Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School

480 East Meadow Dr.

Palo Alto, CA 94306

    Jane Lathrop Stanford (JLS) Middle School is home to approximately 1029 sixth-, seventh-, and eight-grade students from Palo Alto, Stanford, and Los Altos Hills and the 140 adults who provide educational and support services. The student body is 21% Asian, 1% Filipino, 6% Hispanic, 5% Black, 66% White, and 1% American Indian or Pacific Islander (These are the categories used by the California Department of Education in their collection of data about schools.) About 10% of the JLS students are classified as limited English speaking; many more are fluent in English as well as other languages. Constantly aware of being "in the middle" educationally, JLS receives virtually the entire student body from Fairmeadow, Juana Briones, and Nixon as well as students from El Carmelo, Hoover, Ohlone, and Palo Verde Elementary Schools; almost all of our students go on to Gunn High School.

    The JLS PTA serves as a major communication link with families, distributing a monthly newsletter, the Panther Tracks, as well as offering monthly meetings and frequent parent education events and discussions. Families also provide thousands of hours of direct support to the school in the form of driving, assisting staff, planning and chaperoning student social events, and sharing expertise on a wide range of subjects from cultural traditions to technology. In addition, families give strong financial support through the PTA direct appeal.

    Like all good middle schools, JLS continues to address the dual purposes of preparing all students for rigorous academic programs in high school and creating opportunities for all students to be positively connected to school.  JLS has been named a California Distinguished School each time that it was eligible since 1988.

Academic Program:

    JLS has a seven period day with a rotating schedule. Periods 1 and 2 are "frozen" into the first two slots each day to allow the sharing of staff with other district schools. Periods 3 through 7 reverse order on odd and even days of the month; this prevents any student from having the same class late in the afternoon every day. Immediately following the last period each day is TEAM; during this time students may get help from any of their teacher with Tutoring, Enrichment, Activities, or Make-up work. On Wednesday students attend a forty minute homeroom period with a teacher from their team. This time is used for Student Government, discussion of school-wide or grade level issues, and academic support.

    In the sixth grade all students spend five periods with their two core teachers, who provide instruction in English/language arts, history/social science, mathematics, and science. During the other two periods, students take music and physical education on alternate days and the exploratory wheel, which is a six-week rotational experience in the different elective areas including art, computer keyboarding, drama, introduction to foreign language, home economics and industrial technology.

    In the seventh and eight grade all students take English/language arts, history/social studies, math, physical education, and science daily. In the seventh grade, the biological science program is combined with an adolescent skills course which enables students to deal with issues of adolescence. In addition to the core program, students may choose from a variety of elective classes including foreign languages (French, German, Japanese, Latin, and Spanish), visual and performing arts, career-vocational education, creative writing, and mathematics.

    The average class size throughout the school is 28.5. 

    The high scores on standardized tests show why JLS is regularly named a California distinguished school.

JLS's Scores on California Standardized Tests

Scores range from 1-99. A score of 99 indicates that the school scored higher than 99 percent of the other public schools in California. Scores are from "McCormack's Guides '99."

School Facilities:

    JLS was built on the present 26 acre campus in 1953. The buildings are well maintained by an excellent custodial staff. However, as the population has continued to expand since reopening as a 6-8 school in 1991, space has become more and more difficult to find. 

Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School's Mission Statement:

"To educate early adolescents in a manner that meets their unique developmental needs.

To provide a student-centered, caring atmosphere in which students learn to take responsibility for their actions and to demonstrate concern and respect for others.

To encourage academic excellence and expose each student to a broad-based, enriched program.

To instill in all students an appreciation of diversity and a lifelong love of learning."

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