Our School Community

The Long Valley Middle School, located in North-Western Morris County, offers programs to approximately 800 students from Sixth through Eighth grade from the surrounding Washington Township vicinity. The students at the Long Valley Middle School benefit from the support of content-based instructional teams, three full time School  Counselors, Comprehensive Wellness and Exploratory programs and broad-based character education efforts.

Utilizing community resources and members including parents, senior citizen groups, and the support of local law enforcement, the Long Valley Middle School becomes an environment where responsibility and respect for oneself and for oneself and for others are appreciated and practiced to foster an atmosphere that is conducive to student engagement and success. 

Middle-Level Learners @ LVMS

The Long Valley Middle School community recognizes and embraces the qualities that make our middle level learners unique. The critical nature of the adolescent years in the development of responsible and productive secondary learners has been well documented.  Due to changing times and considering a growing reliance on digital media, educating the future citizens of our community must also evolve.  To that end, we utilize learner-active classroom models that incorporate technology in academic, social-emotional, and physical experiences that allow our students to develop into responsible and productive citizens as they proceed through their educational careers.  Our Middle School’s programs afford meaningful and varied learning opportunities through a broad range of educational courses and extracurricular activities. 

Standards-Driven Design on the Cutting Edge

In following research to support middle level education, our Middle School provides a curriculum that is grounded in rigorous, academic standards for what students should know and be able to do.  It is relevant to the concerns of adolescents, and based on research demonstrating how students learn best. The evolving State Standards provide the framework for our core academic and exploratory curricula.  As we recognize that change is a constant in our society, we continuously build upon this framework to incorporate authentic opportunities for students to grapple with and solve real-world problems that are both challenging and engaging.

Students attend core academic classes in the areas of mathematics, language arts, science, social studies, and world language.  Each of these studies incorporates the use of technology working in concert with traditional skill development and critical thinking exercises. Critical thinking and problem solving are evident in our exploratory courses, as well. Students may begin to apply deductive or inductive reasoning skills in Forensic Science programs, develop communication skills through computer-based graphic design studies, practice visual-spatial and aesthetic concepts in our Visual Art Programs, or problem-solve through engineering and technology through a variety of STEM courses.

Sound Foundations Meet Forward Thinking

Recognizing that we are living in times of dynamic change in how we work, communicate, live and think, the Washington Township Schools have adopted learner-active classroom models that build on critical understandings and foundational skills by promoting problem-based opportunities for students to delve deeply into studies.  While we cannot predict all of the discrete skills that will best serve our middle-level learners as they prepare to enter the workforce, we believe there exists core principles and understandings beneficial for all of our students, which serve as the premise for all further study.  Classroom models allow for both the attainment of traditional understandings and core competencies as well as providing opportunities to extend study beyond the basics.

Our school has a 1:1 Chromebook Initiative which allows for students to utilize technology within every class.  The expectation that students will readily demonstrate and apply technological proficiency establishes an atmosphere that embraces technological literacy as a fundamental trait and an essential factor in achieving success in our technologically driven society.  Our students have come to expect that technology is readily available, and has become a necessary part of their livelihood.  Bringing basics and citizenship to students along with access to the world of information and communication forms the cornerstone of this learner-active classroom model.

A Collaborative Culture

The maintenance of a supportive and collaborative relationship between home and school is demonstrated through the school’s continued commitment to improving communication as we efficiently disseminate pertinent information.  Parents have access to assessment and other classroom data through a portal that is one component of our comprehensive Student Information System.  Furthermore, we release information relevant to our entire school community through our mass communication system. 

Success at the Long Valley Middle School stems from the collaborative efforts of our dedicated and creative teachers and support personnel, along with the support of our concerned and involved parents. The LVMS PTA and the Washington Township Municipal Alliance support the school by providing funds and volunteers for a variety of enrichment programs, after school activities, assembly programs and student events throughout the school year.  It is truly our belief that all of our students are served better when they attend the Long Valley Middle School – A Community of 21st Century Learners. 

Working collaboratively, LVMS professional staff are immersed in various Professional Learning Communities.  Through this involvement, best practice approaches and studies of middle-level pedagogies have become the emphasis of collaborative learning and discussion groups.  Professional staff members facilitate dialogue focused on promoting highly engaging and responsive instructional models in all classrooms.  

LVMS Focus on the “Whole Child”

Over the course of the past year, the LVMS Guidance Department continued to refine its Character Education programming to reflect emerging trends of adolescents in a digital world.  Our LVMS “PAWS” Program is hinged in the premise that “Positive Attitudes Will Succeed” and is the cornerstone in how we learn and work collaboratively.  This incentivized approach strives to reward and recognize pro-social behaviors and applaud the positive student that makes LVMS a great place to grow and to learn.  Amid highly rigorous coursework and lofty expectations, we are proud to showcase the innumerable contributions our students make “beyond the classroom walls.”  From our successful “Students-4-Students” campaign to our contributions to the local food pantry and to more broadly-based charitable foundations, our LVMS students have first-hand experiences and appreciation for the world around them and, more importantly, the abilities to effect change in that world.  Our middle school students leave LVMS ready to negotiate the challenges that life may bring their way…not only in school and work, but also in their world at large.