Educating for Tomorrow
Students are our top priority. Every decision and action begins with their needs. We provide an engaging, innovative and holistic approach to educating students who will become responsible, productive citizens.
We must prepare our children for a changing, competitive, global workplace, so we provide opportunities that reach beyond the boundaries of our schools through STEM, programming, partnerships with business and industry, college coursework, and service learning initiatives.
A Pickerington education starts with a solid foundation. Our preschools offer services for children with special needs and typically developing students. Our Kindergarten Learning Intervention Program (KLIP) arms students with foundational skills that ensure they are prepared for their future in school.
At the elementary level, the primary instructional focuses are math and literacy, which are taught across all curricula, including reading, writing, science, citizenship, art, music, physical education, and technology.
Our goal is to ensure every student receives the support needed to learn and achieve.
Gateway and Math Plus programs are offered to gifted elementary school students to meet their unique individual learning needs.
Career awareness begins in elementary school with activities and experiences that expose students to the concepts of work and career.
Pickerington students in our three middle schools begin their journey into more sophisticated content in science, social studies, math, literature, and writing. They continue exploring art, music, band, physical education, and technology.
Pickerington Schools offer accelerated programming to gifted students at every middle school, including the Gateway Academy at Toll Gate Middle School.
Students begin to explore careers in the middle grades by engaging in self assessment and reflection about their strengths and preferences. This career exploration helps inform their course selections when they enter junior high school and high school.
Students begin to exercise choice over their course selections once they transition to junior high school. They can choose six electives per year, in addition to the variety of core courses designed to meet the needs of every learner.
We continue to expand accelerated course options in junior high school. Those options include high school courses. Of course, we still support the needs of all learners with a daily period of enrichment and intervention. Additionally, a team teaching approach assigns students to a team of core teachers who are charged with monitoring student learning and providing appropriate support and adult mentoring.
Students continue to engage in career exploration through goal-setting and exploration into clusters of careers. They continue their career exploration by building on a portfolio they started in sixth grade — and which will travel with them through high school graduation.
When students are in high school, they begin to design a set of courses that will help them transition to a career or college. Students can choose a focus area and level of challenge within their core content areas.
Additionally, students can complement their core curriculum with electives from the Industrial Technology, Arts (Theater, Music, Fine Arts), Foreign Language, and Business departments. Students also can explore specialized areas and pathways, such as Career Technical Education in biomedical health, engineering, business and marketing, and College Credit Plus, including the ability to earn an associate’s degree.