Introduction to Marshall Middle School

Thurgood Marshall Middle School (Marshall) is located in a working-class neighborhood about halfway between downtown Chicago and O'Hare Airport. The school is part of the Chicago Public Schools, which serves 480,000 students. The school itself serves 670 students in grades 7 and 8. It draws from two elementary schools in the neighborhood and two schools from beyond the neighborhood.

During the 1998 - 1999 school year, nearly 90 percent of the students belonged to an ethnic or racial minority, with Latinos comprising 64 percent of the total. Many students are recent immigrants from countries across Central America, Eastern Europe and South Asia. About 20 percent speak English as a second language and more than 90 percent qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

The Marshall application for the Schools to Watch designation identified the school's two major achievements as "shared decision-making amongst school community" and a "student-centered learning environment." The principal pointed to three key strategies for creating and improving such a learning environment:

1. Integration of subjects

2. Active hands-on instruction

3. Attention to the social and emotional needs of students, so that they are free to learn

Results from the Iowa Test of Basic Skills for grades 7 and 8 at Marshall show considerable gains across grade levels on both reading comprehension and math between 1992 and 1999. The most compelling data are the percentages of students at or above the national norms. In 1992, 20 percent of students scored at or above the national norms in Reading; in 1999, the number had more than doubled to 44 percent. The math results are similar.

In its application packet, the school also included "School Report Cards" from the last three years, which show that Marshall has surpassed the district average each year in the following ways:

• A slightly higher student attendance rate

• A lower chronic truancy rate

• A higher percentage of students who met or exceeded performance goals on the Illinois Goal Assessment Program set by the state board of education each year

When asked what they would like to tell the world about their school, the Marshall administrative team members mentioned the following points:

• The key is to treat teachers professionally and let them run; leadership consists of letting go.

• The school is always considered a work in progress; there is constant renewal; nobody is stagnant.

• When people are at odds, they resolve the problem by asking, "What's best for kids?"

• It is important to have a focus. This year it's on small teams, Reading and technology.

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