About The School

OUR SCHOOL

For over sixty years, Edgewood has been working with the families of Highland Park and Fort Sheridan to ensure a high quality middle school education.

With about 800 students and over 80 faculty members, Edgewood is currently one of the top-ranking middle schools in the State of Illinois (Chicago Magazine, 2010). Edgewood is a safe and comfortable learning environment where students are encouraged to take healthy risks and challenge themselves. Rigorous curriculums, and quality instruction have made Edgewood the standard for quality middle school education.

Edgewood is organized into three grade levels (6th, 7th, & 8th grade), essentially creating a “schools within a school” structure. These grade-level teams allow teachers to both integrate curriculum and better coordinate support services. Staff members meet with team colleagues three times each week to focus on student needs, curriculum, instruction, and teaming practices.

Ensuring the social-emotional, as well as academic growth and success of each student, is of the utmost importance. Upon arriving at Edgewood, each student is placed in an Advisory. Students are assigned an Advisory teacher to meet with on a tri-weekly basis from sixth through eighth grade. Advisory time occurs at the beginning of the day and is reserved for students to meet with this adult advocate and a group of grade level peers. Students participate in team-based service learning or character building projects within an extended forty-minute Advisory period. This model provides ongoing advocacy for students throughout their middle school experience, exemplifying our dedication to developmentally responsive middle school practices in District 112. Our Advisory teachers loop with students throughout their Edgewood experience to provide ongoing and focused support. They are easily reached by phone or email, and look forward to connecting with both students and their families.

In accordance with the middle school philosophy, Edgewood utilizes a block schedule mirroring that of the high school. Block scheduling is a key indicator of developmentally responsive middle schools in that it provides schools with a flexible organizational structure. On Wednesdays, students attend four of their eight class periods. Each of these four classes runs for eighty minutes (double our regular forty minute periods). On Thursdays, students attend the other four of their eight class periods for eighty minutes each. Extended content-area periods such as these are often found in our elementary school classrooms, as they allow teachers to better tailor instruction to the needs of students through the use of uninterrupted, variable and active instructional strategies. In addition, we’ve also added an extension block period to our Wednesday and Thursday schedule.  This 30-minute period allows all students a quiet place to work, as well as the opportunity to meet with specific teachers for remediation, clarification, and enrichment activities.  Please see the bell schedule, which outlines the block periods for each grade level across our district. In addition, all parents can access student grades and attendance online using Infinite Campus. 

We are proud to offer a variety of extracurricular programs for students. These programs allow students to exercise their strengths, nurture budding skills, tackle areas of growth, and socialize with peers. Our athletic program includes Basketball, Volleyball, Cross-Country, Soccer, Track and Field, Spirit Squad and Winter/Spring Intramurals.  We also feature a wide variety of other programs: Broadcasting Club, Jazz Band, Girl Up Club, Student Council, Art Club, Robotics Club, Debate Team, Yearbook, "Spilled Ink", Book Match, and the School Musical. Many of our teachers coach or sponsor these activities. Edgewood-based contacts are available by phone or email to answer questions and share additional programming information. Specific meeting dates and times are shared with students during morning announcements and communicated to parents through our website.

Edgewood Middle School is proud of our community and strives to set the premium standard for excellence in middle school education by ensuring high levels of cognitive, social, and emotional growth for all students. We work to be recognized as an exemplary 21st century school community in which educators work collaboratively to produce and celebrate optimal student and teacher performance.

Learning Today... Leading Tomorrow!