John F. Kennedy Middle College High School

John F. Kennedy Middle College High School was founded in 2006 as an "Alternative School of Choice" in the Corona-Norco Unified School District. Built on the Riverside Community College’s Norco Campus, JFK students attend high school and college classes throughout the school day. JFK serves a regional population drawing students from counties including Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange, and Los Angeles and is currently one of the largest middle college programs in the nation.

The central purpose of JFK is to provide opportunities for “middle students” to access career, technical and collegiate pathways. While at more traditional high schools these students were often over shadowed by higher achieving students, or by those with greater needs. Often they were not engaged in their former schools which resulted in inconsistent effort, poor attendance and suppressed achievement. Additionally, many of our students fall into categories generally perceived as being “under represented” among university bound students. Our approach in working with students is to identify gaps intheir learning, effort and achievement. We then address identified gaps by prescribing curriculum, making classes relevant, providing appropriate rigor and building relationships.

Our program at JFK engages students in standards-based learning opportunities that they find relevant to their goals, and meaningful to their lives now and in the future. Our constructivist approaches allows students to fully interact with their teachers and one another in and outside of class as they build their own meaning on the foundation of their previous learnings, life experiences and unique talents. Consequently, students garner great respect for their teachers seeing them as life coaches and facilitators of their learning. These relationships instill in students motivation and confidence in their abilities to do well both in their high school classes and those they take through the college. Further, the "college like" open campus environment permits students to function as college students which encourages them to behave more responsibly and adult like. The result is a high level of respect, trust and caring among students and staff.

Two computer labs and three carts of laptops; wireless internet available throughout the campus.

Front of school parking available for $30, $25 with ASB

JFK Middle College provides a supportive, academically rigorous environment for middle-performing, self-directed learners. We provide access to collegiate as well as career and technical pathways. Working in collaboration with Norco College, JFK students pursue post-secondary goals through a highly engaging instructional program that is based on critical thinking, collaboration, and effective communication.