Middle School Program

As part of a dynamic curriculum, LFC students develop their talents across multiple sections in the arts, foreign language, technology, and physical health. Lessons inspire creative thinking and original ideas, giving students the confidence to stretch their skills and experiment with new ways to achieve excellence.

Middle School Program

By sixth grade, students independently cite textual evidence to analyze complex literature and informational texts, determining themes and central ideas; extend mathematical reasoning to solve real-world ratio and rate problems involving unit rates; develop and use scientific models of atomic and molecular structures and apply Newton’s Third Law in experimental design; and use geospatial skills along with primary/secondary-source analysis to interpret geographic and historical contexts

Determine themes & summarize: Identify a central idea of a text and provide an objective summary distinct from personal opinions.
Cite textual evidence: Use specific details to support inferences and explanations about plot development.
Integrate & analyze viewpoints: Integrate information from diverse media/formats and determine an author’s point of view or purpose (Integration of Knowledge and Ideas.

English Language Arts

Ratio & rate understanding: Understand ratio concepts and use ratio language to describe relationships.

Unit rate computation: Determine unit rates in various contexts.
Ratio reasoning application: Solve real-world problems using ratio and rate reasoning.
Statistical questions: Recognize statistical questions that anticipate variability and interpret data variability.

Mathematics

Atomic models: Develop models to describe atomic composition of simple molecules and extended structures.

Newton’s Third Law: Apply Newton’s Third Law to design a solution for colliding objects and describe action–reaction forces.

Energy in waves: Use mathematical representations to describe wave models, including amplitude-energy relationships and light-wave interactions.

Earth–Moon–Sun patterns: Model the earth sun moon system to explain lunar phases, eclipses, and seasons.

Ecosystem data: Analyze data to show how resource availability limits growth of organisms and populations.

Science

Geospatial skills: Use maps with latitude and longitude to identify absolute location and describe geographic characteristics of Louisiana, North America, and the world.

Source analysis: Analyze content using primary and secondary sources; evaluate claims and evidence; compare sources; and explain how source availability affects interpretations.

Foundations of U.S. government: Explain key principles (federalism, individual rights, judicial review, separation of powers, checks and balances) and describe the structure, powers, and functions of federal government branches and officials’ role.

Social Studies

By seventh grade, learners cite multiple pieces of evidence to support analyses of explicit and inferred ideas in both literary and informational texts; recognize and represent proportional relationships and solve multi-step ratio, percent, and rational-number problems; analyze and interpret data on substance properties to identify chemical reactions and plan investigations of energy transfer; and evaluate primary and secondary sources to construct evidence-based historical claims about early U.S. political developments.

English Language Arts

Textual evidence & inference: Cite multiple pieces of text to support analysis of explicit and inferred ideas.
Vocabulary & tone: Determine meanings of words/phrases (figurative, connotative, technical) and analyze impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone.
Narrative elements: Analyze how story or drama elements (e.g., setting, plot devices) interact to advance action and develop characters.
Media comparison: Compare and contrast a written text to its audio, filmed, staged, or multimedia version, analyzing each medium’s portrayal.
Argument evaluation: Trace and evaluate arguments and claims in texts, assessing reasoning soundness and evidence relevance/sufficiency.

Research & citation: Conduct short research projects using multiple sources, assess credibility, avoid plagiarism, and cite sources

Mathematics

Unit rates with fractions: Compute unit rates for ratios of fractions in varied contexts.
Proportional reasoning: Recognize and represent proportional relationships; solve multi-step ratio and percent problems.

Rational operations: Add, subtract, multiply, and divide rational numbers, including positive/negative values and fractions.

Algebraic expressions: Apply properties of operations to add, subtract, factor, and expand linear expressions with rational coefficients .

Statistical inference: Determine sample sizes and use random samples to draw inferences about populations.

Science

Chemical reactions: Analyze and interpret data on substance properties before/after interactions to determine chemical reactions and conservation of mass.
Thermal energy investigations: Plan investigations relating energy transfer to particle motion and temperature for different masses.
Earth systems & climate: Use models to explain sea and land breezes, climate variation by latitude/altitude, and ask questions about human-driven global temperature changes.
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Biological organization: Use evidence-supported arguments to describe the body as interacting subsystems of cells, and model photosynthesis/cellular respiration in matter/energy cycling.
Ecosystem dynamics: Design projects and construct arguments showing how changes to ecosystems affect biodiversity and services.

Social Studies

Chronological U.S. history: Explain major U.S. events from early republic through Reconstruction (1791–1877), including Louisiana Purchase, War of 1812, westward expansion, sectionalism, Civil War, and Reconstruction.
Global context analysis: Analyze connections between U.S. history and global events/developments.
Comparative evaluation: Compare and contrast events, developments, and divergent perspectives.
Geographic tools: Use maps and geographic data to analyze historical events’ environmental, cultural, economic, and political characteristic.
Source-based claims: Employ primary/secondary sources to analyze content, evaluate evidence, compare accounts, and construct evidence-based claims.

By eighth grade, students cite the most relevant evidence to analyze explicit and inferred ideas, trace theme development, and compare text structures across complex literary and informational texts; work confidently with irrational numbers and integer exponents, apply scientific notation, and model linear functions and geometric calculations including transformations and volume computations; design and test devices to control thermal energy transfer and construct explanations for geologic time-scale events using rock-strata evidence; and analyze U.S. history from Reconstruction through modern times using geographic data and source-based reasoning to assess patterns of continuity and change.

English Language Arts

Strong textual evidence: Cite the evidence that most strongly supports analysis of explicit and inferred ideas.
Theme development: Determine a theme’s development over a text, including its relation to characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary.
Dialogue & plot analysis: Analyze how lines of dialogue or incidents propel action, reveal character aspects, or provoke decisions.
Comparative structure: Compare structures of two or more texts and analyze how differing structures contribute to meaning and style.
Argument evaluation: Delineate and evaluate arguments and claims in texts, assessing reasoning and evidence quality.

Research fluency: Conduct short research projects drawing on multiple sources, assess credibility, and provide bibliographic details.

Mathematics

Irrational numbers: Identify and approximate irrational numbers (e.g., π, √2); use decimal expansions and locate on number lines

Exponents & radicals: Apply properties of integer exponents to generate equivalent expressions (8 .EE .1) and solve equations using square/cube roots.
Linear models & functions: Write equations of lines (y = mx; y = mx + b), distinguish functions vs non-functions, and compare properties across representations.
Geometry & volume: Verify transformations’ properties; recognize congruent/similar figures; compute volumes of cubes, spheres, and cylinders.
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Data association: Construct and interpret scatter plots to investigate patterns of association between two variables.

Science

Molecular models: Develop models describing atomic composition of molecules and structure.
Thermal energy devices: Design, construct, and test devices to control thermal energy transfer; argue how kinetic-energy changes transfer energy.

Geologic history: Construct explanations from rock-strata evidence for the geologic time scale and model Earth’s material/energy cycling.
Resource distribution: Explain uneven distributions of Earth’s resources based on past/current geoscience processes and evaluate human-impact solutions.
Biological systems & evolution: Construct arguments explaining how organism structures/functions and genetic changes affect growth, behavior, and evolution; analyze fossil-record pattern.

Social Studies

Modern U.S. history: Explain and analyze U.S. events from 1877 to 2008, assessing progression, continuity, and change.
Global context: Analyze connections between U.S. developments and global events from.
Geographic analysis: Use geographic data and maps to analyze events’ environmental, cultural, economic, and political aspects.
Source evaluation: Apply primary/secondary-source analysis to evaluate claims, compare accounts, and explain interpretation effects.
Thematic inquiry: Investigate themes of industrialization, world wars, economic crises, political/social reforms, and modern movements through a Louisiana lens.

The Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) for middle school (Grades 6–8) consists of annual, criterion-referenced assessments administered each spring in English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies to measure student mastery of the Louisiana Student Standards. These assessments categorize performance across five achievement levels from Unsatisfactory to Advanced to furnish educators with detailed insights into individual and cohort performance, enabling targeted instruction, timely interventions, and data-driven support strategies throughout the crucial middle school years.

6th Grade Proficiency

Reading & Writing: Independently cite textual evidence to support analysis of explicit and inferred ideas (RL.6.1), determine themes and summarize key details (RL.6.2), integrate information from diverse media and formats to deepen comprehension (RI.6.7), and analyze how an author’s point of view shapes content.

Mathematical Fluency: Understand ratio concepts and use ratio language to describe relationships, compute and interpret unit rates in context, and apply ratio and rate reasoning to solve real-world and mathematical problems.

Scientific Inquiry: Develop models to describe the atomic composition of simple molecules and extended structures , apply Newton’s Third Law in designing solutions for colliding objects, use mathematical representations to analyze wave phenomena (MS-PS4-1), and model the earth sun moon system to explain lunar phases, eclipses, and seasons.

Historical & Civic Understanding: Use maps with latitude and longitude to pinpoint absolute locations and describe geographic features of Louisiana and beyond, analyze and evaluate information from primary and secondary sources to compare accounts and assess evidence, and explain key principles of federalism and the structure, powers, and functions of the three branches of federal government.

7th Grade Proficiency

Reading & Writing: Cite multiple pieces of evidence to support analyses of explicit and inferred ideas in literary and informational texts, determine the meaning of words and phrases including figurative and connotative usages, compare and contrast texts with their multimedia adaptations, and conduct short research projects using credible sources with proper citation.

Mathematical Fluency: Compute unit rates for ratios of fractions in varied contexts, recognize and represent proportional relationships in tables, graphs, and equations (7.RP.A.2), and solve multi-step ratio, percent, and rational-number problems, including operations with positive and negative values.

Scientific Inquiry: Analyze and interpret data on the properties of substances before and after interactions to identify chemical reactions and illustrate conservation of mass, plan and conduct investigations relating energy transfer to particle motion and temperature changes, model sea and land breeze patterns and human impacts on climate systems, and construct arguments describing matter and energy flow through ecosystems.

Historical & Civic Understanding: Explain major U.S. events from early republic through Reconstruction such as the formation of the First Party System and the Indian Removal Act using timelines, employ primary and secondary sources to analyze content and construct evidence based claims , and use geographic representations and data to assess environmental, cultural, and economic factors in historical events.

8th Grade Proficiency

Reading & Writing: Cite the most relevant evidence to support analysis of explicit and inferred ideas in complex texts, trace the development of themes and provide objective summaries, compare structures of multiple texts and analyze how differing structures contribute to meaning and style, and carry out short research projects that integrate multiple print and digital sources with correct bibliographic formatting.

Mathematical Fluency: Identify and approximate irrational numbers and understand their decimal representations, apply properties of integer exponents and work with radicals, distinguish functions from non-functions and compare properties across representations, verify properties of geometric transformations and compute volumes of prisms, spheres, and cylinders, and construct and interpret scatter plots to investigate patterns of association.

Scientific Inquiry: Develop models to describe atomic composition of molecules and extended structures, design and test devices to control thermal energy transfer, construct explanations for energy transfers in kinetic processes, use rock-strata evidence to explain the geologic time scale, and evaluate uneven distributions of Earth’s resources and propose human impact solutions.

Historical & Civic Understanding: Analyze U.S. history from Reconstruction through the modern era (1877–2008), assessing patterns of continuity and change use geographic tools and data to explore environmental, cultural, economic, and political influences on events; employ primary/secondary-source analysis to evaluate claims and construct supported argument; and examine the causes and effects of technological, industrial, and social transformations in late nineteenth to early twentieth-century America.

LEAP Summary

Subjects and Grades: Students in Grades 3–8 are tested in English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies, while high-school LEAP assessments cover courses including Algebra I, Geometry, Biology, Civics, and U.S. History.

Achievement Levels: Each LEAP assessment reports one of five performance levels - Unsatisfactory, Approaching Basic, Basic, Mastery, or Advanced, enabling educators to pinpoint where students excel or require additional support.

Administration and Timing: EAP tests are delivered via computer each spring; results are typically released in the summer months, and participation rates exceed 99 percent to ensure comprehensive measurement of all students’ progress.

Purpose and Use: LEAP scores are used alongside report card grades, classroom assessments, and teacher evaluations to guide differentiated instruction, identify students in need of remediation or enrichment, and contribute to school and district accountability metrics.

Preparation Resources: The Louisiana Department of Education offers extensive preparation materials including practice tests, a Parent Guide to the LEAP 2025 Tests, Quick Start Guides for the online testing platform, and Technology-Enhanced Item overviews to help students and teachers become familiar with item formats and testing tools.