Origins of Intermediate Education

1
Origins of Intermediate Education

• Turn of 20th century awareness of special
  learner and special approach to teaching for
  preadolescents.
• Lost in expansion of public education,
  1910-1930.

2
Models of Education (US)

• Old Public Education
• Government program
• Literacy taught
• Foundational Knowledge
• Mass Production
• Behaviorism

• New set of ideas
• Humanistic (person-centered)
• Pestalozzi, Froebels, Darwin
• John Dewey
• Progressive Education

3
Deweys Model

• Child-centered
• School as community Climate of positivism
• Subject matter focusliving
• Integrated into everyday experiences
• Experience-based
• Competence based on application as well as
  knowing
• Room for differences and creativity

4
Deweys Conditions for Growth

• Freedom to investigate
• Choice in school experiences
• Ability to meet and solve problems that would be
  confronted later in life
• Development of a growing consciousness

5
Action Learning

• Students investigate, reflect, and develop
  generalizations to guide future decision making
• Roots in the direct and present experiences of
  learners

6
Apperception

• Belief that new knowledge was perceived or
  comprehended in terms of old or previously
  experienced understandings.

7
History of Middle School Movement

• 1904G. Stanley Hall Study (4000 youth)
• Documented unique stage of development
  (preadolescent)
• 1909First Junior High
• Columbus, Ohio
• 1910-Berkely, Calif. Supt. introductory high
  school
• 1920over 400 schools (7-8-9)
• Mid-1950s6,500 junior high schools

8
1910-1965

• MythJunior High was simply miniature high
  school
• 1915-1920extensive literature on the junior high
• Focus was specialness of preadolescent learner
  and need to individualize
• Large growth (200,000 to 5 million) derailed
  efforts (1890-1920)

9
1910-1965 continued

• Focus shifted from curriculum and philosophy to
  buildings and books
• By 1930smini high school
• Absence of teachers trained for preadolescents
• Secondary trained focused on subject matter
• Departmentalization reduced flexibility

10
1910-1965 Part Three

• Junior highs began to deal with problems of
  current middle schools (discipline, motivation,
  drop out rate)
• High point of theoretical resurgence List of
  six basic functions of the junior high by Gruhn
  and Douglas

11
1910-1965, part four

• Resurgence faded
• Great Depression
• Second World War
• Recovery period

12
Failure of the Junior High

• The inclusion of the ninth grade in the junior
  high organization kept the school from developing
  a curriculum to truly serve the preadolescent.
  The ninth graders were tied to the graduation
  requirements established in the 1890s and
  required to have fixed coursed with fixed time
  requirements. Once 9th graders were scheduled,
  little flexibility remained for 8th and 7th
  graders.

13
Failure of the Junior High (2)

• 9th Graders no longer preadolescents.
• Junior Highs had to meet 2 different
  developmental stages.

14
The Early Middle School1965-2000

• Dr. William Alexander (official credit)
• Also John Lounsbury, Gordon Vars, and William Van
  Til
• Movement to reestablish a school for
  preadolescents
• Alexander revived term middle school, added a set
  of educational attributes

15
The Early Middle School1965-2000

• Progressive school of thought
• Jr. Highsubject centered vs. Middle
  Schoolstudent centered
• 6-7-8 rather than 7-8-9
• Extend to 5-6-7-8
• Common factor experiencing puberty

16
Facilitators of Middle Level Reform

1. Sputnik (general unhappiness with education)
2. Brown v. Topeka (desegregation)
3. Increased enrollment (after WW II)
4. Readiness for change

17
Alexanders Proposal

• Followed original literature of the junior highs
  broad-based general education, with 3 key
  points
• Education for social competence
• Mastery of basic learning skills
• Personal Development
• Exploration, not mastery
• Bridge

18
Middle School Movement

• Longest running curriculum innovation
• Early mistake de-emphasis of child-centeredness
  of the curriculum emphasis on grade level
  change.
• Results
• Focus on organizational change
• Ill-defined curriculum
• No clear learning theory

19
Early Middle Schools

• Block Scheduling
• Common Planning Periods
• Advisory Guidance
• Interdisciplinary Instruction
• Development of programs
• Focus on programs, not curriculum

20
Failures of Middle School

• Vision versus reality
• Junior High sidetracked by growth but
• Middle School sidetracked by lack of vision
• Not translated into schools

21
1965-2000

• Instructional Innovations
• Integration
• Public Law 94-142 (mainstreaming)
• IDEA Act (inclusion)

22
Middle School Promise

• Early promises were strong on philosophy and weak
  on details.
• Advocated a unique school, not a jr. high nor a
  elementary extension

23
Promise vs. Reality

• Meet unique needs of students
• Balanced curriculum of knowledge, skills, and
  personal development
• Exploration
• Caring and Accepting climate
• Personal Guidance to Each Student

• Grouping by ability and serving by labels
• Back to BasicsTesting and Accountability
• Lack of individual exploration for all.
• Star system
• One counselor per 400 students

24
Middle Schools did not fully meet these goals

• School designed for preadolescent learner
• School that would serve each learner as an
  individual
• School with a comprehensive, balanced learning
  program
• School that would allow the learner to explore
  and understand him/herself
• School with a caring and accepting climate
• School providing a personal guidance program