Middle School at Carolina Prep follows the International Baccalaureate MYP, or Middle Years Program, in Grades 6 - 10.

The International Baccalaureate is a worldwide community of schools, educators, and students with a shared mission to empower students with the values, knowledge, and skills to create a better and more peaceful world.

The MYP aims to provide an education that enables students to make sense of the complexities of the world around them, as well as equipping them with the skills and dispositions needed for taking responsible action for the future. They provide an education that crosses disciplinary, cultural, national and geographical boundaries, and that champions critical engagement, stimulating ideas and meaningful relationships.

IB programmes offer students access to a broad and balanced range of academic studies and learning experiences. They promote conceptual learning, create frameworks within which knowledge can be acquired, and focus on powerful organizing ideas that are relevant across subject areas and that help to integrate learning and add coherence to the curriculum.

The programmes emphasize the importance of making connections, exploring the relationships between academic disciplines, and learning about the world in ways that reach beyond the scope of individual subjects. They also focus on offering students authentic opportunities to connect their learning to the world around them through the focus of international mindedness.

Credit: "What is IB Education?" International Baccalaureate, 2024. 

*Carolina Preparatory Academy is authorized as a Diploma Programme (grades 11 - 12) school. Carolina Preparatory Academy is a candidate school for the MYP (grades 6- 10). This school is pursuing authorization as an IB World School. IB World Schools share a common philosophy- a commitment to high-quality, challenging, international education- that we believe is important for our students.

Explore the MYP Curriculum

In addition to serving within our school community, students complete 25 hours of service each year, a requirement more typical of a high school program. This work doesn’t merely signal the high value Carolina Prep places on service to the community; it plays a valuable role in your student’s budding sense of self at this age--a sense of responsibility, generosity, and empathy.

Students volunteer in structured ways — feeding the hungry at a local soup kitchen, helping beautify local parks and playgrounds, visiting local retirement communities to share good company and cheer with the elderly, and more. And through these acts of service, Carolina Prep helps to forge new connections between our students' unfolding talents and interests and their maturing self and social consciousness. 

Environmental studies is an experiential program built into the MYP curriculum designed to not only cultivate the earth, but cultivate students' appreciation and understanding of the natural world and guide them in becoming stewards of the environment.

Through hands-on activities and student-led initiatives, environmental studies engages students in the planting, cultivating, and harvesting of herbs, vegetables, berries, and eggs from its on-campus gardens and chicken coop. The program also teaches students about healthy eating and cooking. During seasons of harvest, students plan and prepare dishes from the garden. They gain cooking skills and create food challenges and tasting competitions to test their knowledge of the herbs and vegetables they have grown from seed. 

A major part of being a globally-minded community is to ensure students are provided the opportunity to go into the world and explore new environments and cultures. 

Grades 6 - 10 day, overnight, and international trips are planned each year and are aligned with the International Baccalaureate approach to focus on global engagement and meaningful community service.

AT CPA, WE TAKE A COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH. CPA assesses student growth regularly using a variety of tools such as portfolios, student records, observations, scope and sequence charts, and standardized testing. Multiple sources and multiple methods of assessment help us understand and represent the whole child.

We incorporate developmentally appropriate and curriculum-aligned testing and assessment. CPA follows an evidence-based process of administering certain standardized tests throughout the year to see how students' skills develop over the year, allowing us to provide even more targeted support mid-year. We also use these practices to identify students who may need additional support. This includes both academic and social-emotional assessments, with occasional opportunities for no-cost physical health screenings (i.e., speech, language,  hearing, and vision).

As an IB World School, we use both qualitative and quantitative assessment. Beginning in grade 6, performance is summarized by letter grades. Ultimately, data informs our practice and school improvement, which contributes to the academic growth and excellence expected of our students.

From the very start, children practice directing and evaluating their own learning. By the time they reach college, CPA graduates are comfortable with meeting performance requirements measured by tests and grades, but they’re not motivated by these external markers. They’re driven by a self-sustaining desire to learn.

*For required standardized testing, CPA administers the Educational Records Bureau’s Comprehensive Testing Program to all students in grades 6 through 9 in the fall. The ERB-CTP is the primary yearly assessment that independent schools adopt. The scores provide information about what our students know related to reading, writing, math, reasoning, and science.

Students complete tests within their classrooms by their teachers on grade level content. The testing window lasts one week, and the results are used as a data point for school performance, teacher development, and to understand what student know and what they need to work on. Families also receive copies of their child’s scores. Often, families unfamiliar to standardized assessments may need support interpreting the results. Our educators are available to help communicate the results and what they mean for your child.  

Please note that CPA is aware of twice exceptional learners, and we offer accommodations to those with relevant and timely evaluation results from an expert in the field. These reports must be on file, at least two weeks prior to any test administration.