Lewis F. Cole Middle School is proud to educate the whole child with two key points; academics and social awareness. The academic program is the first priority with planning and implementation designed for an extensive sequence of studies to accommodate the abilities of all middle school students. Language Arts, World History, Mathematics/Pre-Algebra and Life Science are taught five days per week at the seventh grade level. Spanish and Computer Word Processing are semester courses. Unified Arts, consisting of Music, Technology Education, Art or Consumer Education, is taught on a quarterly basis. Eighth grade course offerings include: Language Arts, American History-Civics, Mathematics/Algebra, Earth Science and Spanish five days per week. The recent addition of an eighth grade Geometry class was added for all students who are highly proficient in math. The Unified Arts Program is also continued at the eighth grade level. Honors classes are offered in Language Arts and Pre-Algebra for seventh grade students and in all five major subject areas for eighth grade students who meet criteria standards. Physical Education along with Health classes meet five days per week on an interim basis at the seventh and eighth grade level. The DARE program is also an integral part of the outstanding programs offered at the Middle School.
The faculty and administration also recognize the importance of character development that promotes student responsibility and inspires proper decorum. Teachers and administrators strive to infuse in students the standards of behavior that create an atmosphere where success is commonplace.
The student produced literary and arts magazine, INTERMEDIA, has won forty consecutive awards from the Columbia University Press Association and this year is no exception as we are in line for a CROWN award from Columbia University Press as well. There are 267 members of the eighth grade class twenty-three students, or 10% of whom were recognized for having made the High Honor Roll throughout all four marking periods, sixty-eight students or 25% earned awards for maintaining Honor Roll status all four marking periods and thirteen students, or 5% achieved High Honor Roll status for two years- nothing less than A’s throughout their seventh and eighth grade years. Additionally, twelve students were recognized by The Johns Hopkins University Talent Search 2012 by scoring as well as, or above the average college bound senior on the SAT.
Thirteen (13)) students were recognized as Presidential Awardees for Educational Excellence and another twenty-four (24) were recognized as Presidential Awardees for Physical Fitness. Our school band, chorus and string orchestra all won Superior ratings at the High Note Festival which took place in Dorney Park, Pa.
The Middle School addresses multicultural understanding through Bias Busters, a specially trained group of approximately twenty-four students, who work with peers to prevent any disharmony caused by behavioral bias. The group provides a welcoming committee, which greets all new students and assists them as they acclimate to their setting. This interactive effort fosters understanding, tolerance and acceptance within the student body, and successfully helps the school maintain cooperation and unity. The Peer Leadership Program is a special group of trained eighth grade peer mediators who conduct mediations between students in conflict. The group’s record for conflict resolution is near 100%.
Enrichment activities and clubs continue to abound in the following extracurricular areas: Art-Intermedia, Literary-Intermedia, Band, Chorus, Fit for Life, Intramural activities, Library Council, Math, Student Council, Yearbook and SADD (students against destructive decisions).