Kendyl Depoali Middle School - Reno, NV

Kendyl Depoali Middle School is the largest middle school in a district of 64,000 students. The mission and vision of the administration is to create an atmosphere that is welcoming to all, while operating under three core values: Relationships, Rigor, and Relevance. Building relationships among staff, students, and community is what propels all to become highly successful academically, socially, and emotionally. From its inception, educating the whole child with rigor and a focus on social and emotional development has been accomplished through Positive Behavior Intervention Supports. College and career readiness is the basis for going beyond the basic core classes and gives relevance to the middle level learner. KDMS chose Project Based Learning (PBL) as an initiative to achieve and enrich this. PBL allows our teachers to teach with 21st Century skills in mind and expect all students to use the 4 C's - Collaboration, Communication, Critical thinking, and Creativity while working through their driving questions and gaining relevant and real world learning opportunities. Educating the "whole child" occurs through the several engaging and relevant course choices such as: Leadership, STEM, Spanish, Art, Communications, Yearbook, Wellness, Healthy You, Band, Orchestra, Choir, PE, and 21st Century Learning.

Depoali's success has been fueled by highly effective operational Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) across all content areas where teachers collaborate to ensure instructional practices of student-led discussions, inquiry-based problem solving, use of data-based evidence, and modeling are implemented. This level of collaboration allows us to always do what is best for kids.