depth exploration of historical topics.

An essential component of the middle school experience is the weekly Touchstones Discussion Project. In this program, students read texts from the global canon and engage in inclusive, student-led discussions that prioritize listening, questioning, and respectful dialogue. Rather than focusing on content mastery, Touchstones emphasizes engagement with complex ideas and collaborative thinking. Students sit in a circle, speak without raising hands, and reflect together on the quality of their conversations, setting goals to improve their discussions each week. This process strengthens students’ abilities in active listening, speaking, analytical reasoning, and teamwork—skills that are essential for academic and life success.

Essential Attribute: An education for young adolescents should be Empowering

Student leadership and mentorship are central to the middle school experience at LCCS. Through the Learning Community House System, students have the opportunity to serve as House Leaders, meeting weekly with a staff mentor to engage in leadership development and reflect on their roles within the school community. Peer leadership extends into the classroom as well, where a peer tutoring model allows students to support one another academically under the guidance of their teachers.

Middle school students are also deeply involved in mentoring younger peers. They volunteer in lower school chess clubs, teach environmental lessons through the Green Team (student environmental club), and lead civil rights lessons, serving as role models both academically and socially. In addition, students offer social-emotional mentorship to younger students through structured classroom partnerships.

Middle schoolers also play an important role in the life of the school community by acting as student guides during prospective parent visits and participating in the selection process for the faculty CIRCLE awards as members of the student council. Our student council officers interview all potential new employees at Learning Community. Our national junior honor society members act as school tour guides and regularly present to community members about opportunities at the middle school. These varied opportunities empower students to lead with empathy, initiative, and purpose.

Essential Attribute: An education for young adolescents should be Equitable

Learning Community Charter School is committed to providing comprehensive academic and personal support to middle school students as they prepare for high school and beyond. Faculty offer free after-school tutoring four days a week, while peer tutoring is available during lunch periods to ensure that students receive timely help and reinforcement in their studies. The high school application process is thoughtfully guided, with individualized support for every 8th-grade student. This includes help identifying schools of interest, completing applications and portfolios, preparing for placement tests, and access to free tutoring for academic entrance exams.

As part of their academic and civic learning, all 8th-grade students participate in a powerful trip to Georgia and Alabama to study the civil rights movement. They visit historic sites such as Ebenezer Baptist Church, the Equal Justice Initiative's Lynching Memorial and Museum, and the Edmund Pettus Bridge, and engage with civil rights activists to reflect on the movement’s legacy and their own roles in promoting justice. Additionally, LCCS’s mentor program pairs middle school students with adult mentors to provide consistent social-emotional support. Now expanding, the program is working toward its original vision of empowering mentees to grow into peer mentors themselves, fostering a culture of support, leadership, and connection across the middle school.

Essential Attribute: An education for young adolescents should be Engaging

At LCCS, student learning is made visible through Capstone Learning Experiences at each grade level, allowing students to share their knowledge and growth with the broader community. In 6th grade, students present projects on personal heroes as a culminating activity of their Holocaust unit. In 7th grade, students develop and present original research projects as part of National History Day, and in 8th grade, students synthesize their learning from the civil rights trip by designing and delivering lessons for younger students in the lower school.

Parents are regularly invited into the school to give presentations, strengthening the connection between home and school and enriching the learning environment. The school community comes together quarterly to celebrate student achievement in both attendance and academics, recognizing and reinforcing student success. The arts are a vibrant part of the curriculum, with courses taught by professional performing artists. Students choose from a range of offerings—including guitar, Afro-Caribbean drumming, playwriting, photography, art, acting, and hip hop dance—and work in small groups over two semesters, deepening their creative skills and self-expression through authentic instruction from working artists.