Middle schools in motion. Over the past two decades, a reform movement
has swept the education of young adolescents. Across the country, schools
that once called themselves junior high schools have been reorganized into
middle (or intermediate) schools. Middle schools typically span grades six
through eight, although some schools have included fifth or ninth grades
as well.
The creation of middle schools has often been motivated by research showing
that young adolescents have distinct developmental needs, which in turn
shape their educational needs and abilities. No longer dependent on the
structures that characterize elementary education but not yet ready for
the independence of high school, students between the ages of 11 and 14
demand something different--something that recognizes and builds on their
distinctive strengths.
The "raging hormones" theory. Everyone agrees
that early adolescence can be a difficult time. Educators and parents point
to young people's rapid physical changes and volatile personalities, their
"raging hormones" and mood swings. These are normal symptoms of
development at this age, part and parcel of making the transition from childhood
to young adulthood. Most of us remember well how hard these years can be,
and we sympathize.
Unfortunately, sympathy for young adolescents can be too much of a good
thing. In some middle schools, concern for students' emotional and psychological
needs overshadows expectations for high achievement. Developmental concerns
are important--indeed essential--to effective middle school education, but
they must never be allowed to justify a retreat from intellectual rigor,
a rich and demanding curriculum, or a belief in students' competence as
learners.
High expectations yield high performance. Thanks to a recent
trend, high student achievement has jumped to the top of the agenda in many
middle schools. Educators are asking how to inject middle schools with content-rich
curricula in algebra, social studies, science, English, and other subjects.
As new curricula are developed and adopted, they seem to be producing good
results. Teachers are seeing a change in students, who appear to like school
more, to be happier and more motivated. Most important, students seem to
be leaving middle school with higher levels of skills.
This trend is perhaps most visible in some districts' decision to adopt
academic standards. Adopting standards is a difficult choice, and implementing
them effectively can be a long and rocky process--both for teachers, who
must change their thinking and their daily classroom practice, and for parents
and others in the community, who often find the reforms confusing. At their
best, standards articulate a school system's expectations for all students;
they inspire high levels of achievement while also establishing minimum
standards.
Once everyone understands the point of standards--to clarify what students
should know and be able to do--and how schools intend to implement them,
the inherent common sense of the approach begins to shine through. As one
parent explained to district officials after a presentation on standards,
"I hate to tell you this, but I'm shocked that the schools have been
operating without these."
Standards are especially important at the middle school level, which
has historically received less public, parental, and scholarly attention
than have elementary or high schools. Young people who arrive in high school
without the skills to acquire information or the discipline to apply themselves
may be detoured from the path to success.
Middle schools and the public trust. The public has a right
to expect that their school systems will do a good job in preparing young
people for productive and satisfying adult lives. Yet an infusion of community
support can provide the extra help schools need to fulfill this implicit
contract. Such help is important in communities with high-performing and
ambitious middle schools; in communities where schools are dragging their
feet on reform, that help is essential.
In most towns and cities, school boards monitor student performance,
school spending, and a host of other matters. Parents exercise vigilance
on behalf of their own children, while working through parent organizations
to benefit the larger school community. Even so, middle schools can also
gain from a wider network--a network that includes the employers who will
someday hire today's students, the colleges that will provide their higher
education, the social services providers that work with their families,
and other institutions. That network can be mobilized and cultivated through
a community coalition for middle school reform.
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