Making Middle Grades Work: Planning Successful Transitions

1
Making Middle Grades Work Planning Successful
Transitions

• Presented by
• Barbara Moore, Associate Director
• Toni Eubank, Director

2
Rationale for transition

• School Improvement has identified effective
  transition as a best practice to increase
  graduation rate!
• More students fail the 9th grade than any other
  grade level.
• What is your 9th grade retention rate?
• Georgia has one of the highest drop-out rates in
  the nation.
• What is your drop-out rate?

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Rationale for transition

• Adolescence is a confusing time for students due
  to the many emotional and physical changes that
  occur at this age.
• Transition has always been important to middle
  school educators however, it is obvious better
  and/or more effective processes are needed.
• 8th grade in middle school is NOTHING like 9th
  grade in high school.

4
According to the Center for Educational
Statistics

• In 2005, approximately 488,000 students dropped
  out of American high schools

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Other Studies

• In schools in which transition programs are fully
  operational, researchers saw a dropout rate of
  8, while schools without transition programs
  averaged 24 (Reents, 2002)
• Difficult ninth-grade transitions can result in
• flagging academic performance
• increased dropout rates
• reduced on-time graduation
• (problems particularly commonplace in large
  urban settings)

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Educators are looking backwards to see where
students falter as they move through school

• The bottom line
• The transition from middle grades to high
  school represents the biggest challenge for
  Americas students.
• Student Retention Rates

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Other Studies

• The dip in the number of students in tenth grade
  reflects both the large number of students not
  promoted to tenth grade as well as those students
  that drop out after ninth grade and before tenth
  grade. National High School Center
• Ninth grade attrition is far more pronounced in
  urban, high-poverty schools 40 of dropouts in
  low-income high schools left after ninth grade,
  compared to 27 in low poverty districts (EPE
  Research Center, 2006).

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Other Studies

• Racial disparities highlight the ninth grade
  bulge and tenth grade dip (Wheelock Miao, 2005)
  
• most pronounced for African American and Latino
  students.
• grade nine enrollment is 2327 higher than
  grade eight for AA and Latino 68 higher for
  whites
• attrition between grades nine and ten hovers
  around 20 for African American students is
  stable around 7 for Caucasian students

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Other Studies

• More than one semester F in core subjects and
  fewer than five full course credits by the end of
  freshman year are key indicators that a student
  is not on track to graduate (Allensworth
  Easton, 2005).
• Low attendance during the first 30 days of the
  ninth grade year is a stronger indicator that a
  student will drop out than any other eighth grade
  predictor, including test scores, other academic
  achievement, and age (Jerald, 2006).

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When Asked How Much Education I Will Complete by
Age 30
Source HSTW Student Survey
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The Education Pipeline
Source The Bridge Project Stanford University
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Student vs. Parent Expectations Study conducted
by Education Trust

• Post high school plans for students
• 71 planned to attend a 4-year college
• 5 thought they would be working full time
• Parents did not have the same expectations
• 52 of parents expected their students to attend
  a 4-year college
• 11 thought students would be working full time

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Fastest Growing Jobs Require Some Education
Beyond High School
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Business-Higher Education Forum

• In 1950, 80 percent of the jobs were classified
  as unskilled.
• Now, an estimated 85 percent are classified as
  skilled, requiring education beyond high
  school.
• 60 percent of future jobs will require training
  that only 20 percent of todays workers possess.

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Goals of a Transition Program

• Decrease the dropout rate in ninth and tenth
  grade
• Increase the high school graduation rate
• Increase the number of students prepared for
  college-preparatory courses in grades 9 and 10

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Successful Transition Programs

• Bring middle grades and high school personnel
  together to examine each others curriculum and
  requirements
• Require all students to have a five-year
  educational plan by the end of eighth grade
• Provide information on the new school for
  students and parents
• Provide social support for students
• Focus on increasing parental involvement

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Strategies that Ensure Successful Transitions

• Middle Grades Curriculum that ensures readiness
  for high school
• Extra Help Gearing Up, Catching Up, Staying On
  Course
• Summer Bridge program in reading and math to help
  selected 8th-graders get ready for high school.
• Catch-up Course in 8th or 9th grades that will
  take students who are seriously below grade level
  and accelerate their learning in English and
  mathematics.
• Support Class - separate course for identified
  students incorporated school-wide for all
  students

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Strategies that Ensure Successful Transitions

• A Personalized Learning Environment that assigns
  a caring adult to mentor each students in grades
  six through eight.
• Examine Transition Activities that prepare
  students, involve parents and build relationships
  between teachers and schools.

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Think About

• What are one or two essential elements that
  need to be considered for effective transition
  efforts?

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Essential Questions

• What evidence of readiness for high school is
  required of every student by the end of the
  eighth grade?
• Do grade level performance criteria describe the
  skills and qualities needed to do challenging
  work?
• How has the school changed what is taught, how
  teachers teach, and how student performance is
  measured to better prepare students for high
  school?

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Essential Questions

• Is student work evaluated consistently according
  to known criteria across classrooms and subjects?
  
• Do all teachers expect essentially the same
  quality work? Do teachers facilitate this
  consistency through commonly created assessments?
• How does the school help students who are having
  difficulty achieving the standards?
• How does the school monitor progress for student
  achievement?

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Goals of Successful Transitions

• Students will
• complete college-preparatory English and Algebra
  I.
• declare a goal beyond high school that they can
  visualize and commit to achieve.
• establish a connection with an adult who will
  assist and support them throughout high school.
• develop effective study, relationship and time
  management skills and other habits of success.
• develop an understanding that, through smart
  effort, they can improve their achievement.

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Readiness for High School Where Do We Stand?

• Middle Grades Students in 2008
• 92 plan further study after high school.
• 30 had intensive literacy experiences.
• 26 had intensive numeracy experiences.

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Readiness for High School Where Do We Stand?

• Middle Grades Students in 2008
• 22 of students did not talk to teachers or other
  adults about 9th grade until 8th grade
• 52 had no written plan for courses to take in
  high school
• 59 of students read 10 or less pages a day both
  in and out of school

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What does it mean to improve student
transitions from middle grades to high school?

• Increasing the percentage of ninth-graders who
  have the knowledge and skills necessary for
  success in an academically rigorous high school
  curriculum.

26
What does it mean to improve student
transitions from middle grades to high school?

• Increasing the level of RIGOR in assignments and
  assessments in middle grades classrooms.
• Vertical articulation between elementary, middle
  and high school teachers
• Reducing the amount of review of elementary
  school content in middle grades

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What does it mean to improve student
transitions from middle grades to high school?

• Developing more assignments at the proficient and
  advanced levels
• Limiting basic level assignments to 25-35
• Increasing proficient and advanced assignments to
  65-75
• Adding far more assignments that require students
  to analyze, apply, synthesize and evaluate
  content, not just memorize content

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Defining Proficient

• Below Basic denotes performance that is below
  grade level.
• Basic Denotes partial mastery of prerequisite
  knowledge and skills that are fundamental for
  proficient work at each grade level.

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Defining Proficient

• Proficient Represents solid academic
  performance for each grade assessed. Students
  reaching this level have demonstrated competency
  over challenging subject matter, including
  subject-matter knowledge, application of such
  knowledge to real world-situations, and
  analytical skills appropriate to the subject
  matter.
• Advanced Signifies superior performance.

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Lets Practice!
Using the handout and the definitions of basic,
proficient, advanced, identify whether each item
will elicit responses at the basic, proficient,
or advanced level.
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What Do Rigorous Activities Look Like

• In English/language arts and reading
• short writing assignments
• major research paper
• oral presentations
• reading outside of school each day (30 minutes)
• reading 25 books (or the equivalent) across the
  curriculum (8-10 in English class)
• word processing (sometimes) and
• revise essays or written work to meet the
  standard (sometimes).

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What Do Rigorous Activities Look Like

• In Mathematics
• Use the SREB publication Getting Students Ready
  for College-preparatory/Honors English What
  Middle Grades Students Need to Know and Be Able
  to Do to assess student preparedness for
  Algebra I and to guide curriculum and
  instructional revisions and end-of-course/end-of-g
  rade assessments. Content from this publication
  may also be used as a guide when selecting
  textbooks.

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What Do Rigorous Activities Look Like

• In Mathematics
• Use common end-of-grading-period exams to assess
  progress.
• Provide graphing calculators for all pre-algebra
  and algebra classes, and frequent opportunities
  to use them.
• Increase the number of students completing
  Algebra I each year.

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What Do Rigorous Activities Look Like

• In Mathematics
• Require students to discuss strategies and
  solutions to problems
• Require students to write short answer
  explanations of how they solved problems
• Encourage students to create/share their own
  mathematics problems, and find examples of
  real-world problems and applications for recently
  learned concepts.

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What Do Rigorous Activities Look Like

• In Mathematics
• Use SREBs publication, Essential Competencies
  for Middle Grades Mathematics Teachers as a
  resource to assess the professional development
  needs of mathematics teachers. SREB offers four
  online courses that address specific content and
  pedagogical skills needed by all middle grades
  mathematics teachers.

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What Do Rigorous Activities Look Like

• In Science
• Process Indicators
• design a scientific investigation
• conduct a scientific investigation
• analyze the finding of a scientific investigation
• communicate and defend findings
• evaluation other scientific investigations and
  apply results

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What Do Rigorous Activities Look Like

• In Science
• Use SREBs guide, Getting Students Ready for
  College-preparatory/Honors Science What Middle
  Grades Students Need to Know and Be Able to Do to
  assess student preparedness and to guide
  curriculum and instructional revisions.
• Organize each unit around an essential question
  and lab experience in which students formulate a
  hypothesis, design and carry out a study, present
  and analyze information, write a report and
  present it to the class.

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What Do Rigorous Activities Look Like

• In Science
• Require students to demonstrate understanding by
  using concepts to explain observations, make
  predictions and present information in multiple
  ways.
• Ensure that students frequently read science
  articles and analyze, discuss and write about
  them.

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What Do Rigorous Activities Look Like

• In social studies
• Have students analyze events and write for a
  variety of purposes including written histories
  relative to multicultural, generational and
  gender perspectives.
• Require students to draw conclusions, make
  predictions and determine cause/effect
  relationships.
• Expand use of instructional strategies, including
  integration of technology, oral presentations,
  cooperative learning, project-based learning,
  student portfolios, analysis of primary sources
  and conflicts/current events, and the Socratic
  method of questioning.

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What Do Rigorous Activities Look Like

• In social studies
• Use a variety of materials including maps, globes
  and other geographic and primary source materials
  to build on core content provided in the text.
• Examine a A History of Us by Joy Hakim. Written
  by a historian and journalist, this curriculum is
  highly engaging for adolescents and equally well
  received by students, parents and educators.
• Teaching Tolerance, the Southern Poverty Law
  Center magazine, provides a national forum for
  sharing techniques and exploring new ideas for
  teaching tolerance, diversity and justice.

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What Do Rigorous Activities Look Like

• In social studies
• Require an annual research project that is
  increasingly challenging. Each year can feature a
  different focus.
• Use a variety of assessment methods that align
  with national/state standards and measure student
  understanding of concepts and ability to apply
  skills.
• Civic education experts promote authentic,
  performance-based, integrative assessments.
• Use debates, simulations, mock elections,
  interviews with individuals for/against a
  relevant topic, and student demonstrations to
  assess student understanding of complex issues
  and situations.

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Successful Transition Programs

• Identify students at the end of grade six who may
  need help in making a successful transition
• Get more students to complete at least one
  semester of college-preparatory Algebra 1 before
  grade nine
• Require more reading
• Help students aspire to education beyond high
  school

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Site Specific Strategies Preparing Students
Middle to High

• Eighth Graders
• Organize an annual Career Fair
• Every year students learn about different
  careers, requisite skills, future opportunities,
  etc.
• Complete a College Research Project
• Complete research on career
• Combined book selection and research
• Complete Kuder or other inventory
• Process results with counselor or adviser to
  determine interests, strengths, etc.

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Site Specific Strategies Preparing Students
Middle to High

• Transition Days when students attend school one
  day early at the start of the school year for
  special orientation activities.
• Students to get to know the faculty and the
  logistics of the school day
• Host a Reality Fair
• Booths representing realities Buying a
  Car/House, Insuring house/car, Healthcare,
  Opening a checking account, Taxes, etc.
• Students are engaged in different activities at
  each booth

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Site Specific Strategies Preparing Students
Middle to High

• Implement a job shadowing day for 8th/9th graders
• Students develop interview questions
• Students responsible for finding individual to
  shadow
• Parents/students responsible for providing
  transportation
• Teachers develop follow-up activities
• Have eighth graders shadow ninth graders for a
  day
• eat lunch in the cafeteria
• meet with ninth grade teachers and club
  sponsors/coaches

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Site Specific Strategies Preparing Students
Middle to High

• Small-group sessions with high school counselors
  at the middle school
• Provide a three-ring notebook about high school
  for each 8th grader (Student Survival Guide)
• Establish a web site that provides information to
  incoming students
• Schedule presentation about clubs, service
  organizations and athletics that students in
  which students can participate
• Students talk with students in these activities
• Students meet faculty sponsors

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Site Specific Strategies Preparing Students
Middle to High

• Passes or invitations to social/athletic events
  at the high school
• High School 101 Class (mandatory)
• Can be taught at 8th or 9th or both grade
• Topics that address differences between middle
  grades and high school credits, GPA, programs of
  study, diploma tracks, etc.
• Incorporates study and organizational skills

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Site Specific Strategies Preparing Students
Elementary to Middle

• Jump Start program for all rising sixth-graders
  (ride the bus, get locker assignments, tour
  building, meet teachers, wear school T-shirt,
  receive schedule, etc.)
• Sixth graders prepare a Middle School A-Z Book
  for all fifth graders.
• Create Traveling Trunks that counselors use with
  rising sixth-graders.
• Assign Buddies upper class students to
  support new students or students experiencing
  problems transitioning

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Site Specific Personalized Strategies

• Have sixth- and ninth graders answer incoming
  students questions in writing
• Establish Student Ambassadors that provide tours
  and answer questions for any student new to the
  school
• Have student hosts meet with rising students in
  small groups
• Develop a PowerPoint entitled Meet Your
  Teachers and send to the teachers of rising
  sixth and ninth graders.

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Johns Hopkins Research Findings on High School
Dropouts

• Although the study was on high school dropouts,
  the findings point to the middle grades
  particularly sixth grade
• We know that most middle grades students fail
  because they dont do their work
• Utility (the extent to which students believed
  that the mathematics they were studying would be
  useful in life) was the strongest determinant of
  student effort.
• Intrinsic Interest (the extent to which students
  found mathematics classes interesting and
  exciting) had a significant effect upon students
  level of effort.

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Four Risk Factors of Study

• Course Failure (Failing English or Math)
• Course failure was a better predictor of not
  graduating than were low test scores. Students
  who failed either a math or English/language arts
  course in the sixth grade rarely graduated from
  the school district. Ninth graders who fail
  rarely graduate and most often drop out before
  end of tenth grade.
• More than one semester F in core subjects and
  fewer than five full course credits by the end of
  freshman year are key indicators that a student
  is not on track to graduate (Allensworth
  Easton, 2005).

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Four Risk Factors of Study

• Course Failure (Failing English or Math) cont.
• Students who fail math or ELA and also have a
  poor final behavior mark fall off the graduation
  track at even greater rates than students who
  fail math and English but receive good behavior
  marks
• The students in the JH study were from
  Philadelphia and their district had a separate
  grade for behaviors.

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Four Risk Factors of Study

• Attending school 80 or less of the time
• Attending school less than 90 of the time in
  sixth grade increases the chance that students
  will fall off the graduation track.
• Intrinsic interest also had a significant effect
  upon students attendance.
• Supporting study showed that attendance during
  the first 30 days of the ninth grade year is a
  stronger indicator that a student will drop out
  than any other eighth grade predictor, including
  test scores, other academic achievement, and age
  (Jerald, 2006).

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Four Risk Factors of Study

• Out of school suspension
• Students in the cohort who were suspended in 6th
  grade fell off the graduation track in large
  numbers.
• Academic press (the extent to which students felt
  both teachers and peers expected them to work
  hard and do their best) had a large effect upon
  student behavior

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Four Risk Factors of Study

• High Suspension Rates
• 845 (6) of 6th graders received one or more out
  of school suspensions
• 20 of those graduated within one year of on-time
  graduation
• 222 6th graders received in-school suspensions
  and
• Only 17 of those remained on the graduation
  track (the odds decreased even further for the
  136 sixth graders who had two suspensions and the
  74 students who had three or more.

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Four Risk Factors of Study

• Early manifestation of academic and behavioral
  problems at the start of the middle grades do not
  self-correct, at least within the context of
  middle grades schools that serve high-poverty
  populations.
• Schools must have strong intervention programs.

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Four Risk Factors of Study

• Parental involvement (how often parents helped
  with homework and the degree to which they felt
  welcome in the school), and intrinsic interest
  had significant effects upon students level of
  effort and their attendance.

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Four Risk Factors of Study

• Course failure was a better predictor of not
  graduation than were low test scores.
• Students who failed either a math or ELA/reading
  course in grade six rarely graduated from the
  school district.

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A System of Extra Help

• Develop a continuum of supports from elementary
  through grade twelve.

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Why Extra Help?

• reduce the failure rate
• reduce the middle grades retention rate
• increase the high school graduation rate
• encourage students to stretch themselves
• convince parents that the school cares
• achieving high standards builds student confidence

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What Works in Extra Help?

• Identify students early.
• Modify schedules for re-teaching opportunities.
• Provide examples of high quality work.
• Provide guidelines that help students produce
  quality work.
• Emphasize the importance of attendance, readiness
  to learn, and effort.
• Allow students to redo work until it meets
  standards.
• Provide time for teams of teachers to work
  together.

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Extra Help is NOT

• remedial classes
• pullout sessions
• just slowing things down
• endless drill sheets

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Strategies for Extra Help

• A schedule that allows extra periods in the
  regular school day in reading and mathematics.
• Extra help and extra time for every student
  performing below grade level provided during the
  school day.
• Connect extra help and time to clear
  expectations.
• Develop criteria for placement into and out of
  required extra-help programs.

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Strategies for Extra Help

• Offer assistance before, during and after school.
• Create Small Learning Community or ninth grade
  academy
• Ensure teacher teams are interdisciplinary
• Vertically team with feeder or receiving school.

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Gearing Up

• Identify sixth, seventh and eighth grade
  students who need extra preparation for
  challenging high school work, and provide them an
  enhanced middle grades program of reading,
  language arts and mathematics.

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Strategies for Gearing Up

• Identify students who need additional enrichment
  experiences in grades 7 and 8.
• Prepare all teachers to engage students in
  reading and writing for learning.
• Make learning more intellectual, engaging, and
  connected.
• Help students find purpose and meaning in their
  studies.

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Strategies for Gearing Up

• Incorporate real world connections and
  applications how will students use this
  skill/knowledge in the future
• Develop high-level exploratory courses in grades
  7 and 8 that give students more time to read,
  write and do mathematics.
• Utilize the career/education plan students have
  to help them see the need for working hard.
• Include a parent orientation.

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Whats happening in your district?

• When does your school/district begin to prepare
  students for success in high school?
• What strategies are in place?

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Building a Bridge

• Students exiting grade eight who are performing
  at the 40th percentile or lower, or who perform
  below grade level, attend a four to six week
  summer program.

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Strategies for Summer Bridge

• four- to six-week program for entering
  ninth-graders who need further study to succeed
  in high school
• focus on reading, mathematics, computer and study
  skills
• include career education components
• include high-interest, challenging activities
• strongest teachers teach this program

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Whats happening in your district?

• How do you ensure that students continue to
  learn in the summer?
• What strategies are in place?

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Catching Up

• Eighth- and ninth-grade students not ready to
  take college-preparatory courses are enrolled in
  a catch-up course.
• Curriculum includes double doses of language
  arts/reading and mathematics.

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Catch-Up Course

• Develop a semester or year-long course focusing
  on six key goals
• Build positive relationships that support
  academic success
• Develop effective study, time management and
  organization skills - Habits of Success
• Practice communication and mathematics skills
• Help students set goals and develop a plan for
  high school and beyond
• Learn about school and community resources
  available to assist students

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Support Class Goals

• Give students the extra assistance they will need
  to succeed with a rigorous curriculum.
• Raise the overall achievement of participants,
  especially in reading, language arts, mathematics
  and science.
• Help students attain grade-level proficiency in
  their courses.
• Get students to accept responsibility for their
  own learning and success.

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Course Design

• focus on 8th or 9th-graders who are not ready to
  take college-preparatory English and Algebra I
• designed to get students back on track by the
  end of the year
• uses a mastery learning approach in pacing
  instruction

76
Considerations for Support and Catch-Up Courses

• How often will the class meet and how long is the
  class period?
• Meet every day
• Meet every other day
• Alternate between reading and math
• Alternate with a computer class
• Alternate with a career/technical class
• Alternate with another course
• Other...

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Considerations for Support and Catch-Up Courses

• How many students will be enrolled in the support
  class?
• What will be the focus of the class?
• Both language arts and mathematics?
• Different class to focus on language arts and one
  to focus on mathematics?
• How will habits of success be integrated?

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Considerations for Support and Catch-Up Courses

• Coordinating with the regular academic team
• Lesson planning
• Avoiding duplication and overlap
• Common daily planning
• Weekly team meetings
• Coordinating with the transition team
• Weekly team meetings

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Considerations for Support and Catch-Up Courses

• Who teaches the support/catch-up class?
• Master teacher with mathematics and/or language
  arts content certification
• Math or language arts teacher who teaches daily
  English and math classes
• Other possibilities
• How to expand staff/support staff
• volunteers, tutors, etc.

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Whats happening in your district?

• What opportunities are available to students who
  need to catch up in eighth or ninth grade?

81
Provide Appropriate Guidance and Support for All
Students

• The school helps parents and students understand
  high school graduation requirements and knowledge
  and skills needed for success in postsecondary
  education and/or employment.

82
What does provide guidance and support to all
students mean?

• The school helps parents and students understand
  high school graduation requirements and knowledge
  and skills needed for success in postsecondary
  education and/or employment.

83
Why Guidance and Advisement?

• Every student needs help in setting an education
  goal and a tentative career goal.
• Every student needs a plan aligned to his or her
  education and career goal.
• Every student needs to have his or her parents
  involved in helping set goals.
• Every student needs to feel a sense of personal
  belonging in school that comes from the
  teacher-adviser relationship.

84
Indicators of an Intensive Emphasis on Guidance

• When students report
• being encouraged by a counselor or teacher to
  take Algebra in 6th, 7th or 8th grade.
• having a written plan for courses they plan to
  take in high school.
• their parents and someone at school helped them
  write their plan for courses they will take in
  high school.

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Indicators of Guidance and Advisement
86
Indicators of GuidanceTeacher Survey
87
Additional Indicatorsin the 2008 Assessment

• Teachers or other adults at school talked to
  students about what they will need to know and be
  able to do in 9th grade.
• Students take part in a parent-teacher-student
  conference about school work at least once a year.

88
Additional Indicatorsin the 2008 Assessment

• Students report being able to easily talk with an
  adult at school about any problems.
• Students and their parents or guardians met with
  a counselor, teacher, or another school rep. to
  plan their HS program of studies.

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What does it mean to improve student
transitions from middle grades to high school?

• Improving school-student-family connections
  through regularly scheduled conferences and
  frequent communication
• A required parent-student conference to develop a
  5- to 6- year plan for high school at least one
  or two years of post secondary education prior to
  the student leaving eighth grade.
• Communications about this plan should begin in
  grade six.

90
What does it mean to improve student
transitions from middle grades to high school?

• Making parents partners in getting students to
  complete assignments
• Providing and requiring extra help for students
  whose work is below proficient
• Stop letting students off the hook for learning
  and completing assignments
• Requiring students to complete all assignments
  (Power of I) in grades 6-9

91
Site Specific Strategies Involving Parents

• Sneak Peek Preview Night for Parents
• Schedule in Spring for parents of rising sixth
  graders
• Orientation on unique characteristics of young
  adolescents
• Description of middle school teaming
• Opportunities for parent involvement at the
  middle school
• Sixth-grade teachers serve as guides for tour of
  building
• Charting Your Childs Future program to
  increase parent awareness and interest in
  planning for their childrens future.

92
Site Specific Strategies Involving Parents

• Host a Data Dinner (or Dessert Night) to help
  parents review student progress and understand
  how their children are progressing in meeting
  standards.
• Parent workshops regarding high school programs,
  career development, high school procedures,
  athletic eligibility, high school curriculum,
  extracurricular activities, college admission
  criteria

93
Site Specific Strategies Involving Parents

• Plan special occasions such as Take Your Parent
  to School Day and the Family Day Picnic
• Culminating Celebrations Crossing the Bridge
  Ceremony
• Develop a 9th grade newsletter that parents begin
  to receive when their child is in the second
  semester of the 8th grade
• Create a parent brochure from the surveys on
  Moving to High School to help relieve parent
  anxieties

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Whats happening in your district?

• What strategies are in place to provide guidance
  and advisement for students in your district?

95
Why Should Teachers Work Together?

• Learn goals in other classes
• Teacher sharing
• Joint teacher planning
• Connections among classes
• Teacher leadership

96
Effective Transition programs

• Schedule meetings between collaborative groups
  from sending and receiving schools both
  students and adults
• Assess the human and financial resources
  available for support
• Identify student and adult leaders from all
  schools to help with the transition
• Establish a transition protocol that can be
  easily replicated and updated annually with
  little effort.

97
Effective Transition programs

• Building a sense of community between the two
  levels.
• Many meetings between teachers, administrators,
  transportation, and central office to
  organize/sign-off on plan
• Responding to the needs and concerns of students,
  parents/guardians and staff.
• Parents must be involved in every stage of
  process to keep parents coming to school with
  their children
• Providing appropriate, developmental strategies
  to facilitate the transition process no later
  than the 8th grade
• 9th grade is too late to help students with
  transition.

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Ideas for establishing a program

• Create activities that will involve students,
  parents, and staff from both schools in the
  transition process.
• Develop opportunities for students and parents to
  receive information regarding high school
  programs and procedures
• web site, parent workshops, newsletters, emails,
  brochures, career fairs, teacher-as-advisor
  activities senior led seminars for 8th graders
  peer mentoring for freshmen
• Back at your school, visit with teachers during
  their planning to help create these activities
  and pick their brains for information.

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Site Specific Strategies Building Relationships
between Schools

• Create a transition team of teachers, counselors,
  parents and students from the middle and high
  school that meets regularly to identify issues
  and propose transition activities and
  improvements based on annual evaluations
• Professional development on the development of
  young adolescents to high school teachers
• Establish a timeline (6th-8th grade) for the
  transition process.

100
Site Specific Strategies Building Relationships
between Schools

• Organize Teacher Swap Days
• Elementary/Middle
• Middle/High
• Between Grade Levels
• Strong teacher-as-advisor program or mentoring
  program to focus on personal/social issues,
  academic issues, and career development
• Annual joint faculty meeting to identify common
  concerns and opportunities
• Establish Teacher Shadowing/Peer Observation
  Program

101
Site Specific Strategies Building Relationships
between Schools

• Schedule regular collaborative meetings between
  groups from sending and receiving schools to
  discuss transition issues (vertical teaming
  vertical curriculum alignment)
• Create a transition team with representatives
  from sending and receiving schools.
• Charge Develop Transitions Plan that ensures a
  continuum of information and activities
• Plan specifies the what, when, who, and how
• District and school teams
• Include administrator(s), counselors, teachers,
  students, parents, district personnel,
  community/business partners
• Teams determine resources needed

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Next Steps Planning

• Complete Transition Team Process Planning form
• Refer to SREBs Conditions for Successful
  Transitions as a guide
• What is taught
• What is expected
• How we teach
• How we transition
• How we support students
• How we relate to each other
• How we relate to families

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Contact Information

• Toni Eubank
• 404-879-5610
• toni.eubank_at_sreb.org
• Barbara Moore
• 404-879-5596
• barbara.moore_at_sreb.org