Meeting of the Board of Regents | October 2003

THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY 12234

TO:

The Honorable the Members of the Board of Regents

FROM:

James A. Kadamus

COMMITTEE:

EMSC-VESID Committee

TITLE OF ITEM:

Alternative Approaches for Implementation of the Regents Policy Statement on Middle-Level Education (Part 1 of 3)

DATE OF SUBMISSION:

September 24, 2003

PROPOSED HANDLING:

Discussion

RATIONALE FOR ITEM:

Implementation of Regents Policy

STRATEGIC GOAL:

Goals 1, 2, and 3

AUTHORIZATION(S):

Conceptual Area

Current Status of Regulations

Pertinent Policy Statement Language

Related Research and Other Information

Comments by Experts

Results of Public Engagement

Course of Study

Flexible for grades pre-k through grade 6: The regulations specify curricular areas that must be addressed.

Prescriptive for grades 7 and 8: The regulations specify discrete required courses in English, math, science, social studies, other languages, technology, music, art, home and career skills, health, physical education, library and media skills, career development and occupational studies.

"Every young adolescent needs a challenging, standards-based course of study that is comprehensive, integrated, and relevant�. The educational program should be fully aligned with the State�s 28 learning standards�."

A demanding curriculum has intellectual and practical benefits for students of all backgrounds, races, and ethnicities. Academic pressure and social support predict student achievement.

Research suggests that the middle grades are a good time for students to learn to play a musical instrument or to speak a foreign language because of the changes occurring in the brain. Such activity has the added benefit of promoting a sense of competence, belonging, and self-esteem. Increase in obesity and diabetes among youth.

Felner: Implement deep, integrated, standards-based instruction. Maintain emphasis on literacy and numeracy.

Bottoms: Mission of the middle school: readiness for high school. Decide what students must learn. Set high performance standards. Career and technical education adds focus and relevance to rigorous academics for some students.

32 percent of survey respondents agreed and 48 percent disagreed that schools had enough flexibility to organize and deliver an educational program based on all 28 learning standards

Time Require-ments

Flexible for grades pre-k through 6:The regulations have no time requirements (except for health and physical education).

Prescriptive for grades 7 and 8: The regulations prescribe specific time require-ments (i.e., units of study) for specific subjects (e.g., ELA) and discrete courses (e.g., Home and Career Skills).

"Every young adolescent needs a challenging, standards-based course of study that is comprehensive, integrated, and relevant�. The educational program should be fully aligned with the State�s 28 learning standards�. Literacy and numeracy are key�. Scheduling flexibility is necessary to provide a comprehensive educational program, interdisciplinary curricula, targeted and timely academic intervention services�."

Young adolescents need an educational experience that is more than just an academic curriculum. They need, as they refine their abilities to think abstractly and visualize possible alternative futures, opportunities to pursue their talents, to explore their interests, to investigate their career options, to develop their personal strengths, and to grow as individuals.

Felner: Implement deep, integrated, standards-based instruction. Maintain emphasis on literacy and numeracy. Ensure opportunities to learn.

Bottoms: Provide high quality extra help and time.

Parents were asked about the amount of time their children received instruction in 12 curricular areas: Overall, 47 percent felt their child received "not enough" time and 3 percent "too much" time. In science and in library and information skills, 60 percent said there was "not enough" time; in English 57 percent the time allotted was "just right."

Career Exploration

Prescriptive: Students required to receive instruction in career exploration and planning. Districts to provide infor-mation on the number of students who have developed career plans (information reported on School Report Cards).

"The educational program also encourages students to pursue personal interests, engage in school and community activities, explore potential futures and careers, and develop useful social, interpersonal, and life skills�."

Career exploration activities designed to build self-knowledge relating to career interests and aptitudes complement a strong academic program. This exposure is particularly important in the eighth grade, when students are planning their high school course of study, but the planning should build upon and reinforce prior experiences in the sixth and seventh grades.

Felner: Connect schools with communities.

Bottoms: Need for all students to be prepared to pursue some form of post-secondary study. Career and technical education adds focus and relevance to rigorous academics for some students. Improve guidance for goal-setting and planning for parent involvement.

73 percent of survey respondents agreed and 9 percent disagreed that career exploration should be in the middle-level program.

Acceleration (taking high school-level courses in grade eight)

Prescriptive: Districts required to provide qualified students in grade 8 with the opportunity to accelerate in mathematics and one other area.

"Teachers use flexible grouping based upon pupil needs, ways of learning, and interests and employ interdisciplinary approaches to help students integrate their studies and to fulfill their potential�."

Some researchers contend that tracking can help those placed in the high track while remaining largely neutral in its effects on those in lower tracks; others argue that tracking interferes with middle-grade students' personal development; has a negative effect on lower-tracked students' motivation, opportunities to learn and life chances; and perpetuates socioeconomic and racial inequities.

Felner: Ensure success for all students. High expectations for all students. No acceptable casualties.

Bottoms: Need for all students to be prepared to pursue some form of post-secondary study. Set high performance standards. Differential expectations and cultures in the different student-assigned tracks.

56 percent of survey respondents agreed and 23 percent disagreed that students in the middle grades currently have appropriate opportunities to take high school level courses and receive credit toward graduation.

Conceptual Area

Current Status of Regulations

Pertinent Policy Statement Language

Related Research

and Other Information

Comments by Experts

Results of Public Engagement

Professional

Learning

Flexible: Districts required to prepare a professional development plan that includes middle grades staff; regulations now require newly certified teachers to participate in 175 hours of professional learning during a five-year span to maintain their teaching credential.

"Schools with middle-level grades need to be professional learning communities where adults in the school engage in programs of growth and development that are ongoing, planned, purposeful, and collaboratively developed. At the core of professional growth should be specific subject area expertise, a knowledge and understanding of the linkages among the 28 learning standards, research-based instructional practices�.. [and] the developmental characteristics of young adolescents�"

Concerns over whether middle grade teachers know enough about their subjects to teach to higher standards are widespread.

But, content expertise, while necessary, is not enough. Middle-level teachers also must know how to teach young adolescents effectively. Requiring more academic content for prospective teachers will not be effective if they are not taught content-specific teaching strategies that will work with different learners.

Felner: Develop well-prepared teachers. Empower decision-making at all levels. Teacher quality of life and job satisfaction influence student performance. Professional development a necessary element of change.

Bottoms: Improving student achievement is about changing how adults think and behave in school. Deeper subject matter knowledge needed by middle grades teachers.

Data from the Spring 2003 Public Engagement Forums: 39 percent of survey respondents agreed and 31 percent disagreed that districts make the best use of mandated training for middle-level professional staff.

Resources

Local Discretion: Regulations do not explicitly address the availability and provision of instructional resources; local school districts determine the adequacy of resources.

"Up-to-date learning aids (e.g., textbooks, current adolescent literature, laboratory equipment, etc.), instructional materials, and instructional technology are used to support the educational program."

A focus on higher-order thinking skills, engagement in hands-on, contextualized learning, and the use of problem-solving activities are all associated with higher student achievement. Further, instruction must be purposeful and standards-based. It must deliver, in a way that connects students with learning, the challenging content � the knowledge and skills � of the written curriculum.

Felner: Opportunity to learn. Structural resources and conditions (e.g., team sizes, five days per week common planning time, teacher-based advisory) are critical. These conditions do not ensure adequate implementation, but must be present.

70 percent of middle-level science teachers surveyed in Year III Standards Imple-mentation Study felt that they had been provided with sufficient and quality instructional materials, space and equipment.

Teacher Planning Opportunities

Local Discretion: Regulations do not explicitly address the availability and provision of teacher planning opportunities. They are provided at the discretion of local districts.

"Teachers must be provided with regular opportunities to interact and collaborate to ensure that instruction is consistent and inter-related across and within the subject areas."

Interdisciplinary teaming seems to have the most positive effect when teachers meet often throughout the school year, when they openly discuss their goals and when they plan curricula for a relatively small group of students. Common planning time, in particular, appears to be a key factor.

Felner: Create small, personalized learning communities and give them time to work together. Teacher teams and advisory groups.

Bottoms: Small learning communities.

In the Year IV Stan-dards Implementation Study (2003), 39 percent of all middle grade English Language Arts teachers surveyed felt that their shared planning time was adequate to imple-ment the learning standards, while 61 percent did not agree that it was adequate.