The following article was written by Carol Abbott, education programs consultant, Middle and High School Improvement Office, California Department of Education. It is the second in a series introducing the forthcoming reform project, “Taking Center Stage – Act II: Ensuring Success and Closing the Achievement Gap for California’s Middle Grades Students.”
Last week, EdCal introduced “Taking Center Stage – Act II: Ensuring Success and Closing the Achievement Gap for California’s Middle Grades Students.” TCS II is an innovative new project for middle grades educators. It is delivered via a powerful Web portal – to be located at http://pubs.cde.ca.gov/TCSII – that will debut at the California League of Middle Schools annual conference in Sacramento on Feb. 29, 2008. It will be available online, free of charge for California middle grades educators.
ACSA is a member of the California Middle Grades Alliance and an important partner in helping to design TCS II and the 12 recommendations that provide the structure for its organization and content.
Since the publication of the original Taking Center Stage in 2001, ACSA’s Middle Grades Council members have worked hard to help administrators throughout California prepare their middle grades students for the rigors of high school and the increasingly competitive global economy. Their dedication in implementing standards-based education has resulted in some promising news: 57 percent of middle schools had an increased schoolwide Academic Performance Index in 2007; 24 percent of middle schools scored at or above the performance target of 800 on the API in 2007; 35 percent of California’s middle schools met all of their API targets; and the median middle school scores on the API have risen from 667 in 2002 to 730.
However, daily news accounts and the latest Accountability Progress Report show the achievement gap persists. In addition, nearly 60 percent of middle schools have not met all of their federal AYP targets, putting them at risk for entering Program Improvement status. As a result, there is a clear need to focus on academic excellence – one of four sections in TCS II that mirrors the organizational structure developed by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform to create high performing middle schools.
Each TCS II chapter and related video focuses on one of the 12 recommendations, and provides easy access to a wide variety of resources that school team members can use to help their students succeed. Three chapters and their companion videos comprise the section on Academic Excellence:
Chapter 1 – Rigor
The concept of academic rigor plays a central role in effective middle schools. The chapter on rigor explores how a district- and school-wide vision setting high expectations for all students affects curriculum, instruction and in the school climate as a whole.
The chapter also includes information about developing literacy across the curriculum and about strategies such as pacing and backward mapping that help align instruction, materials and assessment to the standards. The chapter concludes with a section on the issue of standards-based reporting and grades.
Chapter 2 – Instruction, Assessment and Intervention
The second chapter includes more than 86 sections on a wide variety of topics, including study skills, differentiation, common benchmark assessments, appropriate test preparation, homework issues, rubrics, summer school and retention options, to name a few.
This comprehensive chapter links to research studies about effective practices relating to each content area. It explores how to integrate instruction with continuous progress monitoring and timely, accelerated interventions. Each section of the chapter provides helpful links to the California Department of Education and to outside resources.
Chapter 3 – Time
Under the National Forum’s organization, time is not a component of academic excellence. However, the CDE and members of the middle grades partner organizations believe that the effective use of time is a critical element in ensuring academic success.
The content of the chapter on time explores how administrators can lead teaching teams in creating a schedule that is flexible enough to allow students time for needed academic or behavioral interventions, sports, electives, before- and after-school activities, community-building fun and social engagement.
The chapter also shares strategies about making time for regularly scheduled team meetings to share best practices, discuss data and coordinate instruction across departments and grade levels.
Each chapter ends with appendices related to the recommendation, including teaming practices, online and print resources, the recommendation in action, and a chart of related initiatives on middle grades reform.
The TCS II portal will feature regular additions of best practice videos, school vignettes and research, as practitioners share their ideas with the TCS II staff after the March 2008 premier. This dynamic, growing library of best practice ideas is one of the benefits of a dedicated portal for middle grades excellence.
Next week’s issue of EdCal will focus on the second part of TCS II, developmental responsiveness. Forthcoming articles will focus on the remaining sections, social equity and organizational structures and processes.