Middle School

Learning Support

Capable kids become independent learners. We show them how

Middle School asks more than ever before. More classes. More teachers. More deadlines. More responsibility for keeping it all straight. For some students, that leap feels natural. For others, it takes a little coaching. And that's exactly what we're here to provide.

Learning Support in the Middle School isn't about catching up. It's about teaching students how to manage the work, organize their lives, and own their learning. These are the habits that turn a capable child into a confident, self-directed student. And they last far beyond any single class.

Support that builds independence, not dependence

We don't do the work for students. We teach them how to do it themselves.

That's why our specialists use an executive functioning coaching model, a hands-on approach that helps students plan, prioritize, organize, and follow through. As students move from the single-classroom world of the Lower School into discipline-based content with multiple teachers, these skills become the difference between feeling overwhelmed and feeling in control.

Our students learn to break a big project into steps. To track assignments across subjects. To prepare for a test the right way. And something shifts. They stop relying on reminders and start trusting themselves.

That's the whole point.

Support that grows with your child

Middle School is a stretch of fast, constant change. So the support we offer changes right alongside it. Click on the expanding boxes below to learn more about how we support the unique needs of students in Grades 5 though 8:

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Meet Our Team

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Liz Gordon

Director of Learning Support
Angelique McCray

Middle School Learning Support

Middle School learning support by grade:

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Grades 5 and 6: Building the Systems

In the earliest Middle School years, the focus is on laying down strong organizational habits while offering remediation of core skills where it helps. Our Learning Support specialists work with students to keep track of materials, manage their growing workload, and adjust to the new rhythm of changing classes.

At the same time, students are learning organization and personal responsibility across the whole division. Learning Support reinforces those habits every step of the way.
Grades 7 and 8: Sharpening the Skills

As coursework deepens, so does the support. In seventh and eighth grade, Learning Support time is used to organize homework and materials, study for quizzes and tests, and work through specific assignments with guidance. Students learn the study strategies that make rigorous classes manageable, and they practice the self-advocacy and communication skills that are preparing them for the demands of the Upper School.

Depending on a student's needs, Learning Support can be scheduled in place of a world language or during a study hall, so the time fits naturally into the day.

Skills that connect to everything we teach

Middle School Learning Support doesn't sit off to the side. It reinforces the habits at the heart of the Highland experience:

Organization: keeping materials, assignments, and time under control
Personal responsibility: owning the work and the outcomes
Growth Mindset: understanding that effort leads to progress
Communication: learning to advocate for what you need

For students who benefit from extra coaching, Learning Support makes those habits concrete, practical, and personal. The result isn't just better grades. It's a more capable, more confident young person.

When students need more, our Middle School intensive program goes deeper

Some students benefit from more than a few weekly sessions can provide. For them, our Middle School Intensive program offers a comprehensive, personalized approach.

Taken in place of a world language through a documented language waiver, the Intensive class gives students dedicated time for direct instruction and remediation of core skills. Within it, students learn to:

Use technology that supports their schoolwork
Organize their materials and assignments
Build and apply real study-skill strategies

It's the same promise as everything we do. We meet each student where they are with more time, more structure, and more individual attention. Enrollment requires current private psychoeducational testing on file, and our specialists help your family decide whether the Intensive program is the right fit.

We partner with teachers and families

The best support never happens in isolation. Our Learning Specialists work hand in hand with teachers and parents, so every student is understood and championed across the whole school day.

Specialists build each student's learning profile, share effective strategies with classroom teachers, and keep families in the loop on progress and goals. A student's support doesn't stay locked in one room. It shapes how every teacher works with them in every class.

Your child isn't a name on a list. They're known, discussed, and supported by a team genuinely invested in their success.

The bridge to what comes next

Middle School has a clear job: take the foundation built in the Lower School and prepare students to thrive, lead, and serve in the rigor of the Upper School.

By the end of eighth grade, students who once needed reminders are managing their own deadlines. Students who struggled to stay organized are running their own systems. They've built the executive functioning skills, the study habits, and the self-advocacy that the Upper School, and eventually college, will ask of them.

That readiness doesn't happen by accident. It's the result of intentional, personal support during the years these skills matter most.

See it for yourself

The best way to understand how we support Middle School students is to experience it. Come meet our Learning Specialists, see how support fits into the school day, and picture your child here, organized, confident, and ready for what's next.