Jordan Middle School provides a learning environment that nurtures the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional needs of students in grades 5, 6, 7, and 8. The staff provides challenging courses for all students and opportunities for students to explore new interests, comprehensive personal wellness education, a safe school environment, and a personalized school climate that provides support and adult guidance.

Adolescence is a distinctive developmental stage characterized by significant growth and change. Experts tell us that adolescence today starts earlier and lasts longer than in previous generations. Understanding the adolescent experience is foundational to creating and implementing a successful middle level education system. In developing our middle school programming, we paid particular attention to the following areas:

• Physical Development/Brain Development - Bodies and brains of adolescents grow and mature.  They face coordination issues and restlessness. Their brains are refining and pruning some connections and strengthening others as their abilities to plan, reason, anticipate consequences, pay attention, and make decisions continue to develop.
• Intellectual Development - Reasoning, understanding, and the ability for abstract thought grows significantly. To make sense of the world, adolescents prefer real-life learning experiences in areas they find useful or interesting.
• Social Development - Interest and capacity for more mature interaction with groups and individuals may not develop at the same speed as bodies and intellect. Adolescents need to belong; they test limits; they want to be like their peers.
• Emotional/Psychological Development - Adolescents are searching for their own independent, adult identity. They may be moody or restless; they are frequently self-conscious and highly sensitive to criticism. They are likely to believe their experiences and feelings are unique.
• Moral/Ethical Development - The ability to make positive choices grows in adolescence.  This involves a transition from a focus on self to considering the rights and feelings of others. Idealism and a strong sense of fairness develop, along with a set of personal values. Shades of gray in moral issues may replace what has always appeared black and white.  

We believe understanding adolescent development and brain research supports our focus on relevance, choice, real-life experiences, and positive relationships. It makes full consideration of these issues a necessity for a successful middle level school program. We will respond to these adolescent development issues and their environmental, curricular, and instructional implications through the core principles and strategies that guide our work.

The mission of Jordan Middle School is to foster a culture of belonging and to inspire high expectations for achievement through instructional practices that embrace individual differences and learning styles.  The middle school provides an environment that allows transition for students as they move from elementary into high school years. Middle school education provides solid standards-based interdisciplinary core courses and diverse exploratory and elective options with the goal of preparing students for Jordan High School and beyond. 

• Core Curriculum
• Jordan Middle School will build on the foundational personalized core developed at Jordan Elementary School with interdisciplinary standards-based core instruction.  Grade level teams will collaborate on interdisciplinary instruction in the areas of reading, language arts, science, social studies, and math. Advanced and remedial courses are offered for students to meet their instructional needs. 
• Exploratory Courses
  • The goal of exploratory courses at the middle school level is to provide a diverse exploratory option for ALL students at JMS. These courses capitalize on the curiosity of middle school level learners while exposing them to a wide range of topics in order to discover new ideas or skills they may not know they have.
• Elective Courses  
• Elective courses at Jordan Middle School are taught with the goal of providing student choice to expand and explore student interests. These classes include choices such as band and choir.

• Academic Support Courses

• Students not meeting grade level standards will be scheduled into an intervention course(s) to address the identified need. These students will have the option of choosing an exploratory/elective course once this need has been addressed.
• Advisory
  • Advisory is a class designed to encourage team building, school participation, and serve as a support system for students at Jordan Middle School. Curriculum for Advisory is designed to support students with their social/emotional, academic, and college & career readiness needs. 

JMS Contact
Main Phone:  952-492-2332
Fax:  952-492-4450
Attendance:  952-492-4477

JMS Office Hours
Monday - Friday
7:00am - 4:00pm

JMS Student Hours
Monday - Friday
8:00am - 3:00pm

• Doors open at 7:20am for students
• Students report to their Advisory classroom at 7:45am
• Breakfast is served 7:25am - 7:55am in the designated area

Ben Bakeberg
Principal
bbakeberg@isd717.org
Learn more about Mr. Bakeberg