Recognizing Education’s Middle School Syndrome

“Many [students] make that decision to drop out–either consciously or unconsciously–during those middle grades years.” — Deborah Kasak

Listening to several middle school experts describe their experiences during a recent panel discussion at the Department of Education left me scratching my head and wondering why–more than 30 years into the middle school movement–middle schools still seem like the neglected middle children of education.

Robert Balfanz spoke on a panel May 12 at a Department of Education Policy Briefing, “Putting Middle Grades Students on the Graduation Path,” along with Deborah Kasak of the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform, and Principal John Miller and teacher Tara Kidwell, of Stonewall Middle School.

Dr. Robert Balfanz, noted researcher from Johns Hopkins University, described in detail not only the number of students that schools lose during the middle years, but also the early warning signs that a young adolescent is veering off the path leading to graduation. The middle grades may be the most important years in a child’s education, the “most fertile years,” according to Balfanz. It is during this time that students ask and answer for themselves, “Is schooling for me?” Because of this, Balfanz urged the audience to understand that the middle grades are the one place where educators “really have a chance to reform outcomes.”

To change the trajectory, however, Balfanz made a strong case that educators need to be much more intentional about how we serve our early adolescents, paying attention to what he described as the ABCs:  chronic absenteeism, behavioral problems, and low course grades in middle school. According to his June 2009 middle school policy and practice brief, the earlier students develop off-track indicators, the lower their graduation odds appear to be.

Of course, as a former teacher of eighth-grade language arts, I know that the middle grades are crucial, a time when students often turn off to school permanently. Yet I found myself as astonished as the rest of the room to learn from Balfanz that, to date, there do not appear to be clearly articulated standards of practice for the middle grades.

John Miller testified that high expectations are a key to turning around low-performing schools. “Students will rise to a teacher’s high expectations if the teacher believes they can achieve them,” he said.

Balfanz, John Miller (principal of Stonewall Middle School in Manassas, Va.) and Deborah Kasak (from the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform)  made a number of insightful recommendations to move policymakers, educational leaders, and teachers in the right direction, including tracking chronic absenteeism in middle school, computing graduation rates of seventh and eighth graders, paying greater attention to suspensions for sustained mild misbehavior, keeping track of students’ grades, and developing articulated standards of practice for middle schools so that they become the baseline for operating and measuring middle school performance.

We know this stuff, I couldn’t help thinking, but we really are not paying attention.

Laurie Calvert

Laurie Calvert is a Teaching Ambassador Fellow on loan from Buncombe County Schools in North Carolina.

Read Robert Balfanz’s 2009 policy brief, Putting Middle Grades Students on the Graduation Path.

Check out the Schools to Watch Criteria for high-performing middle schools.

Connect with the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform and the National Middle School Association (NMSA).