1. The Middle School Concept

2. The Middle School Concept
Definition of “middle school”
History of middle school development
Middle School Concept
Assessment of your school
NMSA characteristics

3. Draw your middle school.
Have students draw and discuss their middle schools. They should try and indicate programs, activities, etc. on their plans.

4. What is a middle school?
The middle school is a school organization containing Grades 6 to 8 (and sometimes Grade 5) that, first, provides developmentally appropriate and responsive curricular, instructional, organizational, guidance, and overall educational experiences; and second, places major emphasis on 10- to 15-year-olds’ developmental and instructional needs.
- Manning and Bucher, p. 7
Share and discuss Manning and Bucher definition.
Ask students whether/how their middle school meet this definition.

5. History During most of 19th century 8-4 pattern was the rule.
During late 19th century nature of secondary schools changed.
Demographic shift to urban, industrial society
Decrease in demand for teenage workers
Rise of middle class
1874 Kalamazoo Michigan case
From NEA committees met to set national policies.
1892 Committee of Ten (Carnegie unit)
1918 Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education (6-3-3 pattern)
1909 first junior highs established in Columbus, Ohio.
Dominated by goals of high school
Conflict between basic skills focus in elementary versus strict academic/vocational focus in high

6. History
1960s-1980s middle school organization with emphasis on developmental needs of young adolescents came to dominate.
Donald Eichhorn and William Alexander – The Emergent Middle School (1968)
Transescence (developmental period beginning in late childhood prior to puberty and extending through early years of adolescence)
View of middle school as new and emergent school, not reorganized junior high
Middle school should build on positive junior high programs like the core curriculum, guidance programs, exploratory education, and vocational and home arts.
Middle schools should eliminate high school practices like academic honor societies, competitive sports, and subject matter orientation.

7. Characteristics Middle School Junior High School
Organization of teachers
Interdisciplinary teams
Subject departments
Organization of students
Instructional grouping within heterogeneous learning communities; flexible grouping
Homogeneous groups; tracking
Instructional planning
Cooperation
Isolation
Scheduling
Flexible blocks
Rigid periods
Student/teacher interaction
Team-based
Different teacher every 40 to 50 minutes
Student/teacher environment
Nurturing, caring
Impersonal
Student/student environment
Team cohort group
Constantly shifting groups in separate classes
Guidance
One adult advisor/mentor for 25 or fewer students
Guidance counselor for students
Frequency of guidance
Advisories daily or on frequent basis
Guidance once or twice a year
Major differences between middle schools and junior high schools (Manning and Bucher, p. 9)

8. The Middle School Concept
Middle schools…
Know that students learn from the total experience of school, not its isolated parts.
Are developmentally responsive, understanding the “developmental uniqueness” of the young adolescent.
Embrace and respond to student diversity on many levels, understanding that young adolescents are distinguished by the degree they differ rather than the degree to which they are the same.
Understand that curriculum has many aspects.
Schwab (1973) – cited in TWBA pp. 5-6
Evertson, Weeks, and Randolph (1996) – cited in TWBA p. 5

9. For current thinking, look to...
National Middle School Association (NMSA)  This We Believe
The Carnegie Corporation of New York  Turning Points 2000
National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP)  Breaking Ranks in the Middle
National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform 

10. How developmentally appropriate is your school?
Have students think of a middle school and complete the “Determining a Middle School’s Developmental Responsiveness” test (Manning and Bucher, p. 10)
Have students also consider the following questions:
Does the school use a wide variety of instructional strategies in response to the variety of learning needs in the classroom?
Has the school developed an exploratory program so that students may expand and develop individual interests?
Does the school encourage continuous progress for each individual with his/her preferred pace and/or learning style?
Does the school chart student progress in ways that stress individual growth rather than comparison with peers?
Discuss implications.

11. NMSA Characteristics
The characteristics are not isolated; they work together.
Research shows “that implementing more elements for longer periods of time does, with certainty, lead to improved student outcomes in all three major goal areas – academic, behavioral, and attitudinal” (TWBA, pp. 7-8).
Hand out 14 characteristics from This We Believe.

12. Class Wiki