Magnet & Advanced Programs

Magnet School for the Humanities

• GIFTED FOCUS:  ELA, Social Studies

• QUALIFYING ABILITY SCORE AREA:  Verbal
• COORDINATOR:   Katie Harris

Students with aptitudes for and interests in the humanities (literature, social sciences, and history) will enjoy this program.  Magnet program students take specialized cross-curricular English Language Arts and Social Studies classes. These courses, which move at an accelerated pace, utilize curriculums for gifted and talented students, incorporating a wide selection of both classic and modern literature.  Students will take deep dives into primary source materials to interpret their historical importance and impact on our changing world. 

Through discussion, writing, debate, and collaboration with peers they will advance their understanding of the world around them.  The magnet program focuses on project based learning to enhance the student’s ability to engage with curriculum at deeper levels and showcase their creativity. Each summer, students have the opportunity to attend an exploratory field trip to DC.  They then have the opportunity to share their experience with classmates in a multi-disciplinary project. The ultimate goal of this magnet program is not only to provide students with the skills necessary to be successful in advanced placement opportunities such as ALA, IB and BISFA and beyond, but more importantly to prepare them to participate as informed, critically-minded global citizens.  Students are granted unique academic experiences that encourage analytical thinking and creativity, including field experiences to places such as the Holocaust museum. Additionally, students have the opportunity to earn high school credit in Spanish.

Every WCPS Middle School has merit courses designed for highly able and gifted learners. Every rising Grade 6 student is reviewed by the Office of Advanced Programs and content specialists for placement in one or more merit courses based on performance and/or ability. Merit courses are available for English Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies. WCPS merit courses follow the WCPS Essential Curriculum as do the grade-level courses. The pace of WCPS merit courses is typically faster and content is more in-depth in its exploration. In Merit Math, the student will also experience acceleration to the next grade level of a given topic. In all other merit courses, the readings tend to be above grade level, which demands that students are reading and performing above grade level.  These courses allow students to get extensions to the curriculum to allow for Gifted and Talented differentiation.  Multiple criteria are used for placement in WCPS Merit Programs and no student is guaranteed placement in merit courses.