The Universal American School provides a comprehensive, inquiry-based education aimed at developing students as responsible global citizens from preschool to high school. The document outlines the school's organizational structure, highlights the importance of middle level education, and details the characteristics of effective middle schools, along with updates about the middle school program for the 2015-2016 academic year. Key points include a focus on developmental responsiveness, high expectations for all students, and a nurturing environment that encourages parental involvement.

1. Director’s Forum
May 3, 2015
Universal American School provides a challenging, inquiry-
based American and international education that empowers
students to be caring individuals, critical thinkers, and
responsible global citizens.

2. 2015-16

3. Re-organization
• Elementary School
• Prek-5
• PYP Framework
• Middle School
• Grades 6-8
• Conceptual Curriculum Framework
• High School
• Grades 9-12
• Conceptual Curriculum Framework 9-
10
• IB Diploma Curriculum 11-12

4. Leadership
• PK-12 Focus
• Targeting recommendations from:
✓ MSA/CIS
✓ PYP/IB DP
✓ KHDA
• Alignment of Programs
• Initiation of Program Development

5. PK-12 Curriculum
Coordinator

6. PK-12 Technology
Coordinator

7. PK-12 Arabic
Language Coordinator

8. PK-12 Islamic
Coordinator

9. ES/MS
Literacy Coach

10. Early Childhood
Coordinator (FT)

11. KHDA

12. Technology
Focus

13. Approaches to
Teaching and Learning

14. New Faculty

15. 4 new administrators

16. 4 new administrators

17. IB Coordinator

18. PYP Coordinator

19. Athletic Directors

20. Elementary Specialists
Librarian
Music
Counselor
PE

21. Elementary Classroom
13 new elementary
classroom teachers

22. Middle School
Principal
Assistant Principal
2 full time counselors

23. Middle School
Classroom
6 “new” to UAS teachers

24. High School
3 counselors (2 new)
10 new to UAS teachers

25. Approaches to
Teaching and Learning

26. Universal American School provides a
challenging, inquiry-based American
and international education that
empowers students to be caring
individuals, critical thinkers, and
responsible global citizens.

27. A Presentation for the UAS Parent
Community
Sunday, May 3, 2015

28. 1.The Importance of Middle Level
Education
2.Essential Attributes and Characteristics
of Middle Level Schools
3.The Latest News about the FABULOUS
UAS Middle School!! WOOHOOO!!!!

29. 1. The Importance of Middle
Level Education
• In 1963 – Dr. William Alexander, Cornell University, USA spoke at a conference about:
“The Junior High School: A Changing View”. Dr. Alexander presented a proposal to
implement a new “Middle School”
• This Middle School would be taught by specifically trained educators who would:
“implement a relevant curriculum and essential learning processes that were
developmentally appropriate for students within this age range.”
• Dr. Alexander was quoted as saying: “..intellectual growth means much more
than an increasing competence in the academic content of the curriculum. We
must endeavor to stimulate in the child a love for learning, an attitude of inquiry, a
passion for truth and...a questioning mind. The learning of right answers is not
enough...beyond answers alone, we must help children ask the right questions,
and discover their answers through creative thinking, reasoning, judging, and
understanding.”

30. • “the learning of the right answers is not enough" is
even more relevant today than it was in 1963
• The continuing research and practice since Dr.
Alexander's call for a Middle School have shown
and continue to demonstrate the importance of
implementing schools that openly address both the
academic and personal development of every
young adolescent
• “Thriving now and in the future requires becoming a
lifelong learner and demands more than a basic
understanding of reading, writing, and mathematics. It
requires the ability to apply sophisticated skills in a variety
of settings and solve complex problems individually and in
collaboration with others.”
1. The Importance of Middle
Level Education

31. • The curriculum, teaching styles, & programs within middle grades
schools must be based upon the developmental readiness, needs
and interests of our young people. This concept is at the heart of
middle level education.
• It is vitally important to recognize that the areas of development
- physical, intellectually, moral, psychological, & social-
emotional - are intricately intertwined, making the achievement
of academic success highly dependent upon the other
developmental needs also being met.
• Early adolescents is also a period of tremendous variability among our young people of
the same gender and chronological age in all areas of their development. Changes
occur irregularly, as young adolescents enter puberty at different times and progress at
different rates. Individual differences proliferate, making dubious such assumptions as,
“All 7th graders are..”
1. The Importance of Middle
Level Education

32. • Rapid physical changes make early adolescence a crucial period for
developing healthy personal habits.
• Do parents and/or teachers retain primary authority and continue as the
source of basic values for our young people?
• Young peoples desire for peer acceptance & the need to belong to
particular social groups are often intense & sometimes lead to
shifting allegiance from adults to peers.
• Parents and educators alike must remember that our adolescents
thirst for informal interactions and conversations with caring adults.
• Our young people need information that helps them understand the
physical and other changes in their lives. They also need
supportive adult guidance and advocacy more than ever as they
struggle to maintain the hope and optimism that once characterized
their youth
“All 7th graders are..”

33. 2. The Essential Attributes and
characteristics of Middle level schools
• Developmentally Responsive: using
the distinctive nature of young
adolescents as the foundation upon
which all decisions about school
organization, policies, curriculum,
instruction, and assessment are made.
• Challenging: ensuring that every student learns
and every member of the learning community is
held to high expectations

34. • Empowering: providing all students with
the knowledge and skills they need to
take responsibility for their lives, to
address life's challenges, to function
successfully at all levels of society, and
to be creators of knowledge.
• Equitable: advocating for and ensuring
every student's right to learn and providing
appropriately challenging and relevant
learning opportunities for every student.
2. The Essential Attributes and
characteristics of Middle level schools

35. 3. The Latest News about the FABULOUS
UAS Middle School!! WOOHOOO!!!!
Where will the
new UAS
Middle School
be located?

37. PERIOD MS START MS END MS LENGTH
P1 7:45 8:50 65
P2 8:55 10:00 65
P3 10:05 (homeroom) 10:35 30
P4 10:40 11:45 65
P5 11:50 (lunch) 12:25 35
P6 12:30 (reading) 12:55 25
P7 1:00 2:00 60
P8 2:05 3:10 65
The Middle School Daily Time Table:
3. The Latest News about the FABULOUS
UAS Middle School!! WOOHOOO!!!!

38. What courses will Middle School
students be offered during the 2015-
2016 school year?
Grade 6 Grade 7 Grade 8
SUBJECT Class times/10 days SUBJECT Class times/10 days SUBJECT Class times/10 days
English 7 x 65 = 455 English 7 x 65 = 455 English 7 x 65 = 455
Math 7 x 65 = 455 Math 7 x 65 = 455 Math 7 x 65 = 455
Science 7 x 65 = 390 Science 7 x 65 = 390 Science 7 x 65 = 390
Social Studies 7 x 65 = 390 Social Studies 7 x 65 = 390 Soc. Studies 7 x 65 = 390
PE 4 x 65 = 260 PE 4 x 65 = 260 PE 4 x 65 = 260
Arabic/AFL 6 x 65 = 390 Arabic/AFL 6 x 65 = 390 Arabic/AFL 6 x 65 = 390
Islamic/Other 4 x 65 = 260 Islamic/Other 3 x 65 = 195 Islamic/Other 3 x 65 = 195
Semester Electives: Global
Languages, art, and dance,
LSC or Speech & Writing
4 x 65 = 260 Semester Electives:
Global Languages,
LSC or Speech &
Writing
4 x 65 = 260 Semester Electives:
Global Languages,
LSC, or Speech &
Writing
4 x 65 = 260
Fine Arts: band, choir,
drama, and art
4 x 65 = 260 Fine Arts: band, choir,
art and drama
5 x 65 = 325 Fine Arts: band, choir,
art & drama
5 x 65 = 325
Reading 10 x 25 = 250 Reading 10 x 25 = 250 Reading 10 x 25 = 250
Homeroom 10 x 30 = 300 Homeroom 10 x 30 = 300 Homeroom 10 x 30 = 300
Total 70 70 70

39. Administrative Structure
Principal: Pat Hould
Assistant Principal: Beverly Kempley
Administrative Assistant: TBD
Information Technology Integration Specialist (IT IS): Jennifer Zimbrick
Literacy Coach (LC): Michelle Webster (.5)
Two Counselors ~ WOOHOO!
Mark Gaffney and Kara Haines
MS “Team” Structure
Horizontal Team Leaders
Grade 6 Team Leader: Samarah Qadir
Grade 7 Team Leader: Matt Webster
Grade 8 Team Leader: Eric Barrett
Specialists Team Leader: TBD AND Vertical Team Leaders: TBD
Staffing the New
Middle School

40. Final Thoughts:
• To the
greatest
degree
possible: hope
to create
a“bookless”sc
hool
• Parent Involvement
• Hope to create a caring/nurturing environment where all students
can flourish, learn, feel safe and grow to meet their untapped
potential
Questions?
3. The Latest News about the FABULOUS
UAS Middle School!! WOOHOOO!!!!