WORKING TOGETHER
Harnessing Community Resources
to Improve Middle Schools
COMMUNITY SUPPORT FOR BETTER MIDDLE SCHOOLS
Sidebar: Why are the middle school years
so important?
In towns and cities around the country, citizens are coming together
to support better education for middle school students. Coalitions of parents,
businesspeople, educators, and others are pressing for needed reforms, encouraging
good teaching, and helping schools raise the level of student achievement.
Although the movement is still small, these coalitions are a positive sign
for the future of American middle schools, historically one of the most
neglected segments of our educational system.
Some middle schools, which typically encompass grades six through eight,
are as vibrant as the young adolescents who attend them. For students in
those schools, strong community support and constructive advocacy can raise
standards of excellence even higher. Elsewhere, for students trapped in
mediocre or poor middle schools, community pressure for change may make
the difference between success and failure, now and later in life. To quote
Winifred Green, organizer of a coalition in Jackson, Mississippi, "Middle
school is the last, best chance to grab kids before other forces take hold."
No community can afford to miss that chance.
Middle schools typically span grades six through eight, although some schools
include fifth or ninth grades as well. Schools at this level are also sometimes
known as intermediate schools.
Middle school students are young adolescents, usually between the ages of
11 and 14.
Education "in the middle" has traditionally received scant attention
from either school systems or communities. Many school boards and superintendents
know little about the developmental and learning needs of young adolescents,
and communities sometimes worry more about students' behavior than about
what they are learning. For educators, a community coalition represents
an opportunity to dispel misconceptions about middle schools and their students,
while also bringing valuable partners into the quest for more rigorous and
exciting schools. For people outside education, a coalition can be a tool
for learning, while also urging or speeding up the pace of change. Most
important, a community coalition offers interested people a forum for sharing
ideas about high-quality middle school education and an opportunity to take
steps, locally, to get there.
But what is a community coalition for middle school reform? Who gets it
started, and how does it operate? A working definition might go like this:
a community coalition for middle school reform is a group of individuals
(or representatives of organizations) who organize to learn more about the
education of young adolescents and engage community resources to improve
local schools. Some coalitions have been started by school administrators
or teachers, others by parents, city government officials, youth program
coordinators, community activists, or business people. An institutional
home within the school system, a community or parent organization, local
government, or a college or university is helpful but not essential.
A community coalition for middle school reform is a group
that organizes to learn more about the education
of young adolescents and engage community resources
to improve local schools.
And what does a coalition do? A crisis in the school system--a set of
shockingly bad test scores, for example--can be the catalyst for an outpouring
of community concern, which in turn can inspire the creation of a coalition.
Under these circumstances, the group has a ready-made mission in helping
the school system recover and improve. In other places, a coalition has
emerged as an integral part of an ambitious larger effort: in Long Beach,
California, for example, the middle school coalition fits within a drive
to revitalize the local economy, while the coalition in Louisville is helping
the school system meet Kentucky's new performance mandates while generally
working toward higher academic standards for all middle schools. Most often,
though, a coalition grows out of a long-term sense of missed opportunities
and unused capacity. Then, the challenge is to figure out who is willing
to help, what needs to be done, and what resources are available.
A community coalition for middle school reform is a group of individuals
who organize to learn more about the education of young adolescents and
engage community resources to improve local schools. It brings together
concerned people from inside and outside the school system. Each coalition
should be geared to the unique needs and strengths of its school system
and its community.
The agenda for change may be fairly clear from the start, or it may emerge
as the group gets to know its subject better. The coalition's goals may
be oriented toward improving the quality of instruction, getting businesses
involved with schools (and vice versa), creating a more coherent path from
school to work, increasing parent and community involvement, encouraging
cooperation between schools and social service agencies, reducing crime
and violence, urging equity for all students, or some combination of these.
Any goal that benefits middle schools, and which is attained more effectively
with outside help, is a good choice. Experience shows that communities can
take very different paths with equally significant results.
This booklet describes coalitions in three communities--Louisville, Kentucky;
Jackson, Mississippi; and Long Beach, California--along with advice collated
from their experiences. In each city, the school system has received help
from the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation in improving the education it offers
to middle school students, measured in increased academic achievement. To
strengthen those reforms, and to learn more about how community engagement
can boost school performance, the Foundation has also supported the development
of community coalitions, each with a broad and inclusive membership.
The people interviewed for these profiles share a deep interest in middle
schools and a willingness to get involved. Beyond that, they couldn't be
more different from one another. Their combined message is this: whoever
you are, in whatever town or city, you can make a difference for middle
schools and their students. If reading this booklet makes you think that
you have something to offer to your local middle schools, then you're probably
right.
Next section of Working Together
Return to the Working Together contents
page
from WORKING TOGETHER: Harnessing Community Resources to Improve
Middle Schools. By Anne Mackinnon. Published in 1997 by the Edna McConnell
Clark Foundation.
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