Key Initiatives

Schools to Watch (STW): The National Forum has identified a list of 34 criteria to describe high-performing schools that serve students in the middle grades. Such schools are academically excellent, responsive to the developmental changes of young adolescents, and socially equitable, with high expectations for all students. After a rigorous national search, in 1999-2000 the Forum selected four Schools to Watch that exemplified many of the criteria: Jefferson Middle School (Champaign, Illinois), Barren County Middle School (Glasgow, Kentucky), Freeport Intermediate School (Freeport, Texas), and Thurgood Marshall Middle School (Chicago, Illinois). These schools have since received national recognition for their programs and practices and have been featured by the National Forum in case studies and online tours. In collaboration with NMSA, NAESP, NASSP, and the NSDC, the National Forum piloted its Schools to Watch State program in 2002, providing extensive training to middle-grades leaders in California, Georgia, and North Carolina and equipping them to run STW programs in their states. In 2003 Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, and Virginia, joined the program. New York and Ohio joined in 2004. Michigan and Arkansas joined in 2005 with Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Utah joining in 2006. The Forum will continue to expand the program in 2007. Learn more about the program.

Comprehensive School Reform (CSR): The National Forum counts among its membership developers of seven comprehensive school reform models aimed at bringing about whole-school change: AIM at Middle Grades Results, Different Ways of Knowing, Making Middle Grades Work, Making Schools Work, Middle Start, Success for All Middle School Program, Talent Development Middle School Model, and Turning Points' Transforming Middle Schools. These CSR models are unique because they focus on the middle grades. Model developers meet together semiannually to discuss common concerns and work collaboratively to address issues such as social equity and parent involvement. A new portion of the National Forum web site focuses on the history, model design, and research findings of these models. Visit www.mgforum.org/Improvingschools/CSR/csr_intro.htm to learn more.

Engaging Key Stakeholders

By continually speaking with one voice and informing stakeholders about the need for educators to adopt new policies, programs, and instructional practices, the Forum changes the discourse about middle-grades education and mobilizes others to act on behalf of the nation's middle- grades schools.

Policy Statements. The Forum prepares policy statements and recommendations on critical education issues, including ability grouping, preparation and certification for middle-grades teachers, high-stakes testing, and small learning communities. The Forum disseminates these recommendations broadly to facilitate reforms.

Postsecondary Access. The Forum also seeks to unite stakeholders in promoting education beyond high school for middle-grades students. With funding from Lumina Foundation for Education, the Forum and the League of United Latin American Citizens are launching the PALMS Project (Postsecondary Access for Latino Middle-Grades Students). Through PALMS, the Forum and its partners will identify programs that are effectively reaching the parents of Latino middle-grades students with information about how to prepare their children for college. Read more about the project.

National Conferences. The Forum also brings together policy makers and other education leaders. In the summerof 2002, in conjunction with the Academy for Educational Development and the Council of Chief State School Officers, the National Forum convened a meeting of state education officials, policy makers, and advocates to explore the opportunities provided by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 to improve the teaching and achievement of young adolescents.

A high priority of the National Forum is strengthening the capacity of current and future middle-grades leaders. To spur middle-grades school improvement in the South, the National Forum convened key education leaders as part of the Southern Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform. This Forum seeks to improve middle-grades education in 10 Southern states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. In 2003, John Harrison and Associates took over as the host organization for this group. The National, Southern, and other regional Forums plan to remain closely linked in the future. Learn more about the Southern Forum.

To assist those who share its vision for high-performing schools and wish to increase the pace of middle-grades reform, the National Forum has developed a variety of tools, including a leadership development curriculum which is now available for purchase. The Forum ran a Leadership Institute based on this program in the spring of 2003. In the spring of 2005, the National Forum co-sponsored the Governor William Winter Principal’s Leadership Institute with Mid South Middle Start and the Southern Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform which featured the Forum’s Leadership Training Curiculum.