Monday, May 16, 2011

Middle School Readiness for Our Changing Middle Schools



This past weekend, I had the privilege of attending the Maryland Association of Elementary School Principal's Conference in Ocean City, Maryland. I was invited to be a part of a panel to share best practices for helping elementary school students transition successfully to the middle level.The panel was facilitated by Paul Dunford, MSDE Director for Cross-Divisional Initiatives. I was joined on the panel by Robert Motley, Principal of Patuxent Valley Middle and Neal Case, Principal of Gov. Thomas Johnson Middle.

We each shared what our schools do to help students, staff and parents transition from one level to the next. This topic is critical because the transition from elementary school to the middle level is marked by several changes in educational expectations and practices. In most elementary schools, children are taught in self-contained classrooms with a familiar set of peers and one or two teachers. Once students reach middle schools, however, they must interact with more peers, more teachers, and with intensified expectations for both performance and individual responsibility. Social, developmental, and academic experiences are affected, requiring them to adjust to what they see as new settings, structures, and expectations. All of this comes at a time when they are also experiencing a host of changes associated with the transition from childhood to adolescence. (Source NMSA's Supporting Students in Their Transition to Middle School position paper)

Some of the ideas we shared were:

School leaders should:
  • Make the planning, implementation, and evaluation of transition activities an annual focus, beginning in the intermediate grades of the elementary school.
  • Begin as early as grade five to create an environment that promotes a confident transition from a self-contained classroom structure to the larger team structure of the middle school.
  • Encourage collaboration among elementary and middle schools and teachers, students, and parents.
  • Provide comprehensive orientation programs for teachers, students and families, including older siblings, who strongly influence attitudes and perceptions of transitioning students.
  • Become knowledgeable about the needs and concerns of young adolescents in transition.
  • Support teachers' efforts to address students' social, developmental, and academic needs.
  • Provide leadership in creating a climate that values and supports effective home/school communications.
Teachers and Counselors should:
  • Engage in collaborative planning with their counterparts at the elementary and middle levels to ensure a smooth academic transition that recognizes and accommodates variations in curricula across feeder schools.
  • Become knowledgeable about the needs and concerns of young adolescents in transition.
  • Keep parents informed, help them become skilled in dealing with issues related to transition, and welcome their participation in their children's education.
  • Provide counseling at both the elementary and middle levels to address transition concerns and assure students of the availability of ongoing support.
  • Provide programs, activities, and curricula to help students understand and cope successfully with the challenges of transition.
  • Use a variety of developmentally appropriate instructional practices that will enable each child to experience academic success.
  • Employ strategies such as cooperative learning that provide opportunities for peer interaction.
  • Consider organizational structures such as team teaching that ensure teachers have meaningful knowledge and understanding of each child.
Parents should:
  • Provide young children with manageable tasks that will help them develop organizational skills and responsibility.
  • Encourage children to try new things and to regard failure as a necessary part of learning and growing.
  • Become knowledgeable about the needs and concerns of young adolescents in transition.
  • Help children turn their anxieties into positive action by learning about school rules, schedules, locker procedures and the availability of counseling.
  • Attend school functions and stay involved in children's schooling.
  • Support children in their efforts to become independent.
  • Maintain strong family connections with young adolescents.
  • Be alert to signs of depression or anxiety in their children and seek help. (Source NMSA's Supporting Students in Their Transition to Middle School position paper)
I really enjoyed being able to participate on this panel and work with Paul, Robert and Neal. I also enjoyed meeting so many talented principals from around the state. I want to thank Debbie Drown, Executive Director of the Maryland Association of Elementary School Principals, for inviting me to attend this conference. 

For more information about the transition process to middle school, please visit this NMSA link http://www.nmsa.org/AboutNMSA/PositionStatements/TransitioningStudents/tabid/283/Default.aspx

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