Middle Level Leader - End-of-Year Review

June 2010

"Summertime, and the living is easy"…unless you're a busy school leader trying to catch up on everything that didn't get done during the past school year while also trying to get ready for next year! Hopefully you will have some time to relax and enjoy a bit of vacation. 

But during the summer, don't forget to catch up on your professional reading. If you missed a recent issue of Middle Level Leader, below is a summary of this year's lead articles with links to each issue.

This will be our last issue of Middle Level Leader until September. Whether you've been reading it through the year or this is your first issue, I'd love to hear from you with comments, suggestions for future topics, stories of how you've used ideas from our articles, etc.—just click on my name below and send me an e-mail.

Have a wonderful summer!

Patti Kinney
Associate Director, Middle Level Services

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September: Turning Your School's Vision Into a Reality

What Every Middle School Principal Should Know
By Nancy M. Doda
Ron Heifetz, one-time director of the Leadership Education Project at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, declares that the best leaders sustain a "balcony perspective" when leading (1994). They find ways to hold the big picture out in front, without getting stuck in the daily messes of school life. For middle level principals, who devote on average 60 hours of life to school each week, balcony vision is phenomenally important because to avoid the risk of drowning in the details of daily school challenges, principals must muster a virulent vision of child-centered schooling against the backdrop of school accountability. (Continue reading)

October: Making a Case for the Arts

A Case for the Arts
By Nancy Chodoroff and Joan Fargnoli
Educators across the country are faced with tough decisions about which programs to keep and which to cut from their dwindling budgets. The current economic crisis, expenses of contractual agreements, rising costs of supplies, and technology and curriculum contribute to the unfortunate reductions we have to make in our middle schools' educational programs. (Continue reading)

November: Supporting an Integrated Curriculum

Principals' Role in Curriculum Integration and Other Curricular Initiatives: A Teacher's Perspective
By Mark Springer
The positive benefits of interdisciplinary units and integrated curricula have long been recognized. The emphasis in such units and programs on making connections and applying essential skills to explore significant themes encourages students to develop their higher-level thinking abilities as they address real-world issues. Unfortunately, achieving these benefits often proves problematic, even on so-called interdisciplinary teams, because so many factors affect the development and implementation of curricular innovations. Of course, teachers have the primary responsibility for delivering a curriculum and occasionally, as in my own case, have some control over designing an integrated curriculum. However, principals as curriculum leaders provide the crucial support and make the critical decisions that ultimately determine students' access to these powerful learning opportunities. (Continue reading)

December: Reevaluating Grading Policies

Leadership for Grading Practices in the Differentiated Classroom
By Rick Wormeli
Asking teachers for their grade books so you can assess their implementation of standards-based grading practices can shoot defensive walls sky high. Declaring that homework cannot count in a final report card grade may pull the safety pin on a faculty grenade. To complete the war analogy, open discussion of grading practices is often an emotional minefield. But it doesn't have to be this way. Grading need not be a battle. In fact, it can be the liberation of allies. (Continue reading)

January: Building a Collaborative Culture

Interview With Authors Sherrel Bergmann and Judith Brough
"But you don't understand my staff—they don't want to make any changes. How can I build a collaborative culture if they don't want to collaborate with me?" This is a challenging, but unfortunately common question. Building a collaborative culture is critical if we want to improve our middle schools. But how does one go about doing that, especially if some members of the staff are resistant to change? This issue of Middle Level Leader shares edited excerpts from an interview with authors and long-time middle level experts Sherrel Bergmann and Judith Brough on how school leaders can best work with those who are reluctant to follow the leader. (Continue reading)

February: Engaged Learning

Meaningful Engaged Learning: Leadership for Reaching Every Student
By Mike Muir
States are being challenged to make sure that they reach all students. The drop-out and graduation rate crisis is getting more and more attention and all jurisdictions are trying to figure out what they can do about it. In "Dropouts: The Missing Link," published in the September 3, 2008, issue of Education Week, then presidents Theresa Hinkle (NMSA) and Larry Bradley (NASSP) shared the joint concern that drop-out prevention is not a high school problem. Research indicates that attention and efforts should start much earlier and that the middle grades can be a prime battleground against dropping out in the future. But at-risk youth and potential dropouts are not the only challenge. Schools are struggling with improving achievement for all students and working to identify and implement school improvement models that can help every student succeed. (Continue reading)

March: Rigorous, Engaged Learning in Action

Recognizing Rigorous and Engaging Teaching and Learning
By Peggy Hart, Linda Natale, and Carol Starr
The administrator plays a critical role in creating a school culture that values rigorous teaching and learning. Too often, administrators and teacher leaders see only one component of engagement in classrooms and decide that the mission is accomplished. While there are no quick fixes or shortcuts, an important first step to improving teaching and learning is figuring out how to recognize what qualifies as rigorous and engaging. Instruction alone does not define engagement—teaching is not engaging unless it is connected to meaningful learning. (Continue reading)

April: Effectively Reaching Second Language Learners

What Middle Grades Principals Need to Know About English Language Learners
By Courtney George
Educators today know that our schools look very different than they did even a decade ago. Demographics are shifting across the country as new migration patterns fundamentally change our schools nationwide. Even under these circumstances, many educators have continued to think about bilingual students as different from the "normal" or "typical" students—even after these students have come to make up the majority in many schools and classrooms. The question educational leaders need to ponder is, what constitutes a "normal" classroom in the 21st century? Instead of comparing today's students with those of years past, we need to begin to embrace the idea of the "new mainstream." (Continue reading)

May: Keeping the Advisory Alive

The Challenge of Advisory Without an Advisory Period
By Theresa Hinkle
Whether it's due to budget cuts or shifts in philosophy, it appears that more and more middle schools are abandoning the practice of dedicating a period of each day (typically 20-30 minutes) to affective education, homeroom, advisory, or advisor-advisee (AA) as you may know it. Some have viewed this practice in the narrow sense as a series of self-esteem building activities to help you get acquainted, so it's easy to see why the concept would end with the amount of time that must be dedicated to it. Yet in reality, advisory consists of much more than a period of time filled with activities. The National Middle School Association's document This We Believe tells us, "Advocacy is not a singular event or a regularly scheduled time. It is an attitude of caring that translates into action when adults are responsive to the needs of each and every young adolescent in their charge." (Continue reading)

News and Notes

There's Still Time to Register for the Differentiation Workshop
A School Leader's Guide to Differentiation: Implementing Effective Practices for Instruction and Assessment

Rick Wormeli will be presenting a two-day workshop for school leaders on the topic of differentiation and grading. It will take place July 12–13, 2010, in Reston, VA. Don't miss this chance to reenergize your staff and reignite student learning! This seminar will provide important and applicable tools for any administrator or teacher-leader by helping you:

Examine ways to differentiate lessons based on student needs

• Explore strategies such as tiering, scaffolding, flexible-grouping, respectful tasks
• Increase your repertoire of classroom management techniques
• Work more effectively with special populations such as ELL students, gifted students, special education students, etc.
• Investigate assessment strategies such as descriptive feedback, rubrics, assessment protocols, formative and common assessments, pacing guides, and evidence of mastery
• Discuss "hot topics" of differentiated assessment such as retaking tests, homework, zeros on a 100-point scale, grading late work, report card design and more!

For more information or to register for the workshop, click here.

Nominate a Colleague for the NASSP Gruhn-Long-Melton Award
This award was created in 1983 and is given to recognize "distinguished service and leadership in improving middle level education." The award was named in honor of Dr. William T. Gruhn, Dr. Forrest E. Long, and George E. Melton—all of whom made significant contributions during their lifetime to the field of middle level education. It is not an annual award but is given only when there is a worthy candidate. Applications are due November 15 and we encourage NASSP members to consider nominating a colleague worthy of this award. Click here for further information and a nomination form for this prestigious award.

MetLife Foundation-NASSP Breakthrough Schools Featured in PL
The May issue of Principal Leadership (PL) shares the stories of the middle level and high schools that were selected as the MetLife Foundation-NASSP Breakthrough Schools for 2010. Read the winners' stories of success as they share how they improved student performance by implementing the core areas of the Breaking Ranks framework—collaborative leadership; personalization; and curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Podcasts with the principals of these schools may also be accessed here—additional podcasts will be added during the summer so check back often.

Spotlight on Middle Schools

Health and Wellness in Action
The Alliance for a Healthier Generation publishes "Success Stories: Innovative and Inspiring Solutions that Improve Health and Wellness in Schools Around the Country" on its Web site. Below are highlights from some of the middle school stories.  

• Shue-Medill Middle School, Newark, DE
  The Shue-Medill Middle School PTA held an evening program last November for families where parents attended presentations by school staff on teen nutrition and physical activity opportunities. In addition, the school nurse provided a class on nutrition and basic first-aid for students.

  Because the district does not offer organized sports for students, the PTA also started an intramural sports program that will be held after school for two to three days each week. Co-ed flag football was held in the fall, basketball started in the winter, and they hope to have a soccer program in the spring. Currently, there are 63 students participating in the program, including just one girl. However, she has promised to recruit some friends!

 

• Bumpus (AL) Middle School
  The strategy in designing a school employee wellness program for our faculty and staff was to keep it simple and positive. So, when the school wellness council launched the "Get off your rumpus at Bumpus" pedometer challenge, they stressed that staff members of all abilities would be able to succeed with this program. According to physical education teacher Donna Boyd, "By starting with a simple, achievable number of steps per day, everyone started off on a positive note and kept going in that direction." Currently, 68 staff members are participating in the program and everyone received a pedometer to use.

  They started just after Spring Break with a goal of 3,500 steps per day. Every week the goal is raised by 500 steps. Teachers keep track of their steps and, depending on how many steps they walk, are eligible to receive gold coins. Gold coins can be exchanged for health and fitness items. During the last week of the school year, the staff will be striving for 10,000 steps per day. According to teacher Kerry Pate, "The challenge is helping me be more purposeful with my steps each day. Instead of calling coworkers on the telephone or intercom during the day, I actually get off my 'rumpus' and walk to the person's office or classroom. In addition, the whole energy of the school has changed. Teachers are often seen chatting about the number of steps they have acquired and increased from week to week."

• Sam Tasby Middle School, Dallas, TX
  "If teachers can make healthy changes, then maybe that will motivate students to do the same," said Coach Anah Nawrocki. She credits an extremely supportive administration and staff at Tasby for creating an environment that encourages healthy lifestyles. Because of the understanding of the need for changes and the support in place, they have had few obstacles in making things happen. The school had an unused storage room and when Nawrocki suggested that they turn it into a fitness room, "it just happened," she said. A few people decided to turn the idea into reality and they put in weights, exercise machines, posters, and other materials. "It is now a pleasant and inviting room where teachers can go to exercise and relieve stress," said Nawrocki.

 

The NASSP Middle Level Leadership Center is made possible through a generous contribution from Minnesota Life, NASSP's life insurance provider for over 75 years.