Program information

Middle School Quest offers acceleration and enrichment of core curriculum in:

• Literacy and Language
• Social Studies
• Scientific Reasoning

Classes include greater breadth and depth of subject matter, a wide variety of learning processes and teaching methods and high expectations for student work and achievement.

Outcomes
Students will:

• demonstrate and apply academic thinking skills and strategies, including questioning critically, thinking creatively, solving problems effectively and making connections
• develop and demonstrate communications and collaboration skills, including offering ideas and making contributions, working well with others, and respecting and valuing others. 
• develop and demonstrate local and global citizenship skills, including civic responsibility, and maintaining both a local and a global perspective 
• develop and demonstrate personal attributes, including strong work ethic, personal responsibility, resiliency and balance

Structure
Middle School Quest consists of a two-period, integrated language arts and social studies block and one period of science. Students are placed at the appropriate math level for one other period, leaving them two additional periods for electives, e.g. world language, music, P.E., etc.

Location
The Quest middle school program is located at Kamiakin and Redmond middle schools. Once accepted into the program, students enroll in one of these middle schools for the full day. Placement in either school is determined by home address and neighborhood middle school attendance pattern.

Identifying middle school Quest students
The district uses multiple criteria to determine placement in the Quest program, based on state guidelines for identifying highly capable students. The program is open to all middle school students residing within the district who meet program criteria. Acceptance into the middle school Quest program is not automatic for current Quest elementary students. Elementary Quest students must also apply to the middle school Quest program and meet the eligibility criteria.

Applicants must:

• be residents of the Lake Washington School District;
• show high creativity, high cognitive ability and high academic achievement in literacy, social studies and science;
• complete online application and submit hard copy documents to the Quest office;
• participate in the district testing and selection processes*.

*Private testing outside of the school district cannot be used to substitute for Lake Washington School District testing.

Application and assessment
Find out how to apply and about the assessment and placement process.

Transportation
Students who live more than a mile from the middle school may use school district transportation to and from school if a district-established bus route is available. Otherwise, parents/guardians are responsible for transporting students in the absence of established bus routes. At the time of enrollment into the program, parents/guardians may also apply for a Metro bus pass if the student lives more than a mile from the middle school and there are no district-established bus routes available.