In the Middle
19/06/12 05:50
There is little doubt that our school district isn’t the only one struggling. Schools are under pressure from a lot of different directions. The political focus on standardized test scores has caused dramatic changes in classroom activities and curriculum design. There is much public debate about the effectiveness of the changes. US schools fall behind schools in other countries in terms of academic performance, but there is little agreement on how to change those results. In a climate of decreasing taxes, schools often fall victim to inadequate funding. In a culture of blame, teachers are often cited as the problem rather than the solution.
The debate about the problems of education will continue. And while they continue, children and youth will continue to try to make their way through the educational maze.
Like many others, my high school years weren’t a hallmark of academic performance. It is simplest to say that my attention was not centered on achieving grades, getting into college or any specific vocational direction. In other words I was typical. The area of the brain that controls impulse is the last to develop. Adolescents have a tendency to easily follow every distraction. Focus is often temporary. There are major developmental tasks yet to be accomplished for the majority of teens.
At the same time, physical development is accelerating. The age of onset of puberty continues to drop. Adolescents inhabit bodies that are strong and capable, yet their minds are not yet fully in control of their physical impulses.
The traditional school response to the struggles of adolescence is to separate young teens from children and from older teens. The development of high schools was an acknowledgment of the difficulties of administering a single school for the entire educational span. After high schools became common, many school districts developed junior high schools. The typical configuration was grades 1 – 6 in elementary school, grades 7 - 9 in junior high and grades 10 – 12 in senior high. As public kindergarten became common school buildings were hard pressed to accommodate the need for additional classrooms. At the same time, the age of the onset of puberty was getting lower. Many school districts responded by re-configuring their age groupings. Common today are K – 5 in elementary, 6 – 8 in middle school, and 9 – 12 in high school, with many high schools creating a special wing or section for 9th graders to learn in a more controlled environment than the rest of the high school.
It is not difficult to see that the ages between 10 and 13 are socially awkward years. Increasingly research is indicating that they are also critical years for academic development. Middle school experiences are crucial in determining college and career outcomes. Attitudes towards school and learning are established in those years that are difficult to change.
From the perspective of the student, however, social and emotional development takes precedence over academics. Schools that ignore that ignore the culture of young adolescents cannot succeed. The development of critical thinking, organizational skills and moral judgment are more important to future academic success than are specific content items such as math, science and English.
Large urban school districts are experimenting with a lot of different possible solutions. In New York, 42 elementary schools have been reconfigured back into K – 8 configuration, eliminating middle schools entirely. An additional 38 schools have combined in the other direction, creating super high schools that teach grades 6 – 12.
Here in Rapid City, the school board seems to be committed to sticking with a 6 – 8 Middle School model, at least for the time being. But funding cuts and other issues are transforming the middle school experience. In the fall students will have an early release on Wednesday. In theory this creates a concentrated block of time for extra-curricular activities. In reality it may create a large number of young adolescents who are either home alone or clustered in community afterschool programs. There are very few voices in our community who are touting the new plan as a solution to anything. Most are voicing frustration with the pressures of decreasing budget, increasing classroom size, and the time demands of extracurricular activities.
Parents are scrambling to figure out plans for transportation, activities and ways of providing safety and care for their students. Churches are re-thinking their Wednesday schedules of activities. Teachers are wondering if they have ended up losing an entire day of effective teaching due to the issues of re-engaging students after any interruption in their learning.
Life is not easy for middle school teachers. They need to develop skills in social management, academic teaching, and emotional support. They have to be able to interrupt a fistfight before the first punch is thrown. They need to be skilled at turning an insult into a vocabulary lesson. They have to be alert to drops in self-esteem that make it impossible for a student to engage in classroom activity. And they have to be adroit at handling surprises and unexpected turns in conversation. One thing about working with middle school students: just when you think you know an individual, she or he changes. Nothing stays the same in a middle school classroom. Life is unpredictable. The best teachers develop incredible flexibility and adaptability.
But too many of the best teachers are leaving middle school classrooms. Teacher turnover at the middle school level is the highest in our academic system. They wear out, burn out, move on, or move up. They switch careers. They switch school districts. They get tire of life in the middle.
This year will be a special challenge for all of us who care about the middle school youth of our community. Once again we need to find new energy and new resources to respond to changing and challenging conditions. As tough as it is for churches and schools, however, it is even tougher for the students, who have no choice but to give another year of their lives to an educational experiment while the community struggles to find out what might work.
Fortunately the adolescent brain is resilient. It can take an incredible amount of abuse and recover. Let’s hope that they get attention for their amazing creativity and resilience instead of the results of a lack of impulse control. It could be a short summer followed by a long school year in Rapid City.
The debate about the problems of education will continue. And while they continue, children and youth will continue to try to make their way through the educational maze.
Like many others, my high school years weren’t a hallmark of academic performance. It is simplest to say that my attention was not centered on achieving grades, getting into college or any specific vocational direction. In other words I was typical. The area of the brain that controls impulse is the last to develop. Adolescents have a tendency to easily follow every distraction. Focus is often temporary. There are major developmental tasks yet to be accomplished for the majority of teens.
The traditional school response to the struggles of adolescence is to separate young teens from children and from older teens. The development of high schools was an acknowledgment of the difficulties of administering a single school for the entire educational span. After high schools became common, many school districts developed junior high schools. The typical configuration was grades 1 – 6 in elementary school, grades 7 - 9 in junior high and grades 10 – 12 in senior high. As public kindergarten became common school buildings were hard pressed to accommodate the need for additional classrooms. At the same time, the age of the onset of puberty was getting lower. Many school districts responded by re-configuring their age groupings. Common today are K – 5 in elementary, 6 – 8 in middle school, and 9 – 12 in high school, with many high schools creating a special wing or section for 9th graders to learn in a more controlled environment than the rest of the high school.
It is not difficult to see that the ages between 10 and 13 are socially awkward years. Increasingly research is indicating that they are also critical years for academic development. Middle school experiences are crucial in determining college and career outcomes. Attitudes towards school and learning are established in those years that are difficult to change.
From the perspective of the student, however, social and emotional development takes precedence over academics. Schools that ignore that ignore the culture of young adolescents cannot succeed. The development of critical thinking, organizational skills and moral judgment are more important to future academic success than are specific content items such as math, science and English.
Large urban school districts are experimenting with a lot of different possible solutions. In New York, 42 elementary schools have been reconfigured back into K – 8 configuration, eliminating middle schools entirely. An additional 38 schools have combined in the other direction, creating super high schools that teach grades 6 – 12.
Parents are scrambling to figure out plans for transportation, activities and ways of providing safety and care for their students. Churches are re-thinking their Wednesday schedules of activities. Teachers are wondering if they have ended up losing an entire day of effective teaching due to the issues of re-engaging students after any interruption in their learning.
Life is not easy for middle school teachers. They need to develop skills in social management, academic teaching, and emotional support. They have to be able to interrupt a fistfight before the first punch is thrown. They need to be skilled at turning an insult into a vocabulary lesson. They have to be alert to drops in self-esteem that make it impossible for a student to engage in classroom activity. And they have to be adroit at handling surprises and unexpected turns in conversation. One thing about working with middle school students: just when you think you know an individual, she or he changes. Nothing stays the same in a middle school classroom. Life is unpredictable. The best teachers develop incredible flexibility and adaptability.
But too many of the best teachers are leaving middle school classrooms. Teacher turnover at the middle school level is the highest in our academic system. They wear out, burn out, move on, or move up. They switch careers. They switch school districts. They get tire of life in the middle.
This year will be a special challenge for all of us who care about the middle school youth of our community. Once again we need to find new energy and new resources to respond to changing and challenging conditions. As tough as it is for churches and schools, however, it is even tougher for the students, who have no choice but to give another year of their lives to an educational experiment while the community struggles to find out what might work.
Fortunately the adolescent brain is resilient. It can take an incredible amount of abuse and recover. Let’s hope that they get attention for their amazing creativity and resilience instead of the results of a lack of impulse control. It could be a short summer followed by a long school year in Rapid City.