Kennedy Junior High School has a name which might indicate a method of delivering instruction that is attached to departmentalization. This is not the case, however. Kennedy is an Illinois State Model Middle School aptly named by the Illinois Association of Middle Schools. We are indeed a middle school with a Junior High School name. The difference between Junior High School and Middle School is teaming. In a Junior High School, there are no teams. Departments, i.e. the math department, deliver math instruction to all students who take math. In a middle school or teaming approach approximately 120 students are placed on a team with 4-5 teachers who get to know their students very well. These 4-5 teachers deliver all the instruction to their 120 or so students. The middle school is modeled after Oxford and other great universities which have smaller colleges within the large university. So, a middle school has small teams within the larger school.
A team is a group of approximately 150 students who are assigned to the same group of core teachers, who provide smaller learning groups at each grade level. Each team is comprised of four or five teachers who are assigned the responsibility of educating 150 students in the areas of language arts, math, science, and social studies.For further information about a team and team member, click on the link in the left sidebar.