Classes & Grades

Academic Opportunities

AVID

AVID stands for Advancement via Individual Determination. We are proud to say that we are an AVID school! AVID is a program that equips students and families with what they need to help them succeed on a college/career path. This initiative is not offered in every middle school so Marshall is fortunate to have it. While AVID strategies are embedded into all core academic classes, we also offer an AVID elective in each grade.

    High School Credit

    In 8th grade, qualified students will have the opportunity to earn the following High School credits:

    • Spanish 1

    Career Arts

    Marshall gives students the opportunity to choose their Career Arts classes and offers the following Career Arts classes to all students:

    • Band
    • General Music
    • Dance
    • Physical Education
    • Art 
    • Culinary Arts
    • Computer Science (8th grade only)

    Inquiry-Based Learning

    Thurgood Marshall is committed to unlocking the potential of all students. To this end, all of our students will participate in the Inquiry Based Learning Project (IBL). 

    After picking a topic, students will then conduct research using online databases (ex. GALE, CultureGrams).  Students will use their research information to develop a topic proposal where they take a position regarding a problem relevant to their topic of interest. An example of this progression would be the following: Category: “Biodiversity and Ecosystem Loss”; Problem: “How do we stop the harmful impact of plastic waste on the environment?”; and Position: To reduce the negative impact of plastic on the environment, restaurants should not use plastic straws. Students will also develop a works cited page/bibliography.

    Students present their projects in class. Project during the 2023-2024 school year were on display during the International Night family engagement event. 

    The IBL project is aligned with TN Ready Literacy Standards for Reading (RI.1), Writing (W.1, W.6, W.7, W.9) and Speaking & Listening (SL.4, SL.5, S.6), the MNPS Instructional Framework (Ambitious & Equitable Pedagogy), and 21st Century Skills (Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Creativity, Communication).  It is our goal to expose all of our students to high-level thinking, researching, writing, and collaborating, so they are well prepared for the challenges of high school, college, and career.  Although the IBL process will be challenging and will require a significant amount of work outside of the classroom, we believe all students can be successful.