High-performing schools with middle grades are learning organizations that establish norms, structures, and organizational arrangements to support and sustain their trajectory toward excellence.
- A shared vision of what
a high-performing school is and does drives every facet of school change.
Shared and sustained leadership propels the school forward and preserves
its institutional memory and purpose.
- Someone in the school has
the responsibility and authority to hold the school-improvement enterprise
together, including day-to-day know-how, coordination, strategic planning,
and communication.
- The school is a community
of practice in which learning, experimentation, and reflection are the
norm. Expectations of continuous improvement permeate the school. The
school devotes resources to ensure that teachers have time and opportunity
to reflect on their classroom practice and learn from one another. At
school everyone’s job is to learn.
- The school devotes resources
to content-rich professional development, which is connected to reaching
and sustaining the school vision. Professional development is intensive,
of high-quality, and ongoing.
- The school is not an island
unto itself. It draws upon others' experience, research, and wisdom;
it enters into relationships, such as networks and community partnerships,
that benefit students' and teachers' development and learning.
- The school holds itself
accountable for its students' success rather than blaming others for
its shortcomings. The school collects, analyzes, and uses data as a
basis for making decisions. The school grapples with school-generated
evaluation data to identify areas for more extensive and intensive improvement.
It delineates benchmarks and insists upon evidence and results. The
school intentionally and explicitly reconsiders its vision and practices
when data call them into question.
- Key people possess and
cultivate the collective will to persevere and overcome barriers, believing
it is their business to produce increased achievement and enhanced development
for all students.
- The school works with colleges
and universities to recruit, prepare, and mentor novice and experienced
teachers. It insists on having teachers who promote young adolescents'
intellectual, social, emotional, physical, and ethical growth. It recruits
a faculty that is culturally and linguistically diverse.
- The school includes families and community members in setting and supporting the school's trajectory toward high-performance. The school informs families and community members about its goals for students and students' responsibility for meeting them. It engages all stakeholders in ongoing and reflective conversation, consensus building, and decision-making about governance to promote school improvement.
