The middle school accelerated literature program is modeled as a preparation for high school honors programs. The students explore all genres of literature, work in cooperative learning groups, do research for background information on the laptops, often read above current reading levels of the students and discuss stories through a critical thinking process that makes the students think “outside the box.” They also read and explore three novels per year along with the Prentice Hall Anthology of stories. Most of the program participants leave ICS and go to honors programs in high school. Some have even skipped freshman level Literature/English class and gone straight into sophomore classes. It is geared to the highly self-motivated and conscientious students with a strong desire to be successful.
The Great Books program, as described by the publisher, involves the student in reading, discussing and writing about essential questions raised by outstanding works of literature. The key is to improve the student's reading comprehension, critical thinking and writing skills through a process called Shared Inquiry. During this Shared Inquiry process, the student focuses on a short reading, generates ideas in response to an interpretive question and understands that there may be many answers. They provide evidence to support their answers, interact with the class in a discussion by listening and responding, write about their thoughts and then delve deeper into specific passages to explore an idea thoroughly.
The homeroom teacher, starting with 3rd grade, makes a referral to the Great Books Program or the Middle School Accelerated Literature Program. The student must be in the 95th percentile or above in their total reading score on Stanford 10. The student is then tested by an ICS reading specialist using the Gates MacGinitie Reading Test. The specialist then determines the total Reading scores combined from Stanford and MacGinitie for the average percentile. Those with the combined 95th percentile or above are accepted.
