While realizing that cutting social studies, science, and electives for some struggling students at North Tahoe Middle School so they could concentrate on math and reading could be controversial, teachers saw it as necessary to help students reach grade level.
Included: Approaches to curriculum and assessment.
Willow Run (Michigan) Middle School was placed in restructuring in 2003-04. Over the summer of 2004, the district built a new building and restaffed the school. This new staff implemented a new research-based curriculum.
District officials said they found it difficult to track student achievement using state tests
alone, because of the timing of the state test, the periodic increases in adequate yearly progress (AYP) targets, and past changes in the grade levels tested. Instead, teachers and administrators turned to assessments provided by Edperformance, STAR Reading, and STAR Math to help make decisions about student achievement and to help plan instruction.
The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act has given the district extra leverage to make changes, such as replacing staff and implementing a new curriculum, officials said. The
research-based reform model was developed by a design team made up of teachers, parents, and district administrators. The team met regularly for a year to explore possible reform models and come up with a specific plan that would work for the new school.
The reforms chosen were based on proven strategies identified by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform, research on effective middle schools from the National Middle School Association, and Turning Points research by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. In addition, district staff said several of the approaches to learning had been successful in the district’s K-8 school, while the middle school’s past focus on memorizing facts for tests had been unproductive.
These changes are in line with the district’s overall goals of improving student achievement and engaging students in learning. NCLB’s school choice and supplemental services sanctions have had less impact on the district. No students have transferred based on school choice, and 2004-05 was the first year in which substantial numbers of students participated in supplemental services.
Willow Run officials said that they believe student achievement is up in the district, but that these increases have not always shown up on state tests, especially at the middle school and high school levels, where students have traditionally had more trouble meeting AYP targets.
Middle Schoolers Get New School, New Teachers