Snapshots of a School To Watch

High-performing middle grade schools are:

Academically Excellent

  • They challenge all students to use their minds well. providing them with the instruction, assessment, support, and time they need to meet rigorous academic standards.
     

  • The curriculum and extra-curricula programs in such schools are challenging and engaging, tapping young adolescents' boundless energy, interests, and curiosity.
     

  • Students learn to understand important concepts, develop essential skills, and apply what they learn to real0world problems.

    Developmentally Responsive

  • They provide comprehensive services to foster healthy physical and emotional  development. 
     

  • They have time to be reflective and numerous opportunities to make decisions about their learning.
     

  • Developmentally responsive schools involve families as partners in the education of their children.

    Socially Equitable

  • These schools make sure that all students are in academically rigorous classes staffed by experienced and expertly prepared teachers.
     

  • They work to educate every childe well and to overcome systematic variation in resources and outcomes related to race, class, gender, and ability.
     

  • They engage their communities in supporting all students' learning and growth.

    Organizational Structures and Processes

  • Shared and sustained leadership propels the school forward and preserves its institutional memory and purpose.
     

  • Someone in the school has the responsibility and authority to hold the school-improvement enterprise together, including day-to-day know-how, coordination, strategic planning, and communication.
     

  • The school is not an island unto itself.
     

  • The school holds itself accountable for its students' success.  The school intentionally and explicitly reconsiders its vision and practices when data call them into question.
     

  • The school includes families and community members in setting and supporting the school's trajectory toward high performance.