Executive Director's Corner
Welcome to the Executive Director's Corner, a new feature
of our National Forum web site. In the months to come,
this "corner" of the site will be reserved
for sharing my thoughts on a current issue or event
of importance or interest to middle-grades advocates.
You may also see these columns adapted for other publications,
as we seek to broaden the reach and impact of the National
Forum.
I am pleased to have this opportunity to communicate
on behalf of the Forum about issues important to all
of us. As always, your input and responses are welcome. Contact me here.
Debby Kasak, Executive Director
National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform
Grade Configuration
Recently, several cities (e.g., New York City, Baltimore,
Philadelphia, Cincinnati, New Orleans) have considered
new grade configurations for their middle level students.
However, grade configuration is not the primary issue
to be answered. To be truly successful, school systems
must recognize that housing middle graders either with
elementary or high school students does not meaningfully
address the challenge of accelerating young adolescent
learning within the schools' walls. Rather, the hard
work of keeping kids on track and successful is addressed
through good practice within the classroom walls and
not by divvying up this age group and housing them with
younger and older kids.
We know more than ever before what makes excellent middle-grades
learning possible: well-trained teachers know their
subject matter and how to communicate it to young adolescents;
small learning communities create environments where
teachers and students know one another which facilitates
engaged learning; mentoring programs and a variety of
other supports keep students on track; curriculums that
include reading instruction across all subjects reinforce
the literacy skills essential to advanced learning.
Good practices for middle-grades students can be found
in schools with a variety of grade level configurations.
As school systems struggle to serve young adolescents,
it is very easy to get distracted by a 'middle-school'
vs. 'other school' debate. As advocates for this age
group, we should focus our attention on middle-grades
students and their learning. Rather than simply reshuffling
students and schools, we must support our educators
and school leaders so they can implement proven practices
to advance the learning of middle-grades students, regardless
of a school's grade configuration.
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