Education's Middle Child

A recent report by the Atlanta-based Southern Regional Education Board said that "the middle grades - Grades 5 through 8 - are the "weak link in American education," but held out hope for reform.

"Middle schools have lost a lot of credibility. There's been too much emphasis on the developmental needs and not enough on academic needs," says Hayes Mizell, who works with the New York-based Edna McConnell Clark Foundation on middle-school reform. "There are many schools at this level where even the people in the schools are unclear about what we should be doing. If you take your child when he or she enters the sixth grade and walk into the principal's office and say, 'Tell me what I should reasonably expect that my child should be able to do by the end of the eighth grade,' you'll find that most can't tell you," he adds.

A harsh evaluation

In Maryland, Howard County teachers and administrators were stunned when a parent group blasted its middle schools for "sacrificing academic standards in an effort to help students develop self-esteem."

"The initial [1996] report left us all shell-shocked - it was the harshest evaluation we had ever had," says Patti Caplan, a spokeswoman for the Howard County schools.

Howard County looked like a textbook case of the good middle-school. It had set up flexible schedules, discovery-oriented instruction, teams of teachers and students that would stay together for at least a year, and a dense advising network to help students with personal problems. In addition, its middle schools ranked at the top in state exams, and two experts commended the county for "groundbreaking work."

But parents who conducted their own 18-month study of the system were more impressed with discipline problems and the need for remediation they saw in a student population that is becoming more diverse. They also worried that the "discovery learning" sessions they observed did not provide enough in the way of basic skills.

"What we found were basic problems in skill acquisition," says Deborah Schultz, a parent member of the Middle School Review Committee. "They didn't want to push the kids too hard or they'll lose self-esteem."

"There were no geography or spelling bees, no posting of any kind of recognition for high-achieving students. We asked a teacher why her school had not enrolled to compete in a national geography competition, and she told us, 'We're not allowed to do that,' " adds Shari Fanaroff, who also served on the committee.

Since the report, Howard County administrators say they have shifted the emphasis squarely back on academic achievement. "Middle-school principals really took that report to heart, says Vincent Catania, principal of Murray Hill Middle School.

The district is just completing explicit guidelines for what each child should know throughout the middle-school years. It also stated clearly that academic recognition was "appropriate," and academic competition "encouraged." Students were given daily planners with velcro ties and plenty of zipper pockets to organize academic work.

"For several years, the emphasis was self-esteem. Since the report, the focus is on successful academics, which brings self-esteem. Honor rolls are back," says Ms. Pope. "If you give them hollow compliments or work that is not challenging, they know it and think they're not good enough," she adds.

But some administrators regret the cuts on the social side that have resulted. "We agree that there should be a greater emphasis on academics, but if it is just that, then we start getting guns and knives in school," says Alice Haskins, administrative coordinator for the Howard County public schools. "We need to help kids feel comfortable with issues critical in their lives. They are learning to solve problems, to sort out relationships. We got rid of our advising groups, and now I'm seeing more fights in school."

* Comments? E-mail chaddockg@csps.com

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