Use this chart to research key components of state and national initiatives that relate to relevance. access.
Recommendation 7—Access. Provide all middle grades students with equal access to a well-prepared, qualified, caring staff and a rich learning environment that includes grade-level standards-based instruction; academic interventions; learning resources; leadership and recognition opportunities; exploratory programs; sports, clubs, and enrichment activities; and, to the extent possible, placement in heterogeneous classes.
Initiatives that Support Student Achievement |
Key Components that Relate to Recommendation 7 of the California Department of Education's 12 Recommendations for Middle Grades Success |
Essential Program Components for School Improvement |
Essential Program Components #1 and 4
- Use State Board of Education- (SBE-) adopted English-language arts and mathematics instructional materials, including intervention materials. Elementary and middle school Levels: The school/district provides the most recent SBE-adopted core instructional programs, including accelerated interventions, for reading/language arts and mathematics, documented to be in daily use in every classroom with materials for every student.
- Fully credentialed teachers and teacher participation in AB 466 training on SBE-adopted instructional materials.
|
No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
|
Determine what educational programs and practices have been proven effective through rigorous scientific research. Federal funding is targeted to support these programs and teaching methods that work to improve student learning and achievement. For example, NCLB supports scientifically based reading instruction. Funds are available to help teachers strengthen current skills and gain new ones in effective reading instructional techniques. |
National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform (Outside Source) California Schools to Watch™-Taking Center Stage (STW-TCS) Schools to Watch™-Taking Center Stage (STW-TCS) School Self-Study and Rating Rubric (DOC; 413 KB; 9 pp.) |
Developmental Responsiveness 3, 6, 7, 9, and 10; Social Equity #1, 4, 5, and 8
Social Equity
- Teachers foster curiosity, creativity and the development of social skills in a structured and supportive environment.
- Students are provided multiple opportunities to explore a rich variety of topics and interests in order to develop their identity, learn about their strengths, discover and demonstrate their own competence, and plan for their future.
- All students have opportunities for voice—posing questions, reflecting on experiences, and participating in decisions and leadership activities.
- Staff members provide all students with opportunities to develop citizenship skills, to use the community as a classroom, and to engage the community in providing resources and support.
- The school provides age-appropriate, co-curricular activities to foster social skills and character, and to develop interests beyond the classroom environment.
Social Equity
- To the fullest extent possible, all students, including English learners, students with disabilities, and gifted and honors students, participate in heterogeneous classes with high academic and behavioral expectations.
- All students have equal access to valued knowledge in all school classes and activities.
- Students have ongoing opportunities to learn about and appreciate their own and others' cultures.
- The school’s reward system is designed to value diversity, civility, service, and democratic citizenship.
|
| Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) (Outside Source) |
Essential Elements #1, 2, 3, 4, 11
- AVID student selection must focus on students in the middle who have not previously succeeded in a rigorous college preparatory curricular path.
- AVID program participants, both students and staff, must choose to participate.
- The school must be committed to full implementation of the AVID program with students enrolled in the AVID year-long (9-10 months) elective class provided as an integral part of the academic school day. (If the AVID elective is offered in a “zero” period, there must be other academic classes offered at that same time.)
- AVID students must be enrolled in a rigorous course of study that will enable them to meet requirements for four-year university enrollment.
- The school must have an active interdisciplinary site team that meets regularly and collaborates on issues of student access to and success in rigorous college preparatory classes. This site team should routinely set site goals, develop and implement a site plan, and document evidence to illustrate support for students’ access to and success in rigorous curriculum.
|
| GEAR UP (Outside Source) School Self-Assessment Rubric (PDF; 92KB; 15 pp.) |
Multicultural College-Going Culture, Intensive College-Going Support |
| Breaking Ranks in the Middle (Outside Source) |
Cornerstone Strategy #8
Align all programs and structures so that all social, economic, and racial/ethnic groups have open and equal access to challenging activities and learning. |
| Turning Points Principle (Outside Source) |
Use instructional methods designed to prepare all students. |
| This We Believe (Outside Source) and Fundamentals for Student Success in the Middle Grades (Outside Source) |
Curriculum is relevant, challenging, integrative, and exploratory. High expectations are set for every member of the learning community.
|
| Comprehensive School Reform Quality Center (PDF; Outside Source) |
Key issues in middle school
Research suggests a direct relationship between a student’s access to social capital and school success. Social capital is the extent to which one has access to information channels, obligations, expectations, and trustworthiness in a community or society (Coleman 1988). With regard to ELs, social capital may be viewed as access to information channels that can lead to positive relationships between the school and community, increased academic success, graduation, and a successful postsecondary transition (p. 51). |
| Comprehensive School Reform Quality Center—Report on Middle and High School Comprehensive Reform Models (PDF; Outside Source) |
This report provides specific details about research results on key school reform models in the middle and high school levels. Developed by American Institutes for Research (AIR) for the Comprehensive School Reform Quality Center, October 2006.
|