What Works in Middle-Grades School Reform.

Abstract

Twenty-five years ago, when the Ford Foundation commissioned a study of the status of research and programs that concerned early adolescence, the age group had been overlooked in research and services. Most professionals and policy makers were unaware of this void. This issue of the Phi Delta Kappan, focusing on the education of young adolescents, exemplifies a noteworthy change in our society's view of the importance of early adolescence. As the bibliography at the end of this insert attests, in two decades young adolescents have gone from Growing Up Forgotten, the title of the Ford Foundation study, to a high level of national concern. In fact, the study and practice of schooling for 10- to 15-year-olds now command so much attention that the bibliography could easily have been triple in size. This level of productivity has generated ample observational studies of efforts to reform middle-level schools; however, we have surprisingly little quantitative information to satisfy the demands of thoughtful practitioners and policy makers for assessment of those efforts. Practitioners plead with researchers to give them hard data about what works. Among all the structural school changes, what really makes a difference in students' behavior and academic accomplishments? Instituting teaming and teacher-student advisement programs, for instance, is hard work. Is it worth doing? Why? And how do we know? Interdisciplinary curricula, inquiry-based instruction, and cooperative learning require staff development that is expensive - both to the spirit and to the budget. What benefits do students derive from the level of effort these changes demand? Policy makers at the local and state levels ask researchers practical questions about instituting new practices: What does implementation really mean? How much is enough? What does it take to improve schools? More specifically, can we get away with mandating weekly common planning periods, or do we have to reallocate limited resources to support dally planning? When we reorganize schools into houses, is there a recommended size? What student outcomes result from that recommended size? Lagging behind practitioners are teacher training institutions. Many continue to prepare teachers for pedagogical environments that no longer exist. Many students' home lives have suffered fundamental changes, dislocating schools from their traditional relationships with families and communities. In addition, under the best of circumstances, technological and structural changes have transformed classroom practice, requiring the fundamental reconstruction of teacher preparation programs. However, lacking evidence that ties specific practices to improved student outcomes, school critics' exhortations to reform preservice programs for middle-level teachers and administrators fall on deaf ears. At the same time, national and international studies attest to the intellectual underdevelopment of too many young adolescents. For example, only 28% of eighth-graders scored at or above the proficient level in reading in 1994, and just 2% read at or above the advanced level. In the recently released TIMSS (Third International Mathematics and Science Study) data, U.S. seventh- and eighth-graders ranked 28th in mathematics skills and 17th in science proficiency among comparable students in 41 countries. As is true at all grade levels, poor academic achievement is especially prevalent in middle-grades schools serving high concentrations of low-income students. These young people must avoid school failure or suffer the consequent constriction of life options. Yet these statistics about young adolescents' poor academic performance suggest that many middle-grades schools are failing to enable the majority of their students to achieve at anywhere near adequate levels. The articles that follow indicate that these disappointing outcomes are far from inevitable; rather, fundamental changes in the structure and content of middle-grades education can produce substantial improvement in students' academic achievement and healthy development. …

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