Characteristics of Exemplary Middle Schools

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Characteristics of Exemplary Middle Schools
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High functioning middle schools demonstrate
excellence in the following areas

• Academic Excellence

• Developmental Responsiveness

• Social Equity

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Academic Excellence
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All students are expected to meet high academic
standards

• Exemplars of high quality work that meet
  performance standards

• Students revise work based on feedback until
  meeting or exceeding performance standard

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Curriculum, instruction, and assessment are
aligned with high standards

• Provide coherent vision for what students
  should know and be able to do

• Rigorous and non-repetitive curriculum moves
  forward substantially

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Curriculum emphasizes deep understanding of
important concepts, development of essential
skills, and the ability to apply to real-world
problems

• Reinforces important concepts through
  connections across disciplines

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Instructional strategies include a variety of
challenging and engaging activities that are
clearly related to the concepts and skills being
taught.
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Teachers use a variety of methods to assess
student performance and maintain a collection of
student work.

• Exhibitions, projects, performance tasks

• Students learn to assess their work and others
  work against performance standard

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The school provides time to meet rigorous
standards.

• Flexible scheduling enables extended projects,
  hands-on experiences, and inquiry-based learning

• Most class time devoted to learning/ applying
  knowledge/skills not classroom
  management/discipline

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Students have the supports they need to meet
rigorous academic standards.

• Multiple opportunities to succeed

• Extra help as needed

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The adults have opportunities to plan, select,
and engage in professional development aligned
with nationally recognized standards.

• Regular opportunities to work with colleagues
  to deepen knowledge and improve practice

• Collaborate in making decisions about rigorous
  curriculum and effective instructional methods

• Discuss student work to enhance their own
  practice