Our inclusive approach serves a diverse community of learners through tailoring of curriculum, instructional differentiation, and small-group intervention or extension.

Learning Specialists

At Meridian, we utilize the talents of every teaching member of the staff through classroom and specialist area differentiation practices to understand who are students are as learners. In addition to classroom faculty, we have an Approach to Learning team that work with teachers and students to differentiate learning and to provide intervention, support, and extension within the classroom. In addition, we have a social emotional learning specialist who collaborates with classroom teachers to facilitate social emotional learning and training. These staff members utilize methods that include professional development for staff on a wide variety of learning styles and differences; creation and implementation of individual learning plans for students that have specialized needs (both support and enrichment); small-group instruction in targeted skill areas for support and/or enrichment; and monitoring of ongoing assessments to tailor instruction. Learning specialists also oversee collaboration with outside professionals who work with Meridian students.

Associate Faculty

Every associate faculty member receives specialized training and coaching to aid in their daily work in the classroom. Associate faculty support the teachers and students in their assigned grade level. Our associate faculty members work side by side with their teaching teams to plan and facilitate instruction, deepening their understanding of the practice of teaching by observing, learning from, and working with their grade-level teams.

Flexible Learning Groups

At the core of Meridian’s learning approach is the idea of flexible learning groups. Flexible learning groups are utilized throughout the school to foster learning. They are organized for a variety of purposes: topic interest, learning, or presentation style, and for skill-building or enrichment. At the beginning of each unit, all grade level teams meet with their grade level’s learning specialist to review learning targets and decide how to meet the needs of each learner. This teaching team then develops a plan to tailor the instruction of the flexible learning groups, which includes classroom-based groups. The role of each teaching team member may change from time to time as learning goals change. Flexibility is the key to this system of instruction.

Assessment

At The Meridian School we promote an inclusive assessment model that doesn’t value one test over another, but instead uses the information we collect from a variety of assessments to add to our understanding of each and every student. Through this model we can ensure that when we plan for small-group, whole-group, or individualized instruction, we have the widest set of results to draw upon, allowing us to tailor learning and keep each of our students challenged, engaged, and moving forward. Assessment data is used to inform the teachers about a student’s strengths and challenges and to plan for instructional strategies. With ongoing assessment, progress can be tracked and appropriate teaching methods modified to meet students at every level.