What's in a name?

It's happening again. The same tired stereotypes, cliches, and lack of knowledge about middle school history and research has hit the newsstands and the blogosphere. As an example take a look at this article by Jay Mathews, education writer for the Washington Post. And for even more interesting reading, read some of the 175 responses, including letters from our own Chris Toy in Maine and Rick Wormeli. On the positive side, in these letters you begin to see the fantastic misunderstanding of middle level education in this country. But apparently, no one wants to do any homework to find out the truth. And if you wonder what middle schools Mathews refers to, an even more incredible article is found in Educationnext, "The Middle School Mess."

Both authors base their arguments on the oldest of middle school cliches, that the middle school concept has depressed student learning, at least according to standardized test scores, because middle schools have focused on personal development rather than academics. Or as Peter Meyer, author of "The Middle School Mess," states, "Academic mediocrity was not a hard case to make, since middle-school proponents had given, at best, lip service to academics almost from the inception of the model."

Really! I've been in hundreds of middle schools in the U.S. in the last 35 years and have taught and talked to thousands of middle level teachers. And while the "soft on academics" argument is often dusted off and spouted as if it were true by non middle school educators, I've seen very, very few instances where a school (or a teacher) deemphasized academic outcomes. I've looked and looked and  have never found any research evidence that this is true. But the myth persists.

It is highly ironic that such critics believe that any school with the descriptor "middle school" in its name is doing, has done, or will do those things that the middle school concept calls for. National Middle School Association (www.nmsa.org), National Association for Secondary School Principals (www.nassp.org), and the National Forun for Accelerating Middle Grades Progress (www.mgforum.org) all speak with one voice about what middle level schools should be. Separately, they have defined the essential qualities of middle level schools that begin with attention to high level academic learning (of course!!) but go well beyond academics to include skills and knowledge that prepares good citizens who will contribute to our country and our world in myriad positive ways. Some of those things won't show up on the NCLB-mandated test results, but they are essential nonetheless.

Ok, let's be honest about this. Middle schools (and junior high schools before them) have been the unwanted siblings of the K-12 education system. Elementary schools with innocent, cute, and interested children and high schools with adolescents whose sports provide many enjoyable hours of diversion for local communities, are the darlings of the K-12 system. Critics, unable or unwilling to find out what middle level schools are really all about, land on middle schools without really knowing the purposes, functions, and roles of such schools.

While critics insist that middle level schools have failed because they have adopted the tenets of middle level schools—a rigorous and integrated curriculum, team organization, and a culture of advocacy for every student (among others)—the irony is that lowered achievement on standardized tests has happened EXACTLY because thousands of middle level schools while taking the name middle school, have not adopted its essential components.

But this is ancient history. What can we do about this? What are our responsibilities? What can we do in our schools to turn this around? In the next installment, we'll answer each of these questions.

Emptying the inbox...hoping for someone to try out one of these ideas

Just back from NMSA's 37th annual conference, held this year in Baltimore. The conference is always a good time to think and reflect and I often come back with several pages of things that must be done. Here are a couple of my 2010 NMSA thoughts...

•  We need to figure out a way to use the terrific expertise of retired teachers in our communities. I spoke with a friend at the conference who is two months into her retirement (as an excellent middle school math teacher) and is at loose ends...trying to adjust to retirement. She taught for 39 years for heaven's sake and still has a passion for kids, teaching, and schools. How can we use her to help us in schools. Not teaching kids everyday...she has done this, but perhaps by serving as mentor to younger teachers, maybe as liaison with parents and community, or curriculum writer. Would someone pick up on this idea in your community and try it out. This is urgent! We need these people...and they still want to contribute.

•  Is anyone talking about FUN anymore? Certainly not in schools where testing, preparing for tests, test scores, resting up to take another test, test score comparisons, and narrowing the curriculum so more tests can be given are all the rage.  Ok, you get the idea. We need to bring back fun to schools—for students, teachers, principals, and parents. In New England where the Puritan Ethic still rules, we often don't talk about schools as fun places, but it has gotten even worse than that. While NCLB and the testing movement are easy targets (and so richly deserved), we have to accept some of the responsibility ourselves for putting fun back into learning. You know how to do it...so try something out and tell me what you did. Please...


•  You've heard about slow eating, slow exercising, and even slow driving. I think we need a new initiative in schools and I am calling is "SLOW DAYS". A slow day is a relaxed, but purposeful day at school that does not feel like a sprint. At its basic level, a slow day allows students and teachers to do what they need to do—learn, explore, interact, collaborate, and produce great work—but in a manner that allows thinking, reflection, and calm. I know this is counter-intuitive to the acceleration that we usually call for and perhaps slow has too many negative connotation. But you get the idea. Let's slow things down, perhaps do fewer things, have fewer classes, but meet longer with them, have fewer projects where subjects work together, and time for students and teachers to work together. This can be done in nearly any school. How might you get this started in your school?

Please let me know what you think about these "great" ideas and more importantly, tell me what you have done to try one or more of them out.

Learning more than I have a right to know: At the MAMLE and ACTEM Conferences

Spent today at Sugarloaf for the annual Maine Association for Middle Level Education conference. MAMLE has been a steady and present influence on middle level education in Maine since 1986 and this year's conference was no exception. Great to see Lindsay B and Sarah R at the conference. I attended Lindsay's session on "Math and RTI" today and it was an excellent session. She presented with her colleague from Warsaw MS, Kayla Brown, and John Keane (principal of Leonard MS in Old Town). An excellent session and a well done to Lindsay for her articulate and focused session.

I'm going to ask Lindsay and Sarah to give us a bit of a summary of the MAMLE conference, particularly the focus of the conference, what people were talking about outside of the sessions, and anything else they think is relevant. Lindsay and Sarah, feel free to use your blog or do a short voice memo (or podcast) or any format that is simple and works for you. I will open up a place in Moodle for you to drop in whatever you decide on. Thanks and look forward to your thoughts.

I've been in conference mode the last week and attended a day of the ACTEM Conference a week ago in Augusta. This one technology-learning focused...lots of people and excellent sessions as well. I don't think I saw anyone from our class there...so here are a couple of things I learned at the ACTEM Conference. Attended a terrific session by Lisa Hogan and Kerry Gallivan from MSAD 75 (Topsham...Mt. Ararat Middle and High Schools) on digital citizenship. They have been very proactive on this issue and frankly they are doing more than any other school in providing assistance to students, their teacher colleagues, and parents on the key issues of this critical topic.

My second session was by Jeff Whipple (jeffwhipple.ca) on tracking our digital footprint. Also an excellent session and I will share more specifics about this session shortly. Jeff, a tech integrator from New Brunswick, strongly advocates that anyone of middle and high school age (as well as adults) "control" their digital footprint by making it intentional. He suggests setting up a blog of your own (you all have them) that gives a positive and professional image of you and your work...for anyone searching for you. If you haven't Googled yourself lately...do so to see what comes up. Also, for another look at you and your web presence, use SPEZIFY, for a more visual look. Interesting!

So...what really is important in middle level education in 2010?

I've been thinking a great deal about our first face-to-face (F2F) class and the responses you all have made to several Moodle forums, the original VoiceThread, your blogs, and comments in class. Very interesting how major themes migrate to the top of any discussion...and the topics that you all care about—individually and collectively—did just that. So, at the risk of being redundant (since I mentioned these in my week #4 podcast), I will talk about each of them here because I think they DO represent some of the major questions about middle level education in 2010. The order here is strictly random, although by the end of our study together this semester, I think we will have an order for this list.

•  How could we ignore technology and learning, especially given our involvement in MLTI since 2002.  MLTI has changed middle level education in Maine more than any other event, initiative, or program. Hands down! No question. MLTI has changed how we teach, how our students learn, and it has raised our expectations for student learning along the way. Lots of issues in this large umbrella topic, of course, but one is more important than all the lessons we've learned from MLTI. Want to know what it is? When MLTI was rolled out, the time from roll-out to implementation was very, very short. Under Bette Manchester's direction (with lots of help from Maine educators) we mounted a massive and effective professional development effort that prepared middle level teachers to (happily) embrace and use the laptops to further learning. This was a huge lesson to learn...that with a singular purpose...and a sharp focus on a goal...we could make such a huge improvement in learning in a relatively short time. What if we applied this "get it done" mentality to every problem/issue we have in education?

• A number of you noted the lack of Maine middle level certification...and that surprised me. Not that it isn't important, middle level teacher certification underlies everything else in this post, but that it so rarely comes up. Several groups over the last 25 years have proposed a ml certificate but that suggestion has gone nowhere! We did have a Middle Level Endorsement for a number of years and that included knowledge about curriculum, instruction, assessment; knowledge of the young adolescent...and several other topics in four different courses. But, the ML Endorsement morphed into something totally different with the advent of NCLB when it became strictly a content issue. Now, ml teachers need 24 credits in a content area to be "highly qualified"...but no more concern that they also know about the students they teach or any of the rest of the ml focus.

• The third theme is the sticking point. How do we fulfill the goals of middle level education AND respond to all the (seemingly separate and sometimes contradictory) initiatives and mandates that are thrown at us from our school districts, the state, and federal requirements? Simply stated, how do we compromise essential middle level practices with NCLB and state testing requirements? At a time when schools are cutting anything that doesn't directly "prepare" students for the many tests they are required to take, where is there time in the day for advisory programs, common planning time for teaching teams, integrated curriculum...and so much more? Can we do both? Should we do both? Or, are these two totally different directions? I think there are many points of compromise here...and I also think that these two points of view can work together. Let's find out how.

• Given the three previous themes, what is the future trajectory of middle level education? Where has it been? What has it accomplished? Where is it going? When we talk about the middle school concept (or ml philosophy) what do we mean? Why are some districts abandoning the ms concept while others eagerly embrace it? Middle school is often referred to as the "bridge" between elementary and secondary education. Why are we unwilling to pay attention to the unique needs of young adolescents, as we so readily serve the needs of children and older adolescents?

• And here is where the rubber meets the road— leadership and advocacy. What can each of us do in our schools, districts, and communities to further the cause of education...to provide the best possible learning for every student. We are finishing an incredible week with the release of Waiting for Superman and the nationwide conversations stimulated by the many activities of Education Nation. Will this impetus die on the vine...or will we take the initiative and move ahead? We need both advocacy for and leadership in middle level education more than ever before. We need you to be an advocate for young adolescents in your own school and district, but we also need you to be a voice of leadership at the state and national levels as well.

What themes would you add to this list?

Secretary Duncan's Visit to King Middle School in Portland, ME

Yesterday, Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, spent the day talking with teachers and students at King Middle School in Portland.  He learned a great deal about expeditionary learning....the keystone to King's curricula, commented on the looping practice that keeps students and their teachers together for two years, and reflected on how engaged students at King MS are in their learning.

For anyone familiar with King MS, none of these areas of focus would be surprising. But, I found even more interesting what was not said by Duncan. Nowhere in the dozen or more articles I read of the event was there mention of No Child Left Behind or Race to the Top or any of the other school reform agendas touted by the Department of Education.

And what makes it so interesting is that (in my humble opinion), King Middle School is the antithesis of what NCLB and RTTP stand for. King works because it pays attention to every student...supports and encourages every teacher to teach in a way that meets the needs of this age group...and has a visionary leader who isn't afraid to lead. Of course, there are many other reasons why King MS is so successful, but the key is that it works because it focuses on what we know about learning...not about punishing schools for poor test scores.

Take a look at the link above and see what happened yesterday at King Middle School.

Run...don't walk to read the Newsweek article on creativity

Wow...talk about a "knock your socks off article".

I hereby assign as required reading, the feature article in the July 19, 2010, issue of Newsweek, "Creativity in America—The Science of Innovation and How to Reignite Our Imaginations,"  for every educator, parent, taxpayer, policymaker in the U.S...ok, for everyone. No excuses and no exceptions. While that is the cover title, the actual article inside is called  "The Creativity Crisis."

While we've been concentrating on leaving no child behind and racing to the top (talk about a mixed and confusing set of analogies) the rest of the world is headed in the opposite direction. The article traces the decline of creativity according to a number of measures, even as IQ has increased. The decline in creativity is specifically linked to our current educational practices...and the section of the article about what we can do to increase creative thought is a useful set of suggestions for teachers.

The kicker of the article is a quote from Jonathan Plucker (a former UMaine colleague and now a professor at Indiana University) who recently toured schools in China and was asked to identify trends in American education. When he described our focus on "standardized curriculum, rote memorization, and nationalized testing"..."the Chinese educators just started laughing out loud, " Plucker says. "They said, "You're racing toward our old model. But we're racing toward your model, as fast as we can."

The middle school model we have studied for the last four weeks is the model of learning and teaching we want....and more importantly, what our young adolescents need.

For the Newsweek article...
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/10/the-creativity-crisis.html

See also...
http://www.danpink.com/

Where are we headed?

Some thoughts on the status of middle level education...have we made any progress in the last 30 years or so? We still have two many people who do not understand what the middle school concept is about. Stereotypes about middle level schools still seem to center on the same worn arguments that have no basis in fact (nor supported by research)...middle schools as not rigorous enough or academically stringent. Lack of well-prepared teachers because in too many states we continue to prepare teachers for elementary and high schools but assume that hybirds are "good enough" for middle level schools. And where does leadership enter into the picture? And technology as an integrated part of the curriculum? And why are high schools now encouraged to make the same improvements that middle schools have been advocating for 40 years...but middle schools are under fire for promoting teaming, integrated curriculum, adult advocates, exploratory learning, and more?