Middle School (6-8)
The Quad Preparatory School’s Middle School corresponds to traditional grades 6-8. The prime entry point for admissions is sixth grade, with admissions during the later years possible on a case-by-case basis.
Students enter Middle School ready to make the transition to higher expectations, more academic rigor, and engagement in all classes. Our middle school programming offers flexibility for different academic pathways and learning experiences with programming for substantial growth in academic, social-cognitive, critical thinking, and executive functioning skills required for success in High School.
In the middle school years, academic learning is deeply personalized through a combination of small group seminars and 1:1 sessions with faculty in the core academic subjects. Executive functioning and study skills are taught weekly through a comprehensive program. Students are grouped into cohorts by grade level (prep). While students are grouped academically by level in each of their academic classes, preps are supported by a consistent team of psychologists, counselors, speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, and academic teachers who work closely together to support student growth.
During 8th grade, Quad Prep students take many of the first courses in the scope and sequence of our high school curriculum, freeing time to take advanced electives to meet the graduation requirements in High School. They are also invited to take high school-level elective courses, exposing them to the exciting demands of high school academic and student life.
Gifted Education in Middle School:
Program Snapshot
Math and Science
Students in Middle School have three 1-hour math and three 1-hour science seminars per week. Additionally, they have a half-hour 1:1 tutorial in both subjects weekly, which provides 1:1 time with their teachers. This 1:1 time is meant to both inspire a love of learning and engage in deeper coursework in each subject. Additionally, this time can be used to fill in gaps in skills not yet mastered. Students are assessed and placed in math and science groups that match their academic level, and special attention is given to homogenous groups of students at each level or course.
Humanities
Students take both literature and history during every year of Middle School. In each year of Middle School, students have three 1-hour history and three 1-hour literature seminars per week. Additionally, they have a half hour of 1:1 tutorial time in both subjects with their teachers. In history, 1:1 sessions provide students with dedicated time to build essential skills in research, library use, and digital literacy. These sessions also support students as they pursue individual inquiry projects connected to their studies, encouraging curiosity and deeper exploration. In literature, 1:1 instruction strengthens writing skills through a structured approach grounded in the Hochman Method, applied to a range of books and texts. This integrated writing support creates a strong foundation for thoughtful analysis and a meaningful engagement with complex literature in High School.
World Languages
Middle School students at Quad Prep study a world language for 90 minutes per week. Currently, we offer Italian, Latin, French, and Spanish. Students choose the language they wish to study. Students with language waivers due to language-based learning disabilities often substitute 1:1 learning support sessions during this time. Middle School world language classes primarily focus on the culture of countries where the language is spoken.
Visual and Performing Arts
Students have 2 hours per week in a chosen art field each year: theater arts, music, or visual arts.
Physical and Recreational Arts
Students spend 2 hours per week in structured movement. Choices include fitness training, sports, and other movement-related activities. One hour of the 2-hour requirement is outdoors, weather and circumstances permitting.
Electives
Executive Functioning and Academic Skill Development Program
Our fully integrated Executive Functioning (EF) and Academic Skills Program—developed in consultation with renowned expert Sarah Ward—supports students in building the habits essential for success in High School. Each year begins with a semester-long seminar called "Bright Beginnings," where students are introduced to key EF strategies and study skills. During this time, each student’s baseline EF age is assessed to track growth through quarterly benchmarks. Personalized needs are woven into a structured EF curriculum, delivered in small group cohorts throughout the day. Each day begins in a cohorted homeroom, where students preview the day ahead, and ends with a “check out” period to support organization and readiness for homework. Cohorts receive integrated support from their team in academic advising to practice emerging planning and time management skills. In CoT (combined sessions with speech-language pathologists and occupational therapists), students receive sensory motor and social cognitive related services in Phoenix (6th grade) and Photon (7th grade), which evolves in Cosmos (8th grade) into “WorkspOT,” which again reinforces executive functioning development. After the semester of "Bright Beginnings," Middle School students apply and deepen EF skills integrated into Quad Prep IDEAlab.
Quad Prep IDEAlab
Each week, at the same time across grades in the Middle School, students participate in Quad Prep IDEAlab. Based on the Schoolwide Enrichment Model, developed by Joseph Renzulli, the goals of IDEAlab projects are to tap into twice-exceptional students’ strengths, deep curiosity, and passions in areas of interest and talent. Harnessing creativity, educators and clinicians help students apply creative ideas in an inquiry-based fashion to attempt to solve a real-world problem in a field of special interest. It is also a place where all clinicians and educators are on hand to support the generalization of executive functioning for self-directed learning skills in planning, decision-making, time management, and self-evaluation. There are also opportunities to get involved with a variety of national conferences during this time.
Student Advisory and Counseling
Students receive a half hour of academic advising and a half hour of counseling per week on an ongoing basis. The counselor and advisor serve as a team in all areas of our students' growth. Advisors and counselors act as consultants for the faculty. Thus, a counselor may push into a seminar to provide extra executive functioning support as needed. Counselors and related service providers work hand-in-hand with the student life team and push into student life clubs. In this way, they act as needed as coaches as students develop their social and emotional intelligences.
Harbor Green Program
The Harbor Green Program at The Quad Preparatory School is a short-term, intensive, individualized educational program designed to meet the unique needs and abilities of twice-exceptional students who require more 1:1 or 1:2 academic or psychosocial support to be successful. This program generally serves students in grades 6-8, with flexibility to serve students in other grades if needed.
Academically, Harbor Green offers a direct and focused educational approach where one teacher works closely with one or two students in content areas in which the students need support. This model is designed to provide a highly customized learning experience, which will provide each student with the opportunity to closely develop their academic abilities, while also receiving specific emotional and social support.
The social-emotional component of the Harbor Green Program focuses on the holistic development of students. While individual goals may vary, the program can target emotional and self-regulatory skills, as well as address social and emotional well-being and nurturing social and emotional intelligence. Harbor Green students build social competence and learn interpersonal skills while developing strategies to promote resiliency and mitigate anxiety associated with perfectionism, common to twice-exceptional learners.
The goal of the Harbor Green Program is to successfully transition students to the Quad Prep Middle School once their needs can be met within the structure and support provided there. As such, all Harbor Green students, when ready, have a gradual and increasing integration into one or more Quad Prep Middle School seminar groups.
Middle School Leadership
Brendan Buckley, MS, MA | Upper School Co-Head, Academics
Brendan Buckley was born and raised in Fairbanks, Alaska, in a log cabin that his parents built. He left Alaska in 2000 to attend college at Harvard University, which he graduated from with a degree in Government. After a year of working in politics in Alaska, he shifted to education, and graduated from Boston University with a Master’s Degree in Secondary Social Studies Education. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Western Governors’ University.
After completing his degree at BU, Brendan moved to Brooklyn, where he worked for the public schools, as a private tutor, and as the History and English teacher for the boys in the cast of the Broadway production of Billy Elliot. For twelve years, he had the joy of being a member of the faculty and academic leadership team at York Prep, where he served as a History Teacher, Department Chair, Dean of Curriculum, and Director of Assessment.
In his non-working time, Brendan can mostly be found wrangling his two children through the playgrounds, pools, and museums of Brooklyn. Brendan enjoys sampling the cuisine of Brooklyn with his wife, exploring his neighborhood on his bike, and swimming with the Coney Island/Brighton Beach Open Water Swim Club.
Athena Stagias, MS, CCC-SLP | Upper School Co-Head, Clinical & Chief Executive Functioning Specialist, K-12
After beginning her career treating elementary students in a NYC charter school, Athena joined Quad Prep in the summer of 2019 as a speech-language pathologist and social-cognitive therapist. She later served as Lower School Associate Clinical Director for two years, where she supported the clinical development of students in grades K–5 and helped expand key initiatives, including the school's executive functioning program, staff supervision and didactics, and the Lower School-to-Upper School transition. In 2024, Athena stepped into the role of Chief Executive Functioning Specialist and Admissions Liaison. She led the development of a comprehensive executive functioning scope and sequence across both campuses, creating curricula, classes, and trainings for the school's staff and parents. In her new role as Interim Upper School Clinical Co-Head, Athena is excited to continue supporting Upper School students as they pursue their passions and share their remarkable gifts with themselves and the wider community.
Athena earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Franklin & Marshall College and her Master of Science in Communicative Sciences and Disorders from New York University. In pursuit of ongoing professional growth, she has completed the Certificate in Meeting the Needs of Twice-Exceptional Children program and many professional courses in Language, Learning, and Executive Functioning.
Outside of work, Athena enjoys Broadway shows, cheering for the Yankees, and traveling with her husband and son.
Sheila Nixdorf | Associate Upper School Head, Academics and Science Department Chair and High School Advisory Coordinator
Sheila Nixdorf brings nearly a decade of education experience to Quad Prep, where she has been a Head Biology Teacher since joining the team in the Summer of 2021. Originally from Massachusetts, Sheila earned her Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership from Boston College, where she also attended as an undergraduate, studying Secondary Education and Biology. Prior to Quad Prep, Sheila taught a variety of science courses at public and private schools in the Greater Boston area before moving to New York City.
While at Quad Prep, Sheila has brought her love of science into the classroom—educating students in courses such as Biology, AP Biology, Forensic Science, and Zoology. In addition to her course load, Sheila has been a driving force in the science department, organizer of the annual STEM Exhibition while serving as Science Department Lead, now Department Chair, and pushed forward our exciting science lab renovations. She has also served as Coordinator of our Zenith Academic Advising Program, where she doubles as an academic advisor herself.
Outside of work, Sheila is an amateur florist, avid reader, and cooking enthusiast. She loves walking her (famous to students) dog, Huck, to the local Brooklyn Farmers Markets to sample what’s in season.
Kirstin Spielman, MEd | Upper School Dean of Students
Kirstin Been Spielman has been an educator, school leader, coach, and counselor; has held leadership roles in New York City independent schools, public schools, and summer camps for over three decades; and has extensive clinical experience treating clients at The Center for Educational and Psychological Services operated by Teachers College, Columbia University.
Kirstin’s expertise in navigating the academic and social challenges of school provides her with a unique perspective on a student’s daily life. She works collaboratively with faculty, administrators, and parents to create actionable strategies and initiatives that ensure student success at school, at home, and in their social and emotional functioning.
Kirstin holds a BA from Connecticut College and an EDM in Counseling Psychology from Columbia University Teachers College.
Alberto Bassi-Smith, MA, MEd | Director of Experiential and Global Learning & World Languages Department Chair
Alberto joined Quad Prep in 2014, and he developed its first curriculum for foreign languages. Alberto is also a member of the World Leadership Council, which provides a regular forum for world language educators and administrators to discuss and share their questions, concerns, and suggestions with the New York State Education Department.
In Italy, he received a BA in Liberal Arts and an MA in History of Italian Theater and Events Management. Before moving to the United States, Alberto worked as a producer for his theater company, which staged Italian literature masterpieces for middle and high schools. When he moved to NYC, his love for sharing his culture and language combined with his interest in pedagogy pushed him to earn his second MEd in Adolescent Education at Hunter College, where he received the Teaching Award in Romance Languages and the Distinction in Graduate Studies Award. Currently, Alberto is furthering his education in the Educational Leadership program at SUNY Fredonia, driven by his desire to have a broader impact on students' educational experiences.
Before arriving at Quad Prep, Alberto worked with several private language schools where he taught both adults and teenagers. He firmly believes that learning a language must incorporate group interaction that sparks the interest of the students while instilling love and respect for other cultures and nationalities, and consequently creating a sense of community.
FAQs
How does Quad Prep support gifted, twice-exceptional students in Middle School?
As students transition from Lower School to Middle School, there is also a natural transition to higher expectations, more academic rigor, and engagement in all classes. Our Middle School program emphasizes flexibility to allow our students to grow in their gifts at a personalized and often accelerated pace. We understand that with giftedness comes great depth for academic exploration, creativity, and curiosity. With personalization at the forefront of our program for gifted middle school students, we open doors for substantial academic growth.
What makes Quad Prep’s Middle School different from other middle schools that serve gifted, twice-exceptional students?
Our academic pathways are structured intentionally and specifically for gifted, twice-exceptional students in Middle School—students who have a high capacity for academic excellence while also navigating challenges like ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, anxiety, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, or other learning and cognitive differences. These supports are seamlessly and purposely integrated into their seminars, where clinicians act as a model for students and coaches for generalizing skills learned in clinical sessions.
Quad Prep’s size was purposely chosen to ensure that students have enough academic peers at their level to join them in “just right“ academic groups in “just right” academic courses in each subject. And, because our belief that learning should be ceilingless guides every decision, Middle School students have all the classes in the High School available to them.
Finally, we created a program that allows for scheduled half-hour 1:1 tutorials with each of their seminar teachers weekly, where students are encouraged to pursue questions and areas of inquiry beyond the seminar content. We firmly believe (and 14 years of student feedback has confirmed) that building relationships with teachers during these 1:1 periods is the key to all our students’ successes and their favorite part of the Quad Prep experience.
How does Quad Prep support executive functioning in Middle School?
Executive functioning and study skills are fully integrated into every school day. Each year of Middle School, students participate in a developmentally-appropriate program, which helps them build the habits essential for success in High School and beyond. Each day begins with homeroom, where students preview the day ahead, and ends with a “check out” session to support organization and readiness for homework. Cohorts receive integrated support from their team in academic advising to practice emerging planning and time management skills. Students are formally assessed individually four times a year to monitor improvement and identify areas for continued growth.
How are Middle School students prepared for High School?
Like the transition to Middle School, the transition to High School is another step toward full independence, requiring even higher expectations, more academic rigor, and engagement in all classes. Throughout the Middle School years, students are purposely developing social-cognitive, critical thinking, and executive functioning skills to prepare them for the demands of High School. During 8th grade, our gifted middle school students begin transitioning into the first courses in the scope and sequence of our High School curriculum, allowing them to start checking off graduation requirements and increase their elective course load.
What student life opportunities are available in Middle School?
An important component of our programs for gifted, twice-exceptional students is student life opportunities. In Middle School, students have the opportunity to participate in supervised social events, athletic teams, clubs, and more. These opportunities allow for connecting with peers, cultivating friendships over shared interests, and structured choice time.
A not-for-profit independent college preparatory school, Quad Prep’s rich and robust curriculum engages, challenges, and inspires students at all levels, K–12, through our Lower School and Upper School programs. Quad Prep does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national and ethnic origin, ancestry, age, marital status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law. This policy applies to, but is not limited to, educational policies, admission, financial consideration, hiring and employment practices, use of school facilities, athletics, and other school-administered programs.
