High-performing schools with middle grades are sensitive to the unique developmental challenges of early adolescence.

1. The school creates a personalized environment that supports each student's intellectual, ethical, social, and physical development. The school groups adults and students in small learning communities characterized by stable, close, and mutually respectful relationships.

2. The school provides access to comprehensive services to foster healthy physical, social, emotional, and intellectual development.

3. Teachers use a wide variety of instructional strategies to foster curiosity, exploration, creativity, and the development of social skills.

4. The curriculum is both socially significant and relevant to the personal interests of young adolescents.

5. Teachers make connections across disciplines to help reinforce important concepts and address real-world problems.

6. The school provides multiple opportunities for students to explore a rich variety of topics and interests in order to develop their identity, discover and demonstrate their own competence, and plan for their future.

7. Students have opportunities for voice -- posing questions, reflecting on experiences, developing rubrics, and participating in decisions.

8. The school develops alliances with families to enhance and support the well-being of their children. It involves families as partners in their children's education, keeping them informed, involving them in their children's learning, and assuring participation in decision-making.

9. The school provides students with opportunities to develop citizenship skills, uses the community as a classroom, and engages the community in providing resources and support.

10. The school provides age-appropriate co-curricular activities.

Schools to Watch Home | Our Criteria | Visit Our Schools | Links | Tell a Friend | Talk to Us | National Forum