The middle school years in particular are, or can be, a time of unlimited possibilities. Young enough that they can still be anything, middle school students are also old enough to have accumulated skills and knowledge enough to do more than just dream. Sometimes openly, sometimes covertly, they seek guidance from the adults around them – parents, teachers, other members of the community. For many young people, school is a center for much of this activity.
The National Middle School Association has determined that a successful middle school’s culture is characterized by three important factors. First, an environment that is inviting, supportive, safe, and involves all members of the community in active learning to enable them to meet high expectations. Second, educators who value and know how to work with students in this age group, and make decisions based on a shared vision which emerges under the guidance of courageous and collaborative leadership. Third, structures which include an advisory program and school-initiated partnerships with families and the greater community. Research not only supports these beliefs, but also suggests that in order to maximize success, a middle school must include all these elements.
Four years ago, I had the pleasure of observing a world drumming class taught by Mrs. Janet Siciak at Greenfield Middle School. As I walked through the door, the eighth graders greeted and welcomed me. They were eager to demonstrate some of the complicated patterns they had learned, and to include me in their work. I made my share of mistakes, but was encouraged – as were all students – to keep trying until I got it right. No one allowed anyone to settle for second best, but also no one made anyone feel second-rate. The environment Mrs. Siciak had created for her students, and helped them create for me, is exactly the kind of environment all kids deserve.
When Michelle Pedigo became principal of Barren County Middle School in rural Kentucky, she outlined a vision of “academic excellence, developmental responsiveness, and social equity” and worked so successfully with teachers, parents, students and other community members to implement that vision that she was named MetLife/NAASP Principal of the Year in 2001. The results? In her words, “We have seen continuous improvement in our test scores. I see students very much engaged in their learning -- we have become a community of learners. I see students having more input into the way they learn and in what goes on in their classrooms, and I see more smiles” Her courage in setting unflinching high standards, and her ability to implement her vision collaboratively, were largely responsible for these excellent results.
Similarly, at Freeport Middle School in Maine, principal Chris Toy set up a “Parent Team” patterned after the middle school model for teacher-teams. At a meeting early in the 2001-2002 school year, he presented his ideas on education, and then allowed the parents time to develop their own priorities. The group came up with the following list: “Students feel safe at school, with peers and teachers. Students receive an excellent well-rounded education. There are clear academic and behavioral expectations. Students have a good self image. Teachers know their students well.” This list became a point of reference as Chris and his staff made decisions through the year. The Parent Team was just one of many structures Freeport Middle School has in place to help their students maximize their potential, and you can see it in the smiles on the kids’ faces and the pride they take in their school.
The National Middle School Association is promoting October as the “Month of the Young Adolescent,” a time to think through what these wonderful young people bring to our communities and what we can bring to them. We see these kids volunteering for local organizations, sending off their short stories to creative writing contests, caring for other people’s children – stepping up to take their place in society. Through various email groups, I know teachers in middle schools in every part of the United States and through much of the world. We are all proud of “our” kids. The thing is, when kids feel that they are supported by their families, their schools and their communities, and when they see that their families, school and communities are working in partnership, they are free to be themselves, to be, as my friend Stephen Stroud once observed, “alive with a sense of the possible.”