The Academy Middle School

Transition

The middle school collaborates with The Academy High School teachers to identify specific academic and social pragmatic skills which will help prepare our students for the academic challenges they will experience as 9th graders at The Academy or at their own District school. The goal is to move students toward independence at a pace that meets the individual needs of each student. Developing and nurturing these transitional skills helps students become more self-motivated, self-confident, and self-aware in their place within the family, school, and community. Students participate in a transitional curriculum that focuses on:

• Building self-advocacy skills
• Responsibility at home, school, and in the community
• Problem solving/Conflict resolution
• Setting Goals
• Identifying effective versus defective habits
• Creating new effective, academic habits
• Leadership
• Career exploration
• Direct skill instruction in reading comprehension
• Vocabulary development
• Mathematics
• Speech and Language
• Assistive technology
• Study and organizational skills
• Time management (homework, test preparation, project benchmarks)