The Effect of Comprehensive School Reform On Middle School Achievement

In a society which is relying increasingly on education, graduating high school is quickly becoming an important accolade to ensure a student’s success in society. According to a study completed in July of 2011, high school dropouts cost between $320 billion and $350 billion annually in lost wages, taxable income, health, welfare and incarceration costs. (Zhao, 2011) As well as the financial impact, there are many other aspects that should be addressed when looking at high school dropout rates. The most prevalent example is the fact that systematically, the education system has shown significant signs of unbalance in the distribution of dropout rates across different races and or ethnicities. In 2009, 4.8 percent of of blacks and 5.8 percent of Hispanics between 15 and 24 dropped out of grades 10-12, compared with 2.4 percent for white students. (Zhao, 2011) With statistics like this, it is important that we not only ensure our education system is operating in a successful way, but also providing equal education and opportunities for students of all races, ethnicities, income levels, and religious backgrounds. By examining our education system, we as educators will be able to address and hopefully resolve the issues related to the unequal dropout rates in high schools across the nation.

Dropout factories are a serious problem with high schools. A dropout factory is a school with a high number of dropouts. Middle schools feed poorly educated kids into high school. These kids are not ready for high school, so they drop out. There are more then 60 percent of kids who do not make it from freshman to sophomore year. There are over 1000-documented drop out factories in the United States. In one school, there were 1,2000 freshmen, and the next year there were under 300 sophomores. Most of the kids have at these schools had a third grade reading level. In one case,

Many students worry about how their middle school years will go. Middle school is a very important part of a student’s education. Middle school is their initiation into high school and could really impact their future. Many elementary school students think that they are prepared and can do well in middle school, but many are not ready. Also, students who do not do well in middle school tend to not do well in high school. One lesson I would like to teach elementary school students is how to survive middle school, which is important because it will lead them to a better future by being prepared, managing time, and knowing how to problem solve.

The framework for the proposed study is based on the educational research related to middle school transition. The literature review is divided into four sections. The first section analyzes the research literature on the psycho-social effects of middle school. The second section highlights the environmental effects of the middle school. The third section describes the achievement of students as they transition into the middle school configurations, and the final section lays out a conceptual framework that the researcher has developed to examine the factors to consider in choosing the best configuration for sixth graders in the county.

“A middle school is a school organization containing grades six to eight that, first provides developmentally appropriate and responsive curricular, instructional, organizational, guidance, and overall educational experiences; and second, places major emphasis on 10-15 year olds’ developmental and instructional needs” (Teaching in the Middle School, 6). The researcher has a great point for the fact that a middle school should be focus on the needs of diverse young adolescents. All young adolescents are in a special time in their lives that require extra guidance during this crazy change. Middle school students test out the boundaries and want to learn about new activities and interests during this stage. It takes a special person who wants to teach these diverse students who need the extra support from their teachers to show them what’s out there for them and to introduce them to new things.

According to the article “Fast Facts” found on the National Center for Education Statistics, national dropout rates of adolescents 16 to 24 years old was 6.5 percent as of 2014 (“Fast Facts.”). While this may seem like a low number at the surface, it is much much higher than first led to believe. As pointed out in the article “Public School Enrollment”, “Enrollment in grades 9 through 12...decreased by 2 percent to 14.8 million in 2013-2014”. (“Public School Enrollment). This means that approximately 962,000 children are dropping out of school annually. This number is much too high and needs to be lowered.

For me, middle school was probably the most excruciating years of my life. I thought it was only me and everyone else had it easy and completely understood everything that was happening to their bodies and minds. In fact, I still have dreams about my middle school years like forgetting my locker combination or hiding in the bathroom stall because the most popular girls were gossiping about a friend of yours. The settings in these dreams are always my middle school; I find it amazing that thirty years after I attended school that I can remember vivid details about the layout, hallways, lockers, and teachers. The reason for this I believe is that for ALL students the middle school years are the most influential to shaping and becoming who a person is and who they wish to become. Middle schools are essential for the success of students because of the unique developmental stages of these students. For teachers, comprehension of young adolescent development is key to understanding the physical, emotional, intellectual, social and moral needs and interests of these students (Powell, 2015, p. 55) and also teachers need to develop a curriculum that is focused on developing students competence in all subject matter and using their knowledge and available resources to design, implement, and evaluate challenging, responsive curriculums that result in meaningful learning outcomes (Powell, 2015, p. 145). All students should feel that they are accepted for who he or she is as an

The Middle School years reflect on the child falling into patterns of certain behaviors and habits. This is the age where students will begin to form their study habits and focus on their social groups and connections, which in some cases can take president over their schooling. However, when a child applies themselves great growth can occur. According to School and Children: The Middle School Years, “children are thought to be functioning developmentally at what Piaget termed the concrete and formal operational stages. During this phase, basic literacy as well as computational and conceptual skills are acquired.” (Epps & Smith, 1984) Students during this phase of growth and development can work on harder skills and make greater connections between their education and their world.

This study will focus on the effectiveness of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). The NCLB Act of 2001 was a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) (www.newamerica.org). The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 was a Great Society program that allocated federal funds for education and looked to hold schools accountable (www2.ed.gov). The NCLB Act of 2001 was passed through Congress in 2001 with bipartisan support and greatly increased the Federal Government’s role in the education system and almost 95,000 public schools to include standardized testing and holding these schools accountable for student proficiency (www.newamerica.org).

According to the Association of Middle Level Educators (2010), the middle school years are the most important years of a child’s life. During this time, many aspects of a child changes. Their body is changing in ways they might not understand for many years to come. They are also changing emotionally. The changes that occur affect the teachers that are charged with teaching these young students. A teacher must understand how the students are changing and the best practices for effectively teaching them. For students at this age, it is arguably more important to shape them mentally and socially rather than only intellectually. The key is to incorporate all aspects of development into a student’s education. In today’s changing society, it is arguably, more important than ever to provide students with an education that meets their needs (This We Believe: Keys to educating young adolescents,

“A recent, systematic review of research exploring dropping out of high school indicates that grade retention is one of the most powerful predictors of dropping out of high school” (Jimerson 6). This alarming fact should be the main reason to stop grade retention in schools. Especially since interventions provide an alternative that promotes the student keeping them engaged and in school. It costs roughly $18 billion per year to keep grade retention an option in schools (Powell 29), which results in the student eventually dropping out. Instead, these funds should be used towards intervention programs that promote success and prevent some of the negative consequence’s grade retention presents, possibly at a fraction of the cost. With that being said, schools should be providing targeted interventions in order to provide students with the best chances of

The study of elementary school adolescent students and their successful transition to middle school is an essential focus for the continued vitality of our educational system. This is evidenced by the 3,700 middle school studies between the years of 1993 and 2001 as indicated by Hough, (2003). These studies were noted by

The purpose of this investigation was to use qualitative and longitudinal analysis to learn about the perceptions of elementary age students who are transitioning into middle school. The participants of this study included 331 fifth grade students in a large, rural, Southeastern public school district. The students came from three different elementary schools, but would all be entering into the same large middle school. This investigation consisted of four phases, the first beginning in January of the participants’ fifth grade year and the second in May. The third and fourth phases took place after the students had transitioned into middle school, one being completed in August and the fourth phase in December. During the investigation students were asked to complete three questionnaires and one writing assignment. The writing assignment, given during phase one of the investigation, gave the participants the opportunity to write any questions they had about middle school. The questionnaires used in the proceeding phases elicited responses regarding the following topics: Students’ concerns about middle school, the positive aspects of middle school, who the students would turn to for help, what they think middle school will be like, and what they think is important to know about transitioning to middle school.

One major downfall to the current education regime is the increasingly growing dropout rate of teens in high school. From the start of their high school careers students begin with hundreds of students from the adjacent elementary schools. Next year will come

The results indicated that there was growth in all areas and that on average students moved from undecided to agree on each question. This shows that the student’s perceived a gain in their knowledge of understanding in each of the specified areas with the highest gains for question one, understanding what they need in order to be successful in middle school; question five, knowing their learning style and how that can help them with homework and classwork; question six, knowing what skills they need to develop and having a plan to improve them. Further, informal teacher observations indicated that students were more regularly writing down assignments to stay organized and were more regularly turning homework in on time. Based on the results, guidance lessons to support students’ academic success during the transition to middle school was an effective intervention because the students indicated growth in all