Merit Gold is a College Preparatory Academy designed to provide identified and committed students opportunities for access to rigorous academic experiences and college entrance exam preparation earlier than traditional programs. The Merit Gold program will provide unique opportunities for identified students to excel at a much faster rate and at higher levels.

The program begins by identifying students who are already on track academically in reading (as indicated by MAP scores) to be college bound students who, with focused acceleration and preparation, have the potential to be extremely competitive on college entrance exams later during their high school career. The identifying year is the beginning of 6th grade.  6th grade beginning, middle, and end of year scores will be referenced beginning in the 2021-2022 cohort.

All students who attend Pampa Junior High School in 6th and 7th grade will have the opportunity to be identified through MAP testing.

Currently, MAP reports are only available to teachers and administrators. We do not have a way for students or families to log in and view reports directly. Reports are available by request via mail or email. Contact Megan Horn for student report information.

Accelerated instruction will take place during the regular Advisory schedule at PJHS during the Fall and Spring semester. Future sessions will be determined at the beginning of each school year according to the PJHS and PHS schedules.

42 students were identified to be part of Merit Gold. Each year we will add a new group of identified 7th graders.  To manage the program effectively we will identify 7th grade students annually at the beginning of the school year.  We will use 6th grade and beginning of the year 7th grade data for the initial identification process.  At this time, we do not anticipate opening this up to students that are not part of the initial cohort each year.  This is illustrated below:

There are no direct costs associated with the Merit Gold Program.  Pampa ISD covers all student fees associated with registration for a college entrance exam (e.g., PSAT, SAT, SAT NMSQT, ACT), and some types of college tours. This does not include all of the expenses that any student would incur when preparing for college or when taking college entrance exams throughout their high school career. 

Summer Academy Extension camp is an opportunity for Merit Gold students to further develop the skills and knowledge needed for college entrance exams. If your child is not able to attend...they will still be members of the Merit Gold College Prep Academy. Summer attendance is not mandatory at this time.