Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
b. The Middle Schools <br />The transition from elementary school to middle school is a life passage that shifts <br />responsibility for learning from school and family to the individual student. No longer <br />nestled in an enclosed classroom, with one teacher identified as a primary person, the shift <br />too more departmentalized curriculum requires something different from students. At the <br />middle school level, students must rely more on their own commitments to study and <br />academic achievement than the learning situation in the elementary schools requires of <br />them. In addition, gathered together with students from three other elementary schools, <br />students are required to adjust to a new social situation as well as a new academic one. <br />Organizing a school with teaching teams who know each other and the children well, <br />integrating instruction and creating smaller familiar learning communities within the school <br />has come to be known as the "middle school model." A Carnegie report on middle school <br />education, Turning Points (Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development, 1989), notes an <br />important distinction between the design and function of middle schools: <br />A small learning community does not exist if just the structural elements such as <br />common planning time, block scheduling, shared students, and common team areas <br />are provided in a building. Although these structural elements are necessaryto <br />create a small community for learning, they are not sufficient to define it. Not only <br />must the opportunity be provided, but also teachers have to believe in it and choose <br />to do it. Furthermore, they must have the professional development and skills to <br />make it happen. The climate of the school must be supportive of teaming, and <br />teachers must actually engage in teaming practices. <br />While the middle schools of both districts subscribe to the basic teaming structure <br />recommended by the Carnegie study, schools in CHCCS and OCS function differently. Four <br />factors, affected by resources, may influence the capacity of OCS middle schools to <br />provide the focused attention that supports the teaming model. Although items three and <br />four are systemic, affecting all district schools, they may have particular salience for the <br />realization of the middle school model. <br />1) Planning time: The middle school day in CHCCS is divided into nine periods, in <br />contrast to the blocked eight - period day in OCS middle schools. In addition, <br />CHCCS have more teachers for special programs, the arts, technology, and foreign <br />languages. The presence of these additional staff members accomplishes two <br />things: an enriched curriculum for students, and an extra planning period for grade <br />level teams. Our study revealed that middle school teachers in CHCCS have 150 <br />minutes (the equivalence of three class periods) when they are free from <br />instruction. This time is used in different ways across the middle schools, but <br />generally it is described that one period is used for collaborative planning, one <br />period for parent conferences, and one period for individualized work with students <br />who need support. In contrast, OCS middle school teachers have 90 minutes (one <br />teaching block) a day that are free from instruction. <br />CHCCS /OCS Final Report 52 <br />