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The Edutopia Poll
by Sara Bernard
Middle school students are falling behind in academic achievement, according to advocacy groups such as the Alliance for Excellent Education and the National Middle School Association. Research shows that though American students do well on assessments during elementary school, they score far below students in other countries by the time they reach eighth grade.
As middle school is often a critical period in education, during which motivation slumps along with test scores, some school districts are eliminating middle schools entirely by folding those grades into elementary schools or high schools. Do you think changing the school structure in this way will make a difference, or are wider research and policy changes required?
Teaching in a low-economic, low achieving school
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on May 19, 2008 - 09:54.
I teach in a low econmomic, low achieving Latino middle school in Southern California, and the overwhleming opinion of the students and their families is that school is glorified, and free, daycare. The population is 60% transient, meaning they will be in the US less than 5 years and attend multiple schools in that time. It breaks my heart to see the few who value education get swallowed up by the mob mentality, dashing any hope of a future. I am writing this as my students take the CST in math, and the glazed look upon their faces frightens me. What will become of these uneducated, unmotivated students when they are adults. I've been told by other staffers to be glad if I reach 1 student a year, but how do I live with myself over the other 85?
Improvement of Middle Schools
Submitted by Mark Heinze (not verified) on September 30, 2007 - 20:31.
After having taught for 21 years and also putting my own kids through middle school and hosting quite a few German exchange students, I am convinced that our attempt to include all ability levels in one classroom is dumbing down our curriculum.
In Germany they basically track students. This word "track" has become a bad word in the United States as it is associated with a rigid system in which students are trapped and cannot move out of. In Germany this is not the case and their students are better prepared than I find ours are.
"Differentiation" is a difficult process to adhere to in daily lessons and most teachers don't want to leave children behind and therefore, teach to the middle or lower end of the classroom spectrum. The best and the brightest are frequently left to their own devices rather than having a daily challenge and enriching classroom atmosphere.
We also teach a mile wide and one inch deep. We hit on many concepts but spend in depth study on few.
IN European classses, if you fail one, you fail the entire year. This may seem harsh however it does force students to try and as we all see, many American students fail and are still passed on to the next grade.
I hope we can look to other models and stop this endless focus on standardized testing.
Improving middle school education
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on May 19, 2008 - 09:57.
I agree that we need to be stricter with the students. When I was a student, the fear of being held back was a motivator for many borderline students. We have remove competition and work ethic, and replaced them with selfishness and greed. How are these new students going to support themselves in the future? This is why the wage gap grows further apart between the "haves" and "have-nots".
I agree that students also
Submitted by Lisa (not verified) on September 30, 2007 - 15:11.
I agree that students also need to be held accountable while they are in elementary grades and not just passed on. When they reach middle school they should be able to read at their grade level and have the skills necessary to be successful in middle school. Also at this age I think the students are developing a greater understanding as to what role their parents are playing in their lives if any. The parents have a huge impact/ impression on them and I think that sometimes they don't even realize it.
I think we also have to be willing to continue to be creative in our teaching and remember that the tests aren't everything.
disconnect between home and students during middle school
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on September 25, 2007 - 11:06.
I would agree with most of the postings. However, I think there has been a change in parental involvement which has a devastating effect on student achievement. Schools can and should implement best practice ideals and for some students that will be enough. Others students, however, won’t connect the importance of education to success if their parent(s) fail to show they value education and/or care if their child does well. There already are heavy burdens placed on schools and I don’t think we, as a society, should expect schools to replace the roles parents ought to play in their child’s education.
Encourage all Children
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on September 23, 2007 - 10:35.
Inspire and encourage *all* children. Don't just cater to the "academically gifted" kids. The rest of them deserve caring teachers, hands on projects, and fair discipline as well.
School websites need to be created and maintained, with homework schedules, teacher emails, etc. (and again, not just for the "gifted" classes, but for *all* the classes).
Students with disabilities, ADHD, learning disabilities, etc. are not undeserving or hopeless. There may be a very intelligent, even truly gifted kid struggling. Teachers and administrators need to wake up and realize that all straight As does not necesarily = giftedness/goodness and bad grades do not necessarily = dumbness/badness.
The End of Grade tests are ridiculous and do not measure true learning or intelligence. Also, it does not benefit students to scare them about these tests and tell the ones who have trouble that there is "no way they will do good on the EOGs."
Improving Middle Schools
Submitted by Bill Betzen (not verified) on September 23, 2007 - 10:35.
The fragmentation of education by breaking the K-8 years into two different schools has helped contribute to many problems: gangs, apathy, poor performance, and ultimately a high dropout rate. Our student see too little connection with to their futures in their middle school work. They focus on the present as a painful reflection of our culture. But think of how that may change in a school wherein a teacher says: "I look forward to seeing you at your 10 year reunion." How would such statement, made common in a school, change a child's self image and connections with the future?
Too many students live exceptionally fragmented lives with no vision of their futures. Our schools must work to overcome that motivational handicap. We must connect students with their own futures in as credible a manner as is possible.
For our middle school a simple 10-year time capsule and class reunion system helps achieve the future focus. We bolted a 350-pound vault to the floor in our school lobby and put it under spotlights in an obvious place of respect. It holds letters from every 8th grade class until their 10-year class reunions. (See www.studentmotivation.org.)
At the 10-year reunion returning former students know they will be invited to speak with then current students about their recommendations for success. Students are told to prepare for questions that may be asked by the younger students 10 years in the future, questions such as: "Would you do anything differently if you were 13 again?"
Thinking now of answering such a question helps current students see current work differently, they may work harder and stay in school. Knowing that their plans for the future are so important as to lock them into a fire-proof vault bolted to the floor in their middle school lobby will help create a sense of belonging. It is a very real and physical connection to the future.
Once the reunions start happening in 7 years, our middle school students will also have new information to use in planning for their future, the advice from the returning former students who share with them as they come to their 10-year reunions to retrieve the letters they had written 10 years earlier.
Teachers will also have a new feedback source to help them in keeping their lesson plans up to date in preparing students for the ever changing world!
Our dropout rates appear to be improving! A revolution in education is evolving.
Bill Betzen
Dallas, Texas
www.studentmotivation.org
Middle-grades education
Submitted by Patrick Montesano (not verified) on September 6, 2007 - 06:15.
I'm glad to see middle-grades education getting the attention it deserves. My colleagues and I (working on middle-grades reform through our AED Middle Start initiative) have found that successful approaches to the education of young adolescent students include (1) the consistent use and assessment of best practices and organizational arrangements in classrooms and schools, and (2) district policies that address inequitable student and teacher assignment practices, class size, professional development, and leadership preparation. Successful middle-grades schools (of every grade configuration) are the result of smart thinking and support at every level of a school system.
No Child Left Behind Testing
Submitted by Beverly Almond (not verified) on September 6, 2007 - 05:33.
It amazes me that after all we have learned about teaching to multiple learning styles, that we still hang all hope on a standardized test that tests only one style. No Child Left Behind is a return to the archaic teaching styles of yesteryear. What's next? Are we to begin smacking little hands with a ruler once again in an effort to force learning on the unwilling child?
All Secondary Students Need Engagement as well as Content
Submitted by Scott Shuler (not verified) on June 12, 2007 - 10:27.
The biggest issues in secondary learning have little to do with grade level format, and much more to do with instruction and content.
Secondary students, including middle grade students, need to be presented with content in ways that engage them. There are many strategies that increase engagement, some of which have appeared in Edutopia previously -- for example, integration of technology and media, inclusion of arts content and real-world, issue-based content that engage students emotionally as well as intellectually. To make this happen secondary teachers, who unfortunately too often tend to teach in the awful, lectures-with-textbook style that they endured during college, must change their instructional practices.
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