Making Middle Grades Work

Making Middle Grades Work

During the the 1990s, states concentrated educational efforts on the “bookends” of schooling — early childhood, reading and high school graduation requirements. At the same time, the middle grades languished into patterns of lagging achievement, unfocused academic programs, unprepared teachers and insufficient instructional leadership and resources. As a result, the middle grades today demand increased attention.

Through a series of four research reports on the middle grades, SREB has defined the critical issues in middle grades and recommended a number of actions that states, districts and schools can take to improve student performance in the middle grades. The reports call for states to review their standards and expectations to determine whether they are rigorous and challenging and if they spell out clearly what students should master. SREB suggests that states should provide examples of challenging curricula and should provide information that schools, communities and families can use to improve middle grades education. SREB also calls for higher education to create links with the state certification process to better prepare teachers by requiring more work in academic disciplines and more experience with young adolescents.

SREB challenges states to lead by clearly outlining goals for improving middle grades education and by providing resources necessary to reach the goals. A comprehensive improvement framework with 10 essential elements pulls together specific, research-supported actions that states, districts and schools can take to move the middle grades forward.

The Purpose of Making Middle Grades Work

The goal of Making Middle Grades Work is to raise the academic achievement of all middle grades students to at least the Basic level, with increasing percentages of middle grades students performing at the Proficient level, as defined and measured by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

To accomplish this goal, MMGW proposes that:

all students learn a rigorous core curriculum of mathematics, reading across content areas, English/language arts, science and social studies;

students are taught by highly qualified teachers who hold a content major or minor in the subject(s) they teach;

teachers engage students through relevant, hands-on materials and activities; and

all students leave eighth grade prepared for success in a challenging and accelerated high school curriculum.

MMGW assists middle grades schools to implement the essential elements in the comprehensive improvement framework by creating key conditions that support improved academic achievement and by developing readiness indicators for students exiting the middle grades.

Background Information

Making Middle Grades Work