School to Watch Directors Plan Summer Conference in DC!
Last week the State Directors of the National School to Watch program, met in Dallas to finalize the plans for the upcoming National Schools to Watch Conference on July 21-23 in Washington, DC. This will be the 8th Annual conference and it is shaping up to be an incredible event that centers on best practice sharing between some of the most highly effective middle grades schools in the nation. These schools have all demonstrated an evidence-based, quantitative positive-trend trajectory of student achievement and qualitative criteria-based achievement in the four domains of academic excellence, developmental responsiveness, social equity and organizational structures.
Last year six 2011 Colorado Schools to Watch were recognized for their excellence in middle grades education:
- Altona Middle School
- Gypsum Creek Middle School
- Hotchkiss K-8
- Jenkins Middle School
- Russell Middle School
- Steamboat Springs Middle School
This year the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform expects to showcase presentations from a wide spectrum of its 300+ Schools to Watch from across the country. Prior to the conference, these schools will Converge on Capitol Hill to meet with their U.S. Representative from their district to share their stories of success in creating outstanding learning communities that are academically excellent, developmentally responsive, socially equitable and strong organizationally. During the conference they will receive their award of distinction at the National Forum’s Gala Evening.
Any school can attend the National Schools to Watch Conference in Washington, DC. While 65% of the schools in attendance are currently designated as Schools to Watch, 35% of the attendees represent schools desiring to learn the best practices from the Schools to Watch. Registration information can be found on the Schools to Watch website.
On March 15, 2012 Colorado will announce its 2012 Trailblazer Schools to Watch. Our Colorado Association of Middle Level Education members are currently visiting the 2012 school finalists. Keep tuned in for future announcements!
Headed to Hotchkiss!
Learn from Leaders
Hotchkiss K8 received the distinction of becoming a Colorado Trailblazers Middle School-to-Watch in 2011. After presenting at the National and State Middle Schools-to-Watch Conferences, they are hosting a site visit for other schools to learn about their replicable practices on Monday, February 6.
Are you interested in registering for this visit?
If so, registration information is available at camle.com.
Hotchkiss Pride
“BE PROUD OF WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU DO” permeates their building and throughout the Hotchkiss community. High expectations and strong relationships build the strong foundation for learning and success. They instill in their students the fact that they must be proud of all they do everyday. Hotchkiss teachers are standards-based, have created strongly aligned curriculum, and focus on reading and writing across the curriculum. They employ rich and varied strategies to provide academic and social interventions. Parents are actively engaged in all aspects of learning in this school. This school uses their resources wisely, they think outside the box, and never, and they never, ever give up on a child.
Peer to Peer Learning
If teachers learn best from other teachers, then schools must learn best from other schools…
With this core belief in mind, the Colorado Association of Middle Level Education (CAMLE) organized a Peer to Peer Learning Experience to bring interested middle level educators to the 2011 Colorado School to Watch designees Russell, Jenkins and Altona Middle School where they could learn replicable practices that could set their own school on a trajectory of success – just like the schools they visited. The School to Watch school site visits were held on Tuesday November 15 and Thursday November 17. Over fifty Colorado educators traveled nearly 1500 miles to visit these Colorado Schools to Watch in located in Colorado Springs (District 11) and Longmont (St. Vrain Valley Schools).
The School to Watch visitors began their day learning about the rich, research based practices that have propelled student learning through strong organizational practices, best first instruction, and sustained focus on continuous improvement. Guests at Russell Middle gleaned knowledge related to their exemplary implementation of Response to Intervention (RtI) programming that included Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBiS) and Character Education strategies. While visiting Jenkins Middle School, guests interacted with students who spoke first hand regarding the engaging instructional strategies implemented by the whole staff professional study. Finally, visitors to Altona Middle School were immersed in the school’s culture of excellence, focus and precision in execution.
Here is what the attendees had to say about their peer to peer learning experience:
“I had the privilege to attend the Altona Middle School site visit and I was blown away. For over ten years I have thought it is all about teacher: my lessons, my units – and in one day I learned that what it really takes is a strong system. I looked at their lessons and units, and they are basically the same. But, our school doesn’t operate systemically and strategically like Altona. Thank you for allowing me to visit this amazing school!”
“I learned more in one day about RtI by visiting Russell Middle School than I did in over two years training in my own district. I really appreciated understanding their systemic approach to providing interventions. I came away with a lot of ideas for supporting students who need additional help.”
“My favorite part was hearing the Altona mantra, “Every year we do ONE thing and we do ONE thing really well. It seems like the staff has the focus and the time to devote to excellence, and it shows.”
“We saw high level instructional practices and systemwide supports throughout the Jenkins Middle School. The students could explain exactly how the teachers are working to enhance their instructional practices. We saw a whole school learning community in action. It’s not surprising this is a Schools to Watch. Our team now has new ideas we can implement when we get back to school tomorrow.”
If you are interested in learning more about Russell, Jenkins, and Altona Middle Schools or the Schools to Watch program follow the hyperlinks embedded in this post to contact each school and set up your visit. These are Colorado’s Schools to Watch!
Field Trip! Visit Our Newest Schools to Watch
What is better than a field trip with your closest colleagues?
Over the last several years, CAMLE has sponsored Schools to Watch Site Visits in order to promote collegial networking and experiential learning in our high performing middle schools across the state. Anyone can attend a School to Watch Site Visit. We are excited to announce that registration is open for Fall Visits to the following schools:
Tuesday, November 15
Russell Middle School & Jenkins Middle School in Colorado Springs (District 11)
- REGISTER NOW!
- AM visit Russell Middle School
- Lunch Provided onsite
- PM visit Jenkins Middle School
- Highlights – Best First Instruction focusing on Total Participation Student Engagement Strategies; Job-embedded professional development strategies; whole school professional development study framework, exemplary Response to Intervention (RtI) implementation; exemplary Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBiS) implementation, award-winning Character Education programming
Thursday, November 17
Altona Middle School in Longmont (St. Vrain)
- REGISTER NOW!
- AM/PM visit Altona Middle School
- Lunch Provided onsite
- Highlights – Systemic grading policies; systemic parent communication policies; Best First Instruction focusing on Teach Like a Champion Strategies; strong formative assessment strategies; aligned curriculum using Understanding by Design mapping, exemplary whole school vision, mission and values; exemplary use of Professional Study Teams to promote instructional alignment.
Russell Middle School Showcased by ASCD Whole Child Initiative
A whole child approach to education ensures that each child, in each school and in each community, is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.
ASCD released today a new national resource highlighting top performing schools embracing Whole Child approaches to support student learning.
ASCD ‘s Whole Child Initiative is centered around the belief that each child, in every school and community deserves to be healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged. The demands of the 21st century require a new approach to education and students’ comprehensive needs must be met in order to ensure that our youth are fully prepared for college, career, and citizenship.
Russell Middle School, a Colorado School to Watch, is one of the schools highlighted by in this new resource.
Setting the stage for student engagement, performance, and growth is what Charles M. Russell Middle School of the Performing Arts and Sciences in Colorado Springs, Colo., is all about! Through the integration of Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBIS), Response to Intervention (RTI), and character education, the school has escalated the growth and achievement of its students as it incorporates academic practices with global and cultural awareness and helps to instill a moral compass within each student. Designated as a Colorado School of Character for the past two years as well as a School to Watch® by whole child partner the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform, it’s clear that Russell Middle School truly values creating an invaluable experience at school for its students.
Visitors to the Whole Child resource have opportunities to access a national map of schools educators can resource for support. The ASCD interactive map will serve as a hub for users across the globe to find people, schools, and communities exhibiting whole child practices by clicking on a geographical location and finding examples nearby.
We’d like to give a great shout out to Russell for the amazing things they do for kids! And, hope that educators and Colorado and beyond find this tool a great resource.
You can follow the Whole Child initiative on Twitter.
5 “Schools to Watch” Share their Replicable Practices
On Thursday, July 28, 5 Colorado Trailblazer “Schools to Watch” presented replicable, high performance practices to their colleagues and peers at the Colorado Association of School Executives (CASE) Annual Conference in Breckenridge, Colorado. The five Trailblazer ”Schools to Watch” that presented were:
- Altona Middle – Longmont
- Jenkins Middle – Colorado Springs
- Hotchkiss K-8 – Hotchkiss
- Mead Middle – Mead
- Russell Middle – Colorado Springs
Each of these schools been recognized for demonstrating a trajectory of success in the areas of academic excellence, developmental responsiveness, social equity and strong organizational structures.
During the session, each school shared 2-3 replicable practices and their case studies during the round-robin share session. The following slide show kicked off the event:
Case Studies
Hotchkiss K-8
Jenkins
Mead
Russell
Information was also presented on how to become a Colorado Trailblazer School to Watch”. It was explained that the application is a three part process:
- the application itself – to report student achievement and discipline data
- the school self-rating – using the National Forum’s criteria of high performing middle grades practices
- the evidence of criteria – to list the practices in place within the applying school aligned with each criteria.
Duncan: Middle grades ‘misunderstood, overlooked’ — ED DAILY
By Jean Gossman
Middle school education is receiving more attention as educators and policymakers examine its connection to success in high school and beyond. Stakeholders welcome the focus, given that middle school is “sometimes called the Bermuda Triangle of K-12 education, a time when students sink or swim, sail through choppy waters, and have few pedagogical stars by which to navigate their course.”
Secretary Duncan at the National Schools to Watch Conference in Washington, DC
Education Secretary Arne Duncan offered that comparison in his first major address on middle grades reform at the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform’s Schools to Watch conference last week. He expressed concern that fewer than 25 percent of middle school teachers receive special training in “misunderstood and overlooked” early adolescent education. He added that middle grades education needs more research, rather than “continual tinkering” with excessive debate on grade configuration and curriculum.
Duncan observed that early warning and intervention systems like those used by Schools to Watch are particularly needed in high-poverty schools, because “early intervention is more effective and cost-effective” in the middle grades rather than waiting until high school. Duncan cited research by Robert Balfanz, research scientist with the Center for Social Organization of Schools at Johns Hopkins University, which showed a relationship between middle school success and high school completion.
Duncan said the Schools to Watch model, which also relies on school leadership coaching and mentoring, is similar to that of Shanghai, China, which he said has the highest performing educational system in the world. Although U.S. elementary students’ achievement compares favorably with their international peers, “performance of our 15-year-olds is mediocre,” Duncan said. Accordingly, he told the educators the $6 million Investing in Innovation (i3) grant awarded to Schools to Watch “was not a gift, it was an investment.”
The National Forum honored 100 exemplary middle-grades schools designated as 2011 “Schools to Watch” in the 19-state recognition program. Thirty-nine of those were recognized for maintaining or increasing their performance after applying to be redesignated as a School to Watch. Peter Murphy, past president of the National Forum, told Education Daily® that the re-designation process is “a key point of the program” that encourages continuous improvement.
Renewed focus
“It’s very encouraging that [Duncan] is stating the importance of middle grades,” Deborah Kasak, National Forum executive director, told Education Daily®. “We’ve been overlooked for so long, and we have a vital role to play in the K-12 continuum.” A former middle school counselor for 18 years in Illinois, Kasak also spoke to the connection identified in research between a student’s poor middle school experience and later dropping out of high school.
Although middle school students are unlikely to form a concrete wish or plan to leave high school, she said, middle school students start to “become disengaged and seek their self-worth [out of school].” Additionally, “they begin to feel they can’t do [the work] when they really can, but we need to do better instruction with them. They begin to see themselves as not being successful, confident, or able. We have to advocate for them,” Kasak said. She added that keeping students “engaged and connected in the school experience” and building strong relationships with them “really makes a difference” in dropout prevention.
7 Colorado Middle Schools – Nationally Recognized for High Performance
Steve Wolf (Powell MS) Julie Williams & Cindy Shane (Russell MS) at the honorary Gala Dinner.
Seven amazing Colorado Middle Schools were recognized with 93 other amazing middle schools from across the nation at the National School to Watch Conference in Washington, DC.
- Altona Middle School
- Gypsum Creek Middle School
- Hotchkiss K-8 School
- Jenkins Middle School
- Powell Middle School
- Russell Middle School
- Steamboat Springs Middle School
To earn the distinction of being a National (and State) School to Watch, a school must demonstrate three years of an academic success trajectory that includes performance on state assessments and high correlation to a set of standards created by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform. These Colorado schools achieved that standard and presented their replicable practices and programs before their peers and colleagues across the nation during two-day days of sessions including a site visit with their US Congressional Representative on Capitol Hill.
100 high performing middle schools across the nation were awarded at the National Schools to Watch Conference.
In the early 2000′s a number of educational associations and educational policy/research organizations fretted over the abundance of bad press and lack of focus on powerful learning priorities targeting young adolescents. They became empowered, they banded together, they became the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform and set upon an effort to identify and cast a light upon amazing middle schools – those that could be a beacon to others looking to replicate success, high achievement, developmentally responsive learning, social equitable environments and strong supportive structures to carry the weight of work that their passionate staff embraces on a daily basis. Each year, state Schools to Watch are designated nationally at the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform Annual Conference in Washington, DC. This year 100 schools from across the nation were awarded.
Steve Smith & Deb Lehr (Gypsum Creek MS) and Jason Ter Horst & Rich Law (Jenkins MS) share ideas and best practices from their high performing schools
As state director, I was deeply honored to sit among our middle level friends and colleagues across the nation. Speechless really, as I thought of the countless hours and restless nights accumulated by the dedicated staff members who devote their lives to children in the hopes that their efforts make a difference, open the door of opportunities, give heart to the hopeless, feed bodies and spirits, share love to the unloved, and the provide key to prosperity to each and every child.
Thank you National Schools to Watch, for your devotion to humanity, for your drive and sense of urgency, and for your love of the children that you give a piece of yourself to each and every day.
Thank you – we love you all,
Diane Lauer, State Coordinator and Board Member of the Colorado Association of Middle Level Education
Congratulations to our 2011 Schools to Watch!
It gives me great pleasure to officially welcome and introduce you to our wonderful (CAMLE) Colorado Association of Middle Level Education 2011 Colorado Trailblazer Schools to Watch.
These schools exemplify the four critieria outlined by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform:
- Academic Excellence
- Developmental Responsiveness
- Social Equity
- Strong Organizational Structures and Cultures
We are indeed fortunate to designate six fabulous new Schools to Watch and one redesignation. It was a challenging year as we reviewed and visited more schools than ever before. As you may know, last year we designated no new schools and affirmed only one redesignation. But neither snow nor sleet will keep CAMLE away from validating success in action.
Welcome Aboard!
- Altona Middle School – Longmont (St. Vrain)
- Gypsum Creek Middle School – Gypsum (Eagle County)
- Hotchkiss K-8 School – Hotchkiss (Delta County)
- Jenkins Middle School – Colorado Springs (District 11)
- Powell Middle School – Littleton (Littleton)
- Steamboat Springs Middle School – Steamboat Springs (Steamboat)
Welcome Back!
- Russell Middle School – Colorado Springs (District 11)
You can learn more about this schools by checking out our Visit and Learn page on this website. Each of our Schools to Watch is highlighted on this page.
Russell accepts their first designation in 2008
Our 2011 Schools to Watch will be honored at the National Schools to Watch Conference in Washington, DC on June 23, 2011. Over 300 schools have been designated with this distinction over the past 8 years. The Honorable, U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan will be speaking at the Thursday night Gala Dinner celebrating the Schools to Watch successes.
I’d like to thank our incredible contingent of CAMLE Schools to Watch volunteers to traveled over 4,358 miles collectively during the months of January and February to visit schools across our great state of Colorado.
Boy did we have fun!
