Transforming Middle Schools: Successful Schools in Action

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Transforming Middle Schools Successful Schools
in Action

• Patti Kinney
• NMSA President-Elect
• Talent Middle School
• PO Box 359/102 Christian Ave.
• Talent, OR 97540
• 541-535-1552
• patti.kinney_at_phoenix.k12.or.us

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Turning Points 2000

• Educating Adolescents in the 21st Century
• Anthony Jackson
• Gayle Davis
• Teachers College Press

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Teach a Curriculum Grounded in Standards,
Relevant to Adolescents Concerns, and Based on
How Students Learn Best, and Use a Mix of
Assessment Methods.
Use Instructional Methods That Prepare All
Students to Achieve High Standards
Involve Parents and Communities in Supporting
Student Learning and Healthy Development
Ensure Success for EVERY Student
Provide a Safe and Healthy School Environment
Organize Relationships for Learning
Govern Democratically, Involving All School Staff
Members
Staff Middle Grades Schools with Teachers Who Are
Expert at Teaching Young Adolescents, and Engage
Teachers in Ongoing, Targeted Professional
Development
Together, the seven recommendations form a
system, an interacting and interdependent group
of practices that form a unified whole. Each
recommendation, or element, within this system
influences the expression and reinforces the
impact of other elements. (TP 2000 pg. 27)
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This We Believe

• Successful Schools for Young Adolescents
• National Middle School Association
• 2003

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Characterized by a Culture that includes
Educators who value working with this age group
and are prepared to do so
High Expectations for every member of the
learning community
A shared vision that guides decisions
School-initiated family and community partnerships
An inviting, supportive, and safe environment
Courageous,collaborative leadership
Students and teachers engaged in active learning
An adult advocate for every student
This We Believe Successful Schools for Young
Adolescents
Provide Students with
Organizational structures that support meaningful
relationships and learning
Multiple learning and teaching approaches that
respond to their diversity
School-wide efforts and policies that foster
health, wellness, and safety
A curriculum that is relevant, challenging,
integrative, and exploratory
Assessment and evaluation programs that promote
quality learning
Multifaceted guidance and support services
For middle schools to be successful, their
students must be successful, for students to be
successful, the schools organization,
curriculum, pedagogy, and programs must be based
upon the developmental readiness, needs, and
interests of young adolescents. (TWB pg. 1)
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Are Balanced
Successful Schools in Action

• Rigor
• Relevance
• Relationships

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Successful Schools in Action
Are Based on the Developmental Needs of Young
Adolescents.
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Intellectually

• In developing lessons, instructional strategies,
  materials, schedules, and assessments do your
  teachers realize

• Middle school students have unique developmental
  characteristics that distinguish them from both
  elementary and high school students?
• Young adolescents learn best in cooperative,
  flexible settings where they are constantly
  interacting with materials and with each other?
• Learning takes time?

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Physically

• Does your school

• Have a comprehensive health and physical fitness
  program that is designed for their abilities and
  capabilities?
• Give all students opportunities to experience
  physical success?
• Vary the pace of lessons and allow for movement?
• Help your students understand young adolescent
  development?

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Emotionally

• Does your staff

• Understand and appreciate the uniqueness of this
  age group?
• Serve as honest, available role models?
• Practice active, attentive listening?
• Avoid the use of sarcasm?
• Help their students feel skilled and competent?

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Socially

• Does your school

• Provide school-based social activities?
• Help students feel accepted by both their peers
  and adults?
• Allow students to work in groups and learn from
  one another?
• Provide opportunities for students to work and
  interact within diverse groups?
• Give students opportunities to be involved in
  their community?

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Questions for Reflection

• Does our school provide our young adolescents
  ample opportunities to participate meaningfully
  in the life of the school - both in classrooms
  and school-wide?
• Are students given opportunities to identify and
  develop their special interests and aptitudes as
  called for by their exploratory nature?
• Does the curriculum recognize the diversity in
  maturity and development shown by young
  adolescents?

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Successful Schools in Action

• Provide
• Courageous,
• Collaborative,
• Leadership

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Key Components

• Possess a clear vision of middle school education
  based upon a true understanding of the needs of
  young adolescents
• Create a shared vision
• Engage all stakeholders (staff, parents,
  students, community, district office, school
  board) in a process of shared decision making
  with a goal of continual improvement.
• Ultimate goal is school improvement - whats best
  for students must be at the center of decisions
• Open and honest communication
• Productive discussion and debate on practices is
  welcomed and encouraged
• Builds the capacity for leadership in others
• Develop, implement, and continually assess a
  school program that creates an effective learning
  environment for young adolescents

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Questions for Reflection

• Is there a recent, well understood, fully
  accepted, and specific enough school philosophy
  and mission statement that functions as a guide
  in making every decision about the school -
  curricular as well as procedural?
• Is leadership diversified, and present when
  needed? Does the administration exemplify
  authoritative (and not authoritarian) leadership?
  Do team leaders or others participate in a
  school leadership council?

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Successful Schools in Action
Use a Curriculum that is Relevant, Challenging,
Integrative, and Exploratory.
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A curriculum grounded in rigorous, public
academic standards

• Use Standards to design Curriculum that
• Focuses on the BIG ideas
• Encompasses critical skills
• Fosters habits of the mind
• Produces life-long learners

• Standards give us the destination. We are
  responsible for the quality and success of the
  journey.

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A curriculumrelevant to the concerns of
adolescents and based on how students learn best.

• Brain Research - students remember when learning
  has personal relevance and makes an emotional
  connection.
• Build connections between students and the
  disciplines, the current world, and the future.
• Understand the developmental needs of young
  adolescents.
• Build upon prior knowledge - create brains of
  Velcro, not Teflon.

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Assessment and evaluation promotes quality
learning.

• Informal checks for understanding
• Traditional quizzes and tests
• Interviews, questionnaires, and conferences
• Performance tasks and projects
• Authentic in nature -- simulations, debates,
  exhibitions, position papers, scientific
  experiments, research projects, portfolios

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Questions for Reflection

• Are teachers knowledgeable about each individual
  learner, and do they use information about each
  to make decisions about curriculum, instruction,
  and assessment?
• Are varied ways to assess student progress used?
  Are exemplars of quality work and scoring guides
  used?
• Does the organization of the school facilitate
  curriculum integration? Flexible use of time?
  Varied student groupings? Common planning time?

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Successful Schools in Action
Use multiple learning and teaching approaches
that respond to their diversity
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Instructional methods designed to prepare all
students to achieve higher standards and become
lifelong learners.

• Techniques based on the developmental and
  learning characteristics of young adolescents
• Accommodates the diverse skills, abilities, and
  knowledge of young adolescents
• Takes into account multiple intelligences,
  individual learning styles, and the students
  cultural, experiential, and personal backgrounds.

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Instructional methods.

• Engaging and interactive - hands-on experiences
  and active involvement
• Varied approaches to direct instruction -
  experiments, demonstrations, opinion polls,
  simulations, independent study.
• Collaborative and cooperative in nature
• Flexible in nature (groups, time, settings, etc)
• Differentiated to account for individual
  differences
• Technology is integrated
• Investigative, exploratory, and examines new ideas

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Questions for Reflection

• If you were to do a walk through of the
  classrooms in your school, how many types of
  instructional methods would you observe?
• Is technology being used regularly as a learning
  tool in the academic curriculum, giving students
  opportunities to access knowledge when needed?
• Does your staff have the ability to engage both
  themselves and their students in active learning?

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Resources for Reform
This We Believe Successful Schools for Young
Adolescents NMSA, 2003
Research and Resources in Support of This We
Believe NMSA, 2003

• Professional Development Kit
• Understanding and Implementing This We Believe --
  First Steps
• By John Lounsbury and Ed Brazee
• NMSA, 2004

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Resources for Reform
A National Study of Leadership in Middle Level
Schools Volume 1 By Jerry Valentine, Donald
Clark, Donald Hackmann, and Vicki Petzko NASSP
2002
Leadership for Highly Successful Middle Level
Schools Volume 2 By Jerry Valentine, Donald
Clark, Donald Hackmann, and Vicki Petzko NASSP
2004
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This I Believe
A copy may be downloaded at www.nmsa.org
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This I Believe

• I have chosen to be a middle level educator,
  for I recognize that the years of early
  adolescence are pivotal and abound with
  individual potential and opportunity. Therefore,
  I will care for these students personally, listen
  to their voices, respect their concerns, and
  engage them in meaningful educational experiences
  that will prepare them for a promising future.

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I believe that every young adolescent...

• has the capacity to learn, grow, and develop
  into a knowledgeable, reflective, caring,
  ethical, and contributing citizen.
• must have access to the very best programs and
  practices a school can offer.
• must be engaged in learning that is relevant,
  challenging, integrative, and exploratory.
• thrives academically, socially, and emotionally
  in a democratic learning environment where trust
  and respect are paramount and where family and
  community are actively involved.
• faces significant life choices and needs support
  in making wise and healthy decisions.
• deserves educators who are prepared to work with
  this age group, who are themselves lifelong
  learners and committed to their own ongoing
  professional development and growth.

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I believe that every young adolescent...

• has the capacity to learn, grow, and develop
  into a knowledgeable, reflective, caring,
  ethical, and contributing citizen.
• must have access to the very best programs and
  practices a school can offer.
• must be engaged in learning that is relevant,
  challenging, integrative, and exploratory.
• thrives academically, socially, and emotionally
  in a democratic learning environment where trust
  and respect are paramount and where family and
  community are actively involved.
• faces significant life choices and needs support
  in making wise and healthy decisions.
• deserves educators who are prepared to work with
  this age group, who are themselves lifelong
  learners and committed to their own ongoing
  professional development and growth.
• Therefore, I proudly dedicate myself to becoming
  the best middle level educator I can be and an
  active advocate for all young adolescents.

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