Making the Middle Grades Relevant and Engaging
One of the consistent threads running through the research on improving adolescents' circumstances and school performance . . . is that social and emotional factors are a key to the solutions. Whether we call it ‘personalization,’ ‘student connectedness,’ ‘positive youth development,’ ‘student voice,’ or SEL [social-emotional learning], there is a consistent message in the research.1
From the moment students set foot on the middle grades school grounds, they begin forming beliefs about how well they fit in, their safety, and how much they look forward to being a part of the new community. For a longer discussion on engaging students as active learners, refer to the later section on Personalized environment and opportunities for student voice.
Effective middle grades educators make sure that students develop positive associations with school:
- Through strong articulation programs preparing students for middle school, the students and parents form positive expectations about how to be successful in this new school.
- The school grounds and buildings are bright, cheerful, clean, and welcoming.
- Teachers present engaging lessons, challenging questions, and opportunities for each student to participate in meaningful work.
Students who feel connected to their school are more likely to perform better in all classes, to gain self-esteem, and demonstrate responsible behaviors in their school setting. Standards-based lessons are most effective when the learning is relevant to students. In fact, research supports the need to deliver standards in a way that is relevant to students: “. . . high levels of engagement appear to relate positively to higher academic achievement for all populations.”2
The opposite is also true: lack of engagement hinders academic achievement. “Although dropping out typically takes place during high school, the process of disengagement and alienation that ultimately leads students to leave school prematurely may start as early as first grade but more often starts or is exacerbated during the middle school years.”3
According to criteria of the Schools to Watch™-Taking Center Stage program, in high-impact middle schools, “the curriculum is both socially significant and relevant to the personal and career interests of young adolescents. Students talk about daily issues in their own lives, their community, and their world.”
In the Spotlight
McKinleyville Middle School, McKinleyville Union Elementary School District, a 2006 Schools to Watch™-Taking Center Stage Model School
Eighth-grade science, math, and language arts classes work together on units that reinforce physics content such as trajectory and water pressure (bottle rockets), simple machines, and motion and acceleration (mousetrap cars).
Related Links
Previous
Recommendation 4 - Relevance
Next
Adolescent Characteristics
Footnotes
1 Mary Utne O’Brien, “From CASEL's Leadership,” CASEL Connections, March 2006.
2 Academic Achievement in the Middle Grades: What Does the Research Tell Us? (PDF; Outside Source) Atlanta, Ga.: Southern Regional Education Board, 2003, 7.
3 Jaana Juvonen, Vi-Nhuan Le, Tessa Kaganoff, Catherine Augustine, and Louay Constant, Focus on the Wonder Years (PDF; Outside Source). Arlington, Va.: Prepared by the RAND Corporation for the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, 2004, 48.
Back to Top