Mirman School

The Mirman School
File:Mirmanlo.gif
Location
CA USA
Information
Type	Independent
Motto	Contendite Ad Astra "Stretch for the Stars"
Religious affiliation(s)	None
Established	1962
Headmaster	John Thomas West III
Enrollment	Lower School: 225 Upper School: 120
Campus	Suburban
Color(s)	Blue and White
Athletics	Basketball, Baseball, Volleyball, Soccer, Flag Football, Track & Field
Mascot	The Mustang
Website	http://www.mirman.org

The Mirman School for the Gifted is an independent, co-educational school for gifted children located at 16180 Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles, California, United States with 345 pupils aged 4 to 15.

History

The Mirman School was founded in 1962 by Dr. and Mrs. Norman Mirman, who started the school in their home, but later expanded it to a campus on Mulholland Drive after occupying temporary quarters in West Los Angeles while the Mulholland campus was being built. Soon after, at its new location, the school expanded to contain a middle school located on the same campus.

School structure

Mirman is one of a handful of schools for the highly gifted (IQ of 145 or above) in the United States. Instead of having grades, The Mirman School has a lower school and an upper school, the lower containing rooms 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 and the upper consisting of four years. Each grade contains approximately 35-45 students. Many of these students desire to leave after the second year of Upper School, when they are usually the age of a conventional sixth grade class. However, the administration of the school encourages students to stay until eighth grade. The students in the upper-most grade, fourth years at the Upper School, are about the age of eighth graders at other schools.

Lower School

At the Lower School, there are two classes for each grade. Each class has a primary teacher and assistant teacher who instruct the students in reading, mathematics, English, history, social studies and other miscellaneous subjects. In addition, there are additional teachers who specialize in and teach separate classes covering science, drama, music, computer skills, and Spanish. There is a strong emphasis on community service, good citizenship and diversity. For example, each Room 1 student is paired with a Room 4 "buddy." Throughout the year, the "buddies" share classroom activities, community service and special events together. Similarly, upper school students can "elect" to work one period in a lower school classroom acting as both a mentor and aide.

Upper School

The Upper School, in contrast, has no main teacher. Instead, each student takes eight different classes and moves among the classrooms throughout the day. Rather than storing all school supplies within a fixed desk, as the students do in Lower School, Upper School students receive lockers as an area to store books and school supplies. The classes for the Upper School are: Science, a foreign language (either Spanish, Latin, or French), History, English, Mathematics, P.E., Art, an elective, and either Music, Drama or Dance. Students may choose to attend one elective which meets four days a week, or two different two day a week electives. On Wednesday, the Upper School has a program called LEAP (Learning Enhancement Academic Program) which allows students to choose which classes they attend from a list of about 8 choices each period. The primary purpose of LEAP is to provide students time for working on independent projects, but it can also be used for taking missed tests, or working on assignments (although most teachers discourage using LEAP to work on homework).

Trips

Field trips are common at the Mirman Lower School. In rooms 1, 2, and 3, there are several field trips throughout the year. Students of Room 4 visit Sacramento, as well as visit local areas of California throughout the year. In Upper School, daily field trips are scarce, but each grade has a bonding trip for a week in September. The uppermost grades, Third and Fourth Years together take a trip, which is often the reason for the closeness in relationships between the two grades.

References

• [1]
• [2]

External links

• Mirman School website
• "Where Bright Minds Can Shine" by Elaine Woo, Los Angeles Times - 22 November 2000.
• Dean of the Upper School at Mirman