Panama City, Fla. -
Jinks Middle School students will soon have to hit the books a little harder, as the school announced Thursday it's implementing a more rigorous curriculum through the renowned University of Cambridge.
"We want to begin to have our students to start thinking about the world outside Jinks and Bay County and globally as well. So, one of the things we looked at is that this gives us an opportunity to act locally but think globally," said Jinks Middle School Principal, Sam Jackson.
The program will provide training and professional development for teachers, as well as test students on their progress at many different levels.
"At the middle school level, we have what we call ‘progression tests' that we have available for teachers to use whenever the students are ready for it. It's a self check kind of thing where it can be used by the teachers and they can use that information to see where they are strong and where perhaps they need to spend a little bit more time within the curriculum," said Cheri Reach, University of Cambridge Spokeswoman.
It also helps prepare Jinks Middle School students for high school and even college, as the program will be a direct feeder into Bay High Schools AICE program, which is also affiliated through the University of Cambridge to give high schoolers an opportunity to earn college credit while in high school.
"I am excited on numerous levels, its going to prepare the students from Jinks to do a good job at Bay High School. For us, its butter on our bread," said Bay High School Principal, Billy May.
It was actually May's decision to use Bay High Dollars to provide the funding for the program at Jinks.
"Really start thinking about aligning our processes, aligning our curriculum and also aligning ourselves with how we work together to prepare the students early on," added Principal Sam Jackson.
The new program will begin next school year at the advanced Math, Science and English levels and later implemented school-wide.
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