Academic Programs

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The Metropolitan School District of Washington Township believes that equitable, affirming, and responsive schools operate with a fundamental belief that every student in every classroom can and will elevate their learning to the highest potential if:

  • there are high expectations for culturally responsive, student-centered instruction.
  • our students participate in a socially, physically, and intellectually safe learning community where their identities and voices are affirmed, valued, and represented.
  • a strong teacher and student learning partnership is cultivated with a balance of support, feedback and productive struggle to grow student independence and self-efficacy.
  • our educators model a growth mindset and commit to purposeful collaboration and professional learning.

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Successful implementation of this vision will ultimately prepare students for further education, the workplace, and a lifetime of learning. Students will:

  • Be well-rounded with appropriate social emotional skills.
  • Be critical readers, writers, and speakers using these skills to develop rich arguments that allow them to engage in meaningful dialogue with people with different perspectives in a variety of settings.
  • Understand their own strengths and challenges as learners using a growth mindset, reflective practices like goal setting based on their academic, organizational, and social needs in order to improve their scholarship.
  • Be problem solvers using inquiry to solve real-world problems in a collaborative and creative manner.
  • Be able to explore multiple pathways to demonstrate understanding, as well as explore different careers and areas of interest through their studies.
  • Think critically about and stand up against social injustice.
  • Value the importance of a strong education and how it can lead to expanded opportunities later in life.
  • Be globally-minded citizens who are positive contributors to society. Demonstrate a love of learning.

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The elementary schools of MSDWT will continue to prepare our youngest learners for day-to-day and future success. All students will experience equitable achievement and growth by:

  • learning literacy, mathematics, social studies, science, physical education, music, and the arts as part of a well-rounded, standards-based, and culturally relevant education.
  • developing social emotional skills through daily intentional teaching and integrated opportunities for practicing these skills across different subject areas.
  • participating in an effective literacy program built on the principles of Science of Reading where grade-level standards are explicitly taught with scaffolds and differentiation to ensure all students have access to on-grade level instruction.
  • exploring curriculum resources through meaningful thinking and dialogue that develops students as critical readers, writers, and speakers who consider the perspectives of others and are ready for real world opportunities to construct their own arguments.
  • engaging with mathematics through a workshop framework that apprentices them to ever-increasing levels of independence and opportunities for inquiry.
  • recognizing their individual and collective agency to partner with teachers and set personal and learning goals that lead to action on them within and across subject areas.
  • using the skills and love of learning, leadership, and collaboration for purposes beyond rote learning that include integrated learning about social justice standards and global issues.

MSDWT believes every student should be given Indiana Standards-based, scaffolded, on-grade level instruction. For kindergarten through fifth grade, MSDWT adopted the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project curriculum published by Heinemann in 2019. To address phonemic awareness and phonics, and to differentiate to meet the needs of all of our students, our schools supplement the TCRWP curriculum with resources aligned with the Science of Reading. These include Heggerty, Orton Gillingham, 95 Percent Group, and LETRS, along with a variety of effective and rigorous, instructional strategies. MSDWT also vetted and utilizes the computer adaptive program, Lexia Core5 Reading.

Through our MTSS process, students who require additional targeted supports may be placed on a “tier” and receive additional instruction either in a small group setting in the classroom or thru a “push-in” model. For grades kindergarten through fifth, these supports include Orton Gillingham, 95 Percent Group, RISE, and Sonday.

Elementary Curriculum

Plan de Estudios de Primaria

Literacy Instruction in MSDWT Webinar

Director of Elementary Education
Mr. Tim Blom

Administrative Assistant
Mrs. Pam Jenkins
Phone: (317) 205-3332 Ext. 77204
Fax: (317) 205-3384

The secondary schools of MSDWT will continue to prepare our oldest learners for day-to-day and future success. All students will experience equitable achievement and growth by:

  • growing their proficiency in literacy, mathematics, social studies and science through deliberately planned and progressive lessons within standards-based and culturally relevant units of study.
  • selecting additional areas of study and exploration based on their interests in physical education, visual arts, performing arts, technology, and languages throughout the school day and after school.
  • developing social emotional skills through intentional teaching each week and integrated opportunities for practicing resilience, growth mindsets, and collaboration across all subject areas.
  • participating in the study of literacy through extensive reading and writing opportunities within multiple literature-based and writing courses, as well as integrated reading across all curriculum subject areas.
  • exploring primary and secondary curriculum sources that develop thinking and communication skills to support critical literacy engagement, understanding other perspectives, ever-increasing levels of independence, and opportunities for inquiry.
  • recognizing their individual and collective agency to partner with teachers and set personal and learning goals that lead to action on them within and across subject areas.
  • using the skills and love of learning, leadership, and collaboration for purposes beyond rote learning that include integrated learning about social justice standards and global issues.

Middle Schools

The middle years can be a challenge for many students and families, and having a successful middle school experience is critical to establishing a strong foundation for success in high school. As a result, our district has worked diligently to create middle schools that are student-focused and parent-friendly. We offer a rich and rigorous curriculum that focuses on exploration. The sixth grade year provides students exposure to most of the programs offered so that they can make an informed decisions regarding elective courses for the seventh and eighth grade years. This allows students to spend time during their seventh and eighth grade years determining if they want to continue on the same path in high school or pursue other opportunities so that when they graduate they have a strong sense of what life beyond high school should include.

Middle School Program of Studies
Programa de Estudios de la Escuela Secundaria

North Central High School

North Central High School continues to be the public high school by which all other high schools in Indiana are measured. Its comprehensive curriculum may be second to none. In addition to having Indiana’s first *International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (IB), North Central’s rigorous curriculum extends beyond the IB program in that 28 Advanced Placement (AP) courses, 12 Advanced College Project (ACP) courses, 50 Honors courses, and 22 dual credit opportunities through the J. Everett Light Career Center provide students with the possibility to earn college credit prior to setting foot on a college campus. In addition, a rich program for students whose needs may not be met through IB or AP is provided to meet the diverse needs of its students.

Class of 2022 highlights

  • $48,902,917 in scholarships awarded
  • 8 National Merit Scholars
  • 13 IB Diplomas
  • 46 AP Scholars
  • 18 AP Scholars with Honors
  • 27 AP Scholars with Distinction
  • 89.99% Graduation Rate

*The IB Diploma Program (DP) requires an application for students in grades 11-12 and provides a rigorous curriculum internationally recognized by universities. North Central High School offers the state’s most established and prestigious IB Diploma Program. For more information, visit: http://ibo.org/programmes/diploma-programme/

Director of Teaching & Learning for 6-8
Mr. Rick Doss

Administrative Assistant
Mrs. Andrea Francis
Phone: 317-205-3332 Ext. 77268
Fax: (317) 205-3384

Interim Director of Teaching & Learning for 9-12
Dr. Rachel Sever

Administrative Assistant
Michaela Gray
Phone: 317-205-3332 Ext. 77297

J. Everett Light Career Center (JELCC) is dedicated to providing programs that allow local high school students to explore their passion in an innovative, hands-on, and real-world environment. JELCC provides over 24 different, career-focused classes for high school students, using a hands-on, holistic approach. This allows students to create, explore, and solve problems, all while preparing them for post-secondary college and future careers. Each program’s curriculum is driven by rigorous career and college-ready standards in combination with state-of-the-art equipment and is delivered through best practices in methodology and technology.
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Dual Credits & Certifications
All of our JELCC programs offer college dual credit and/or certifications that serve as valuable resources to help high school students pursue their next steps. JELCC programs can also assist high school students in meeting Indiana Graduation Pathway requirements as well as help students help meet requirements for an Academic Honors Diploma or Academic Technical Honors Diploma.

Washington Township (WT) is committed to a process for continuous improvement that is well-defined and clearly articulated with measurable outcomes. The district acknowledges that our current best approach to improve and sustain student learning and achievement is through a systems approach that is inclusive of all entities and levels of our organization. The district level; the school level; the division or department level; and the classroom, teacher, and student level must all align their collaborative efforts along with the parents and community in order to achieve high success over time.

The Quality Assurance (QA) System creates an on-going culture of quality that permeates the district as well as create an institutional memory of the best practices adopted by our School Improvement Teams, Professional Learning Community (PLC) Teams or district improvement program teams. In alignment with the district quality assurance process, WT has implemented a process to regularly review progress on program action plans, instruction improvement deployment, and formative assessments results.