Linking services for Georgia's young adolescents

Georgia Board of Education
Werner Rogers, State Superintendent of Schools

M any people contributed to this report.. It is primarily a compilation of information provided by a substantial number of busy Georgia professionals. Their cooperation is gratefully acknowledged. Material was also drawn from several published documents and reports in order to provide a comprehensive picture of the state of young adolescents, their public school education, and their overall well-being. John Lounsbury, a member of the Task Force, was primarily responsible for developing, writing, and editing the report with the assistance ofAlice Smith, the Project Director. Mary Mitchell of Milledgeville deserves much credit for preparing, formatting, and designing the camera ready copy. Thanks also to Anne Raymond and Nancy Hall of the Georgia Department of Education for their editorial assistance, to Teri McCook for designing the cover, and to Merri Sheffield whose photographs enrich the report. Finally, and especially, we acknowledge with gratitude the contributions of the Carnegie Corporation of New York for funding Georgia's Middle Grades Initiative and underwriting this summary report.
Copyright 1993 Georgia Board of Education This publication was produced with funds from a grant by the Carnegie Corporation of New York as part of the Middle Grade School State Policy Initiative. Any part may be duplicated as long as appropriate credit is given. Copies are available while supplies last from Georgia Department of Education, Division of Curriculum and Instruction, Atlanta, Georgia 30334-5040.
Telephone (404) 656-2685
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Contents
Foreword Governor Zell Miller's Message Statement from State Superintendent of Schools Werner Rogers and
Human Resources Commissioner James :Ledbetter
I. The National Picture
Excerpts from Turning Points Turning Points Recommendations Characteristics of Young Adolescents The Middle School Concept - In Summary Excerpts from Code Blue: Uniting for Healthier Youth What Work Requires of Schools Excerpts from Fateful Choices
II. The Georgia Task Force
Task Force Members The Role of the Task Force Task Force Activities
III. Middle Level Education in Georgia
Perspectives on Middle Level Education in Georgia Numerically Speaking: School Organization in Georgia Cobb Couunty - Pioneer in Middle School Education Fulton County's Middle School Program Middle School Program Criteria List of Approved Core Values Middle and Junior High Schools of Excellence, 1984-1992 The Close Relationship of Health and Education Key Provisions of Sex and AIDS Education Legislation Professional Associations Serving Middle Schools Middle Grades Teacher Education and Certification Converting from Junior Highs to Middle Schools
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v vii
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1
3 5 6 9 14 17 18
21
22 23 24
29
31 35 37 38 39 42 .44 .45 46 .47 48 50

IV. Excellence in Operation

51

Hi-tech in Operation (Trickum Middle School)

53

Providing Continuity in Caring and Learning (Elbert County Middle School) 54

Parent Conferences at the Worksite (Glynn County)

56

Collaboration - A Major Success Story (Decatur City)

58

Easing the Transition (Bibb County)

60

A Citizens' Group Initiates Positive Programs (Paulding County)

61

An Alternative Opportunity Program (Decatur County)

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An Mter School Program (Holcomb Bridge Middle School)

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Mter School Study Groups (Cousins Middle School)

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An Adventure-based Counseling Program (Boddie Middle School)

65

Educational Trips Improve Climate and Learning (Central Middle School) 66

The Olympics - A County-wide Interdisciplinary Unit (Fulton County)

67

School-based Health Clinics Serve Young Adolescents

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School-Business Partnerships (Nash Middle School)

70

Business Partnerships Make A Difference (Lawrenceville Middle School) 72

Georgia Cities in Schools Program

73

A School-Within-A-School (Stilson Elem. School)

74

Integrating HIV Education into Teacher Education (Georgia Southern Univ.) 75

V. A Call to Action

77

Selected References

81

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That expression is used to connote the condition that exists when all parts are in synch, working together to achieve a common goal. One would hope that this cliche could be used to describe either the way the many components that comprise a middle school program fit together or how well coordinated are the many services and agencies that touch the lives of Georgia's young adolescents.
Unfortunately, the reality is that typically school programs are made up of various components, separate subjects and activities, which often work, however unintentionally, at cross purposes. In the same manner, the various health, social service, and recreation agencies that deal with 10 to 15 year olds do so in relative independence of one another and of the public school which carries the major and broadest responsibility for the growth and development of young adolescents.
In Georgia, serious efforts are under way to integrate more effectively the learning experiences of young adolescents, to bring wholeness to schooling and support all the developmental needs of 10 to 15 year olds. The state's concern, of course, is not just with the formal schooling experience but with all those conditions and experiences that "educate" the young adolescent. To improve the life and well-being of 10 to 15 year olds Georgia's concern is with "our common client," the young adolescent who lives - and learns all day, every day, not just from 8:00 - 3:00, Monday through Friday.
The Carnegie Corporation of New York has been a major player in the national middle level education reform thrust. By sponsoring its Task Force on the Education of Young Adolescents which resulted in the 1989 document, Turning Points: Preparing American Youth for the 21st Century, it directed the attention of the public to this age level. The powerful, comprehensive report dramatically detailed the plight of 10 to 15 year olds in today's society. Its recommendations have provided a widely supported agenda for reforming middle level education.
The Carnegie Corporation subsequently provided major grants to 27 states to carry out middle grades education reforms. As one of the 27 states receiving a Carnegie Corporation grant for the year 1991-92, Georgia appointed a Task Force to develop and carry out plans for its initiative. Noting that the
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proposal request encouraged "linking middle grades education to critical resources outside the school," our Task Force took as a focus the development of collaborative activities with other youth serving agencies. The ultimate hope of the Task Force is the improvement of life for young adolescents, their health, education, and overall development.
This report is a culminating activity of Georgia's Middle Grade State Policy Initiative. It reports on the work of the Task Force but also includes considerable additional material to broaden the reader's understanding of what has been done and is being done to serve the young adolescent age cohort. Reading the background materials and the examples of excellence will give readers needed perspective. While citizens can be proud of the many advances already made in improving the education of Georgia's adolescents it has to be acknowledged that these schools are the exception not the rule.
The report has been prepared and made available with the expectation that educators and citizens generally will use it as a resource to further their personal understandings of the importance of this age group, the status of efforts to serve them by various health and social service agencies, and the type of educational program needed to prepare them effectively for life in the 1990s and beyond. Further, it is hoped that the information and perspectives gained here will lead citizens and educators to take positive actions on behalf of our state's young adolescents, lest we lose another generation. The quality of our future, to a very substantial and realistic degree, depends on how well we meet this challenge.
-J. H. L.
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Zell Miller
GOVERNOR

STATE OF GEORGIA
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR ATLANTA 30334-0900

November 2, 1992

Greetings:

It is my pleasure to support Georgia's efforts to make fundamental changes in middle grades education. Much of this current effort was made possible through a generous grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York as a part of their Middle Grade Schools State Planning Initiative.

Our middle grade students are at an age where they are exposed to many of the factors that lead to problems later in life including drugs, sex and violence. Young people must be given the opportunity to develop a sense of purpose and the skills necessary to maintain a high self-esteem and to be able to make healthy choices. Through collaboration between the Georgia Department of Education and the Department of Human Resources, we are able to better ensure that our children have the ability to make the right choices. Georgia has a very strong and challenging core curriculum for the middle grades, supplemented by diverse enrichment courses and activities. By giving students the opportunity to explore a variety of academic and interest areas, we are better able to prepare them for the demands of high school and adult life.

I strongly believe that a school system which collaborates with other youth service agencies will best serve the needs of Georgia students. Our middle grade initiative is an integral part of Georgia's strategy for achieving better education for all.

I hope that you will work to improve education in your community.

With kindest regards, I remain

Sincerely,



ZM/th

Miller

Werner Rogers, State Superintendent of Schools, and James Ledbetter, Commissioner, Department of Human Resources, who jointly appointed the Georgia Middle Grades Task Force, are committed to collaboration. Their views on the importance of10 to 15 year olds and the agencies that serve these young adolescents are set forth in this joint statement.
I n recent years the period of early adolescence has moved into the public spotlight. And certainly this attention on the 10 to 15 year old is long overdue. Young adolescents have been growing up forgotten. Yet it is increasingly clear that the experiences youth undergo during these transition years have lifelong effects. One's behavior-determining attitudes and values are largely set during these middle school years. In the past school programs targeted for this age group have related little to their developmental needs, and the school itself has seldom collaborated with other agencies serving these youth. While most ofour schools are doing a good job in difficult times, it is clear that society's demands on our graduates have changed and enlarged dramatically. Our state must take seriously the widely cited need to restructure middle level schools.
The middle school movement evolved out of a recognition that the traditional school program was failing to prepare our youth adequately for life. In the last 15 to 20 years, it has become a major component of the educational reform movement. Georgia has made great strides in implementing the middle school concept and is nationally recognized as a leader in this education improvement effort. Particularly significant in Georgia have been the efforts of schools and other youth-serving agencies to collaborate. We recognize that educational reform must go beyond the school itself. A child in poor health is a poor learner. A child whose out-of-school life is unbearably stressful cannot benefit fully from formal education. This special report describes many of the good things already happening in schools and their new relationships with parents, businesses, communities, and agencies and organizations that serve children and youth.
Thanks to the support of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the impetus we have received from our grant, positive developments will continue to occur in Georgia. We urge citizens to become better informed about the educational, health, and social services being provided to our 10 to 15 year olds and to join with the professionals who serve them. Together we can be successful.
Finally, we would like to express our appreciation to the members of the Georgia Middle School Task Force for their work and vision in helping us better serve our adolescents. Also, we salute all those committed individuals who teach and serve our youth during the difficult middle school age years.
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Young
adolescents -
Young adolescents face significant turning points. For many youth 10 to 15 years old, early adolescence offers opportunities to choose a path toward a productive and fulfilling life. For many others, it represents their last best chance to avoid a diminished future.
- Turning Points

our common clients

The ultimate focus of all Georgia's youth-serving agencies is our common client - the individual young adolescent.

The middle school has been characterized as "sweeping the country like wildfire" and as "an idea whose time has come." Hyperbole aside, it is true that the middle school movement has been the major educational reform effort in the United States over the last three decades. Its roots, of course, go all the way back to the turn of the century and the emergence of the junior high school.
To comprehend Georgia's part in the movement it is necessary first to grasp the national picture. This section contains information that will illuminate the idea of the middle school and the conditions in schools and society which impinge on the lives of young adolescents. Excerpts from the influential Carnegie Corporation report, Turning Points, open the section.
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YOUNG ADOLESCENTS FACE SIGNIFICANT TURNING POINTS.
For many youth 10 to 15 years old, early adolescence offers opportunities to choose a path toward a productive and fulfilling life. For many others, it represents their last best chance to avoid a diminished future.
Early adolescence is characterized by significant growth and change. For most, the period is initiated by puberty, a period of development more rapid than in any other phase of life except infancy. Cognitive growth is equally dramatic for many youth, bringing the new capacity to think in more abstract and complex ways than they could as children. Increased sense of self and enhanced capacity for intimate relationships can also emerge in early adolescence. All of these changes represent significant potential in our young people and great opportunity for them and the society.
Unfortunately, by age 15, a substantial number of American youth are at risk of reaching adulthood unable to meet adequately the requirements of the workplace, the commitments of relationships in families and with friends, and the responsibilities of participation in a democratic society. These youth are among the estimated 7 million young people - one in four adolescents - who are extremely vulnerable to multiple high-risk behaviors and school failure. Another 7 million may be at moderate risk, but remain a cause for serious concern.
During early adolescence, youth enter a period of trial and error during which many first experiment with alcohol and drugs and risk permanent addiction. More and more adolescents 15 years old and younger are becoming sexually active, risking sexually transmitted diseases or pregnancy and the birth of unhealthy, low birth weight babies.
The conditions ofearly adolescence have changed dramatically from previous generations. Today, young people enter a society that at once denounces and glorifies sexual promiscuity and the use of illicit drugs. They live in urban neighborhoods and even in some rural towns where the stability of close-knit relationships is rare, where the sense of community that shapes their identity has eroded. They will seek jobs in an economy that will require virtually all workers to think flexibly and creatively as only an elite few were required, and educated, to do in the past.
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In these changed times, when young people face unprecedented choices and pressures, all too often the guidance they needed as children and need no less as adolescents is withdrawn. Freed from the dependency of childhood, but not yet able to find their own path to adulthood, many young people feel a desperate sense of isolation. Surrounded only by their equally confused peers, too many make poor decisions with harmful or lethal consequences.
Middle grade schools - junior high, intermediate, and middle schools - are potentially society's most powerful force to recapture millions of youth adrift, and help every young person thrive during early adolescence. Yet all too often these schools exacerbate the problems of young adolescents.
A volatile mismatch exists between the organization and curriculum ofmiddle grade schools and the intellectual and emotional needs of young adolescents. Caught in a vortex of changing demands, the engagement of many youth in learning diminishes, and their rates of alienation, substance abuse, absenteeism, and dropping out of school begin to rise.
As the number of youth left behind grows, and opportunities in the economy for poorly educated workers diminish, we face the specter of a divided society: one affluent and well-educated, the other poorer and ill-educated. We face an America at odds with itself.
- From Turning Points: Preparing American Youth for the 21 st Century. (1989). The Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development, Carnegie Corporation of New York.
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Turning Points Recommendations
Turning Points: Preparing American Youth for the 21st Century (1989) The Carnegie Corporation of New York

Create small communities for learning, where stable, close, mutually respectful relationships with adults and peers are considered fundamental for intellectual development and personal growth.

Staff middle grade schools with teachers who are expert at teaching young adolescents and who have been specially prepared for assignment to the middle grades.

Teach a core academic program that results in students who are literate, including in the humanities, social and physical sciences, and who know how to think critically, lead a healthy life, behave ethically, and assume the responsibilities of citizenship in a pluralistic society.

Improve academic performance through fostering the health and fitness of young adolescents by providing a health coordinator in every middle grade school, access to health care and counseling services, and a healthpromoting school environment.

Ensure success for all students through elimination of tracking by achievement level and promotion of cooperative learning, flexibility in arranging instructional time, and adequate resources for teachers.

Reengage families in the education of young adolescents by giving families meaningful roles in school governance, communicating with families effectively, and offering families opportunities to support the learning process at home.

Empower teachers and administrators to make decisions about the experiences of middle grade students through creative control by school staff over the instructional program linked to greater responsibility for each student's performance.

Connect schools with communities by identifying opportunities for youth service in the community, establishing partnerships and collaborations to ensure students' access to health and socialservices, and using community resources to enrich the instructional program.

Characteristics c
Youth between the ages of 10 to 15 are characterized by their diversity as they move through the puberty growth cycle at varying times and rates.
Intellectual Development
Display a wide range of individual intellectual development Are in a transition period from concrete thinking to abstract thinking
Are intensely curious and have a wide range of intellectual pursuits all of which may be unsustained
Prefer active over passive learning experiences Prefer interaction with peers during learning activities Respond to opportunities to participate in real life situations Are often preoccupied with self Have a strong need for approval and may be easily discouraged
Develop an increasingly better understanding of personal abilities Are inquisitive about adults, often challenge their authority, and are always watching them Are primarily concerned with social and personal interests rather than academic pursuits Are developing a capacity to understand higher levels of humor, and Are intellectually "at risk," making decisions that affect their immediate academic futures that
may have lifelong consequences.
Physical Development
Experience rapid, irregular physical growth Undergo bodily changes that may cause awkward, uncoordinated behavior Have varying maturity rates, with girls tending to mature one and one-half to two years earlier
than boys as well as becoming more developed physically, socially, emotionally, and intellectually; and with late-maturing students often at a disadvantage that may require protection by caring adults Experience restlessness and fatigue due to hormonal changes Need daily physical activity because of increased energy Experience significant brain growth followed by a period of non-growth Develop sexual awareness that increases as secondary sex characteristics begin to appear Are concerned with bodily changes that accompany sexual maturation and changes resulting in an increase in nose size, protruding ears, long arms, and awkward posture Have preference for "junk foods" but need good nutrition Lack physical fitness, with poor levels of endurance, strength, and flexibility; and as a group, have bodies heavier and out of shape.

(oung Adolescents
Yet as a group they reflect important developmental characteristics that have major implications for those agencies that seek to serve them.
Emotional/Psychological Development
Have widely varying moods with peaks of intensity and unpredictability as feelings shift between a sense of superiority and inferiority
Need to release energy, often resulting in sudden, apparently meaningless outbursts of activity
Seek to become increasingly independent, searching for adult identity and acceptance Have an increasingly important concern for peer acceptance
Tend to be self-conscious, lack self-esteem, and are easily offended by and sensitive to personal
criticism Exhibit intense concern about physical growth and maturity as profound physical changes occur Behave in ways associated with their sex as sex role identification strengthens Are concerned with many major societal issues as personal value systems develop Believe that personal problems; feelings, and experiences are unique to themselves
Are psychologically "at risk" because at no other stage in development are they more likely to
encounter so many differences between themselves and others.
Social Development
Have a strong need to belong to a group, with the need for peer approval increasing as the importance of adult approval decreases Model behavior in their search for self after older, esteemed students or non-parent adults Exhibit immature behavior because their social skills frequently lag behind their mental and physical maturity Experiment with new slang and behavior as they search for a social position within their group, often discarding these "new identities" at a later date Must adjust to the social acceptance of early maturing girls and the athletic successes of early maturing boys, especially if they are maturing at a slower rate Are dependent on parental beliefs and values but do everything possible to be individuals making their own decisions Are often intimidated and frightened by their first intermediate school experience because the large numbers of students and teachers and the largeness of the building cause anxiety Want recognition for their efforts and achievements Like fads, especially those shunned by adults but highlighted by the media React overtly to ridicule, embarrassments, and rejection, and Are socially at-risk because, as they develop their beliefs, attitudes, and values during adolescence, negative experiences with adults and peers may compromise their ideals and values.

The key to effective middle level schools is a climate of caring and collaboration in which a sense of family is prevalent.
The Middle School Concept - In Summary
On a national level there have been two major position statements relative to middle level education. The first from the National Middle School Association was adopted in 1982 and reaffirmed in 1992. The second was developed by the Middle Level Council of the National Association of Secondary School Principals. These two statements, in abbreviated form, are presented here as valid standards for guiding the development of developmentally appropriate middle schools.
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This We Believe
National Middle School Association, 1982/1992
T he middle school stands for clear educational concepts which evolve from a melding of the nature of the age group, the nature of learning, and the expectations of society. There should be, then, certain conditions, factors, and programmatic characteristics that are identifiable and that would be present in a true middle school. The components identified below, called essential elements, are considered to be of special importance.
1. EDUCATORS KNOWLEDGEABLE ABOUT AND COMMITTED TO YOUNG ADOLESCENTS The unique needs and characteristics of the middle school student dictate that a special type of educator implement the curriculum. Certainly a prerequisite for working with young adolescents should be a genuine desire to teach this age group. Coupled with that bent needs to be a thorough understanding of the human growth and development of the 10-14 year old, for herein is the foundation of all middle school practices.
2. A BALANCED CURRICULUM BASED ON THE NEEDS OF YOUNG ADOLESCENTS The middle school curriculum itself must be formulated with regard to the educational needs and characteristics of young adolescent students. While societal expectations are important and tradition ought not be ignored, a true middle school curriculum will actually be based largely on student needs. The curriculum must carefully balance academic goals and other human development needs.
3. A RANGE OF ORGANIZATIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
Various organizational arrangements should be utilized within the middle school, for the students are varied. A fully departmentalized, ability grouped seven period day is incompatible with what we know about young adolescents and learning. It is also a prime example of the unfortunate imitation of the high school that has long plagued intermediate education.
4. VARIED INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES The unique characteristics of young adolescents provide a foundation for instructional methods, just as they do for curriculum content. The skills and achievement levels of middle school students are distributed across a very broad continuum. Students experience plateaus, rapid progress, and regression in physical coordination and skills achievement. Achievement simply does not proceed uniformly.

5. A FuLL EXPLORATORY PROGRAM
The rapid physical, social, and intellectual development which occurs during these years requires the inclusion of brief but intense interest-based activities. A short attention span, difficulty in concentration, and the restlessness which accompanies changing physical bodies preclude learning modules which extend beyond 15-20 minutes.
6. COMPREHENSIVE ADVISING AND COUNSEUNG
Advisement and counseling have very special importance at the intermediate educational level. Concern over body development, the desire for social acceptance, the seemingly inevitable conflict with adult norms and expectations, the desire to tryout new ideas and beliefs, and the desire to experiment with a heightened intellectual ability all point to the need for an intensive and an extensive guidance program.
7. CONTINUOUS PROGRESS FOR STUDENTS
Since growth during childhood is relatively steady and continuous, young adolescents may not be prepared for the growth irregularities common during the transition years. Therefore, educators and parents should reassure students that fluctuations in rate and duration of growth are normal and to be expected. This is not to excuse lack of effort on the part of the students, but to relieve the anxiety of some students who are exerting great efforts and are frustrated by their lack of accomplishment.
8. EVALUATION PROCEDURES COMPATIBLE WITH NATURE OF YOUNG ADOLESCENTS
Early adolescence is the crucial period in the establishment of a wholesome self-concept. Therefore, evaluation, marking, and reporting procedures should help students discover and understand their strengths, weaknesses, values, interests, and personality. Emphasis must be on the positive progression, so that evaluation is self-enhancing, not demeaning.
9. COOPERATIVE PLANNING
The varied educational needs of young adolescents means that the professional "as a single runner" cannot plan adequate experiences. Cooperative school-wide planning that involves faculty, administration, and specialists is an essential ingredient in the effectively responsive middle school. School advisory councils involving parental and community representation are very useful.
10. POSITIVE SCHOOL CUMATE
The overall climate of the school is itself a "teacher." A true middle school should evidence warmth, caring, and respect. These conditions should be apparent in the halls as well as in the classrooms, in the lunchroom as well as in the offices. The needed positive atmosphere cannot exist if it is not rooted in a sense of harmony and togetherness on the part of the professional staff.
- Source: This We Believe National Middle School Association
Columbus, Ohio, 1982/1992.

An Agenda for Excellence at the Middle Level
National Association of Secondary School Principals, 1985
M iddle level schools, which have a special place in American education, have special missions that require cultivation and serious attention if they are to help young adolescents reach their potential.
Because we cannot teach them all they need to know, we must teach them how to learn and how to adjust their lives to the changes that will surround them. To do this, we must provide high quality intellectual climates in our middle level schools and foster the development of adaptive skills that our students can use throughout their lives.
To these ends, this agenda addresses the elements of schooling that must receive the highest priority.
1. CORE VALUES
For any institution to be successful, everyone involved in it must be committed to clearly articulated core values. These values must guide both individual behavior and institutional policies and practices. Core values for the middle level school must address personal responsibility, the primacy of learning and intellectual activity, and respect for the diversity found in the school and the society that nurtures it.
2. CULTURE AND CUMATE
School improvement depends on a change in the culture and climate of the institution, not on the addition of certain program elements that seem to appear in effective schools. Specific attention must be given to the alteration of the culture and climate of the school so that it supports excellence and achievement rather than intellectual conformity and mediocrity.
3. STUDENT DEVELOPMENT
To a large degree, success in school and a realistic adjustment to adult life depend on personal attributes and behaviors, not intellectual ones. Student development efforts should focus on the practice and mastery of these attributes and behaviors.
4. CURRICULUM
The content of today's curriculum serves primarily to develop intellectual habits and capacities that are likely to be applicable to other times and other settings. The curriculum must balance skill development with content coverage, which may be outdated before it is used. To prepare youth for the future, the middle level school curriculum must develop intellectual skills and an understanding of humankind that will permit the student to gather information, organize it in a meaningful fashion, evaluate its veracity and utility, form reasonable conclusions about it, and plan for individual and collective action.
5. LEARNING AND INSTRUCTION
Ultimately, the quality of any youngster's educational experience is determined by the nature of the instruction provided in the classroom. Good teachers can overcome bad curricula; good curricula cannot compensate for poor teaching.
The best teachers are still recognizable to most of us; they are caring, enthusiastic, optimistic, and wellversed in pedagogy and their subject areas. They set high expectations but are easily approached for help and guidance. Most important, they are patient and quick to reward good student performance.

6. SCHOOL ORGANIZATION
The organization of the school should encourage the smooth operation of the academic program, clear communication among teachers and administrators, and maximum teacher and student control over the quality of the learning environment. The organization of the school should contribute to a sense of belonging on the part of the people who work and learn there, and should mitigate against anonymity and alienation from the primary mission of the school.
7. TECHNOLOGY
Technology is an inescapable part of life, but many schools have not developed coherent plans for its use. Since schools cannot make state-of-the-art technology available to everyone, training students in specific operations is not as important as educating them to use technology competently and thoughtfully in their study of specific subjects and in their approach to complex problems.
8. TEACHERS
Middle level youngsters require special kinds of attention and teaching. Therefore, it is important that only the very best teachers - those who understand the subjects they teach and the development of early adolescents - be permitted to work with these dynamic youngsters. To work with young adolescents, teachers require special preparation and certification. Preparation must include study in human development, counseling, differentiating instruction, classroom management, and home-school cooperation.
9. TRANSITION
One of the main responsibilities of the middle level school is to assure the smooth transition for students from elementary school to high school. Most school systems maintain three distinct, autonomous, and separate units that do little to coordinate their activities, programs, or curricula. The coordination that exists usually results from informal agreements and conversations between and among principals; it rarely stems from planned efforts to integrate the schools' programs across all grade levels.
10. PRINCIPALS
The preponderance of research concludes that the principal is the pivotal figure in effective schools. Without a strong instructional leader, there is little consensus on building goals, standards of conduct, or professional standards. The result is a lack of unity in purpose and a less effective school. Successful schools, on the other hand, enjoy strong administrative leadership, a clear sense of mission, and confidence in the capacity of administrators to handle problems that interfere with the learning program.
11. CONNECTIONS
The success of any school is determined by the extent to which it is supported and valued in the community and by the parents of the youth who attend. Fewer households today have children in school; thus, the public no longer has the "child's eye view" of the school that was common for so long. This means that the school has to work harder to maintain good relations with its constituent community.
12. CLIENT CENTEREDNESS
The most successful schools are those that understand the unique needs of their clients and fill those needs quickly and effectively. Most important, effective schools understand the relationship of development to learning so that students are not asked to violate the dictates of their development in order to participate fully in the educational program.
Source: An Agenda for Excellence at the Middle Level, National Association of Secondary School Principals, Reston, Virginia, 1985

Code Blue
The report of the National Commission on the Role of School and Community in Improving Adolescent Health makes clear the extent of the adolescent health crisis.

Today Americans are largely unaware of the extent of the adolescent health problem. Most know that in some neighborhoods teen pregnancy and drug use are at epidemic proportions, and some understand that AIDS cases and HIV infection rates among adolescents are growing at a frightening pace. But what they don't know is that adolescents in every neighborhood are displaying serious health problems. Consider that:
In every neighborhood, we are seeing significant numbers of young people with serious social and emotional problems, the consequences of which range from high suicide attempt rates (10 percent of boys and 18 percent of girls) to depression and alienation resulting in anti-social behavior, poor school performance, and dropout.
Adolescents are using dangerous substances for relief of stress and for entertainment. Alcohol consumption is high, with 39 percent of high school seniors reporting getting drunk within the past two weeks; and at the same time, over 3.5 million 12-17 year olds have tried marijuana, with one third being regular users.
Violence pervades not only media and entertainment, but many young people's daily lives. Every day 135,000 students bring guns to school, and homicide is the leading cause of death among 15-19 year old blacks.
Sexual activity is occurring at younger and younger ages, resulting in more than 1 million adolescents getting pregnant every year (nearly one in every ten) and an epidemic ofsexually transmitted diseases, one of which (HIV/AIDS) has no cure.
Many thousands of young people leave school every year with skills that make them only marginally employable, constituting a major threat to our nation's productivity and competitiveness. One reason is the large numbers of students with emotional, social, and physical health problems that interfere with learning.

How did this come about? While the causes are complex, a central factor is the deep change in our society, neighborhoods, and families that have left many children on their own and more isolated from adults. The mobility of American families, the need for second incomes, a faster-paced society, and increases in poverty have stretched many families to the limit, and in the process have robbed too many young people of stable families and communities where they are surrounded by caring adults to guide their growth and development.
Although the Commission is fully aware of the serious nature of many acute and chronic health problems and disabilities some adolescents face, the Commission elected to give priority attention to the behavioral problems - the adolescent health problems that are of greatest concern today. Unlike fifty years ago, when the major problems were caused by infectious and other diseases, many of today's problems have their roots in "behaviors" rather than in "physical causes." Drinking, smoking, HIV/AIDS, pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, violence, suicide: all of these problems are related to behavior. Some of these may have a genetic or physical basis and/or may be classified as a disease in legal terms, but their behavioral nature makes them different from the illnesses combatted in earlier years.
Furthermore, the behaviorally caused problems we have been describing, even when they have a physical basis, are interwoven with social and emotional difficulties as well. This complex web of social, physical, and emotional issues constitutes the primary emphasis of this report.

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Academic Achievement and Health

The Commission finds that a sobering consequence of this health crisis has been its impact on education and vice versa. Efforts to improve school performance that ignore health are ill-conceived, as are health improvement efforts that ignore education.
This means that increasing academic achievement will require attending to health in the broadest sense. It will necessitate:
Addressing the health needs of millions of individual youth. Make no mistake: unhealthy teenagers - those who are alienated or depressed, who feel that nobody

cares, who are distracted by family or emotional problems, who are drinking or using drugs, who are sick or hungry or abused or feel they have no chance to succeed in this world - have the specter of school failure shadowing their futures. Their individual problems must be dealt with if they are to achieve their potential.
Making all schools positive, healthy learning environments. Successful schools actively engage our young people's interest and motivate them to want to master today's demanding curriculum and skills. A key element in such schools is a personal environment that supports students' physical, emotional, and social wellbeing. (pages 9-10)

Commission recommendations
Based on its findings, the Commission recommends four major actions that this nation must take to substantially improve the health and achievement of its young people.
I. Guarantee all adolescents access to health services regardless of ability to pay; II. Make communities the front line in the battle for adolescent health; III. Organize services around people, not people around services; and IV. Urge schools to playa much stronger role in improving adolescent health. (page 18)

This report was a joint project of the National Association of State Boards of Education and the American Medical Association in cooperation with the Centers for Disease Control. Available from NASBE, 1012 Cameron St. Alexandria, VA 22314.
15

Adolescent Health Problems In Georgia
1. Teenage pregnancy
Georgia has the 3rd highest teenage pregnancy rate for 15-19 year aIds. (Guttmacher Institute-1985).
In 1990, 11,446 girls 10-17 years old were pregnant; 7,362 had babies. Most (60-80 percent) pregnant teenage girls drop out of school; about 40 percent
of the fathers leave school. Over the last five years, over 2,500 babies were born to girls 10-14 years old.
The birth rates for this group have risen slightly. 2. Sexually transmitted diseases
Teens 10-19 years old account for almost one-fourth (23%) of all STD cases. Teen STD rates have increased slightly over the last five years. In FY 1991, nearly 32,000 teens had a STD. AIDS - 27 cases since 1981. 3. Homicide and suicide
Over the last five years, 297 teens 10-19 years old committed suicide. Over the last five years, 356 teens were homicide victims.
4. Addiction Substance abuse problems are often not identified until they are so serious that students "act out" destructively - skipping school, failing classes, picked up for DDI. A 1987 survey of junior high and senior high school students (grades 6-12) found that:
Alcohol is the drug of choice among Georgia teens. At least 10 percent of the 6-8 graders (20,600) drink frequently or very frequently. Young folks start drinking early - by age 11, report 21 percent of the junior high
students. Most students do not drink or use drugs at school; they use them at home,
at parties and in cars.
March, 1992, DOE: Div C & I

What Work Requires of Schools

A U.S. Department of Labor Commission examined the demands of the workplace. Their report provides a contemporary view of what the objectives of today's schools should be.

T he 1991 report, called the SCANS Report (Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills) was based on extensive discussions with business owners, employers, unions, and the research of many special panels of experts.
The report concluded, in part:
The message to us was universal: Good jobs will increasingly depend on people who can put knowledge to work. What we found was disturbing: more than half our young people leave school without the knowledge or foundation required to find and hold a good job.
Two conditions that arose in the last quarter of the 20th Century have changed the terms for our young people's entry into the world of work: the globalization of commerce and industry and the explosive growth of technology on the job.
These developments have barely been reflected in how we prepare young people for work or in how many of our workplaces are organized. Schools need to do a better job and so do employers. Students and workers must work smarter. Unless they do, neither our schools, our students, nor our businesses can prosper.
SCANS research verifies that what we call workplace know-how defines effective job performance today. Eight requirements are essential preparation for all students, both those going directly to work and those planning further education. Thus, the competencies and the foundation should be taught and understood in an integrated fashion that reflects the workplace contexts in which they are applied.
We believe, after examining the findings ofcognitive science, that the most effective way of learning skills is "in context," placing learning objectives within a real environment rather than insisting that students first learn in the abstract what they will be expected to apply.

WORKPLACE KNOW-HOW
The know-how identified by SCANS is made up offive competencies and a three-part foundation of skills and personal qualities that are needed for solid job performance. These are:
Workplace Competencies: Effective workers can productively use:
-Resources: They know how to allocate time, money, materials, space, and staff.
-Interpersonal skills: They can work on teams, teach others, serve customers, lead, negotiate, and work well with people from culturally diverse backgrounds.
-Information: They can acquire and evaluate data, organize and maintain files, interpret and communicate, and use computers to process information.
-Systems: They understand social, organizational, and technological systems; they can monitor and correct performance; they can design or improve systems.
-Technology: They can select equipment and tools, apply technology to specific tasks, and maintain and troubleshoot equipment.
Foundation Skills: Competent workers in the highperformance workplace need:
-Basic Skills: reading, writing, arithmetic and mathematics, speaking, and listening.
-Thinking Skills: the ability to learn, to reason, to think creatively, to make decisions, and to solve problems.
-Personal Qualities: individual responsibility, selfesteem, self-management, sociability, integrity.
- U.S. Department of Labor, Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills, 1992.

17

Fateful Choices:
Healthy Youth for the 21st Century

The sequel to Turning Points, this new Carnegie Corporation Report written by Fred Hechinger deals with the state of adolescent health and offers recommendations.

Adolescence, in the popular view, is merely an unfortunate "phase," something like a temporary illness from which, with time and perseverance, the patient will eventually recover. In reality, adolescence is a serious matter that calls for adult understanding and sensitivity. While many adolescents do emerge from those turbulent years in good health, physically, mentally, and emotionally, too many others are permanently damaged and many die, victims of an assumption that little can be done to alter their destructive course. (p. 1.)
All adolescents are at a crossroads: they face the opportunity to transform a period of high risk into one of high hopes. Fateful choices confront them. Many adolescents will choose paths toward productive and satisfying lives for themselves, their families and communities. But others will flounder, and some will be lost altogether. If adolescents are to choose wisely, they need adult understanding and help.
Fateful choices are also ours as a society: if we give young adolescents sufficient attention and support, they may have the chance to grow up healthy and whole in body and in mind. At stake are not only individual young lives, but our future as a nation. (p. 5)
To be and remain healthy, adolescents require:
-Information and skills: Comprehensive health education; life skills training, with special attention to decision making and nonviolent conflict resolution; involvement of the media to promote healthy behavior.
- Access to health services: School-linked adolescent health centers; full insurance coverage, including preventive health, dental, and mental health care.

- Motivation to engage in health-enhancing behaviors. Willingness and ability to use the available information and services, especially when provided by family, youth organizations, educators, mentors, and constructive role models.
- Support of families, peers, and adults, especially health providers and educators trained to deal with this age group: Professional education of adults working with adolescents, including knowledge of adolescent development and skills to reach them effectively.
- Social and economic environment: Reduction of poverty, control of substance abuse and of guns, and more effective links to the world of work. (p. 9)
Health insurance coverage and access to health care through the establishment of school-linked health services will safeguard all adolescents' well-being and promote their healthy development.
Adolescents, especially poor adolescents, often lack access to appropriate health care. One out of seven adolescents has no health insurance, including onethird of poor adolescents without Medicaid. The reform of health care financing must include attention to the needs of these adolescents. Health insurance coverage - privately or publicly financed - must include preventive health, dental, and mental health care.
For adolescents without easy access to health service, school-linked adolescent health centers, located in or near schools, must be established through cooperation among the education, health, and social service agencies. (p. 12)

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ROLE FOR YOUTH ORGANIZATIONS

ROLES FOR GOVERNMENT AND BUSINESS

Youth and community organizations should include the promotion of health and the prevention of risky behaviors in their core programs. They should actively compete with gangs for membership.
The responsibilities ofyouth organizations have grown rapidly as family influence has diminished. Augmenting their traditional functions as social and recreational centers for fun, relaxation, and physical fitness, youth organizations are increasingly needed to supplement the functions once left to parents. They have become vital protectors of youth at risk, in efforts to prevent them from engaging in delinquent and health-threatening behavior and from becoming victims or perpetrators ofcrimes. Even when dangers are less alarming, parents worry about the boredom of unsupervised children excessive time spent on the telephone, consumption of non-nutritious snacks, and too many hours spent watching television. (p. 14)

Government, business and industry must create conditions that will improve adolescents' opportunities to prepare for, and enter, the world of work. Special emphasis must be given to job creation, mentoring, internships, and apprenticeships.
Young adolescents need understanding and appreciation of the choices open to them in the world of work. They should be helped to feel useful and competent. They need to be shown that there is a world of work beyond employment in fast-food enterprises at minimum wages or in lucrative criminal activity as recruits of drug peddlers. This is particularly important for young people who grow up in an environment of unemployment and hopelessness. Raising their sights to future possibilities is crucial to their sense of self and to their decision to prepare for a productive adulthood. (p.18-19)

ROLES FOR MEDIA

ROLES FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONALS

The news and entertainment media should be enlisted in efforts to promote health, to reduce substance abuse, violence, irresponsible sexual behavior, and to provide a better understanding of sound nutrition and exercise.

Health professionals should be prepared to support the development of adolescents, to understand their problems, and to respond to them with much confidence-inspiring empathy.

The news and entertainment media are significant influences on the attitudes and behavior of young adolescents. Increased funding should be given to programming that enhances rather than endangers the health and well-being of young people.
Great efforts, short of censorship, should be made to purge the media, particularly television and rock music programs, of their orgy of mindless violence. Such reforms ought to include cartoons produced for young children which often make violence appear amusing.
Similarly, television programmers should be urged to eliminate from programs irresponsible sexual behavior and particularly unprotected sexual activity. Television should instead be encouraged to use its considerable constructive power to illustrate responsible sexual behavior. Educators, researchers, health providers, and other experts can work productively with producers and screen writers to help with these issues, especially with the risks of sexually transmitted disease and the threat of AIDS. (p. 16-17)

Anonymity is the curse of urban, industrial society. Young adolescents need close and continuing contact with caring adults to whom they can take their problems and in whose judgment they have confidence.
There is a severe shortage of health-care providers with the personal understanding and the professional preparation to respond to the concerns of adolescents.
A better connection than now exists among those who care for infants, children, elementary school pupils, middle school students, and high schoolers is needed. Continuity through personal contact and exchange of information between those who deal with the health and well-being of children and of adolescents as they move from one developmental stage to the next is essential. (p. 20-21)

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Our children are a nation at risk. Poverty, drug and alcohol abuse, poor health, illiteracy, racial prejudice, and the eruption of unprecedented levels of violence both in the inner cities and across the country give us ample reason to worry about the present state of our nation and society. Yet while today's problems carry severe consequences for ourselves, they are immeasurably greater for today's children.
- David A. Hamburg, 1992.
Today's Children: Creating A Future for a Generation in Crisis.
Times Book, a division of Random House, New York.
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21

Task Force Middle School State Policy Initiative

Alonzo A. Crim Task Force Chairman Georgia State Universty Department of Educational Administration
Joan Akin Principal Lawrenceville Middle School
Beauty Baldwin Superintendent Buford County Schools
Edith Belden Director Division of Curriculum & Instruction Georgia Department of Education
Janet Bittner Deputy Commissioner Georgia Department of Education
Adrienne Butler Director Adolescent Health, Waycross
Ellouise Collins Director Student Support Division Georgia Department of Education
Virginia Galvin Deputy Director Cobb County Health Department
David L. Evans Director Division of Mental Health Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse
Don L. Griffith Superintendent Decatur City Schools
Julie Lanier Teacher Marvin Pittman School Statesboro

John Lounsbury Dean Emeritus School of Education, Georgia College
Allene Magill Superintendent Paulding County Schools
Josephine Martin Associate State Superintendent of Schools
Jim McGarity Assistant Superintendent of Instruction Clayton County Schools
Essie Rower District Program Manager Division of Public Health Georgia Department of Human Resources
Georgianna T. Sinkfield Georgia House of Representatives
Myrtice M. Taylor Assistant Superintendent for Instructional Services Atlanta City Schools
Paul Vail Associate State Superintendent of Schools
Janice Vaughn Deputy Director Division of Family and Children Services
Herbert Wells President Georgia Council of Juvenile Court Judges
Becky Winslow Georgia Department of Human Resources Liaison
Marjorie H. Young Director, Division of Youth Services Department of Human Resources
PROJECT CONSULTANT
Donna O'Neal, President, Advancing Education, Inc.
PROJECT DIREcroR
Alice Smith, Middle School Coordinator Georgia Department of Education

Alonzo Crim, Benjamin E. Mays Chair of Urban Educational Leadership, Georgia State University, was a member of the Carnegie Corporation's Task Force on Education of Young Adolescents that produced the document, Turning Points: Preparing American Youth for the 21st Century. He also served as the Chairman ofthe Task Force which directed Georgia's Middle Grades Initiative funded by the Carnegie Corporation. He provides an overview of the Task Force's work in this statement.
G eorgia's Task Force focussed on the educational needs of young adolescents and the urgency of linking the many related services being provided our 10 to 15 year olds. Currently there are many Georgia agencies and organizations independently serving these middle level students but without a network to coordinate the school's central educational mission with health services and other community-based services and resources.
Our Task Force sought: (1) to increase the public's awareness of the plight of Georgia youth, particularly with their mental and physical health; (2) to become familiar with the Carnegie Corporation's recommendations set forth in Turning Points as a basis for improving the education of 10 to 15 year olds; and (3) to become sensitive to the disconnectedness of the many services that seek to serve these youth - our common client.
As the Task Force reviewed the evidence on the plight of Georgia's young adolescents, both in terms ofthe education they are receiving and their health and overall well-being, it was clear that major changes in the usual ways of educating and serving these students had to be changed. The educational needs of today's adolescents extend beyond the classroom. Psychological and educational research indicates that physical, social, and emotional needs must be met before learning can effectively take place. Yet the agencies providing services in these areas operate independently of each other. Linking middle grades education to essential resources outside the school is a vital and necessary step to developing a plan to maximize the quality of the services and the educational opportunities available to students.
The group formulated the following mission statement to guide its work.
For the first time in the history of our nation, adolescents are less prepared to succeed in life than were their parents. Therefore, this Task Force seeks to mobilize the human and material resources of this state in order that each adolescent might become:
- an intellectually reflective person;
- a person enroute to a lifetime of meaningful work;
- a good citizen;
- a caring and ethical individual; and
- a healthy person.
Our Task Force was composed of an outstanding group of professional leaders representing both health and human services and public education. Giving of their time and talents, these citizens spent many days deliberating on the problems and conducting related activities. Evidences of their good work are contained in this report. We urge all Georgians to join us in this effort to achieve the characteristics enunciated in our mission statement for our future citizens.
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Task Force Activities

T he Task Force appointed to carry out Georgia's Middle Grades School Initiative began its work in earnest. As a cooperative effort of the Georgia Department of Education and the Georgia Department of Human Resources, the group was composed of educators and health professionals. During two week-end retreats members became acquainted with one another, shared their concerns, perceptions, and hopes. The group reviewed the recommendations of Turning Points, heard reports on the status of middle level education in Georgia, and received information on the related health and social services that also serve young adolescents.
A mission statement was thrashed out and preliminary plans were formulated on ways our Task Force could bring into synch the various state and local agencies that serve our youth. A portion of the Task Force met at a later date to formalize dates and locations for the dialogues which had been proposed as a major means of furthering our intent.
Dialogues were held in five locations throughout the state during the period of March through May 1991, in Savannah, Valdosta, Milledgeville, Americus, Gainesville, and Atlanta. Invitations to attend these meetings were issued to educators, board members, business leaders, health professionals, recreation directors, and others in the particular area known to have a stake in working with this age group. Meetings were one day in length. Each dialogue included a discussion of Turning Points recommendations by Task Force members and a presentation of an existing collaborative program such as a school-based health clinic or a Citiesin-Schools project. A major portion of each meeting was also given over to hearing from the invited guests. Their perceptions of the problems that existed in their locale were important items of information for our Task Force to receive. The major problems identified in three of the meetings are listed in the accompanying chart.

These meetings were designed particularly to establish a communication with and among youth service professionals, parents, educators, students, and community representatives and to focus on the needs of young adolescents while recognizing the urgency of coordinating services that are being provided by various separate groups. The task was to:
- identify the strengths and weaknesses of the educational and human services now being provided to middle grade students.
- hear the concerns of local citizens and health professionals regarding the problems they faced and the needs for improvement as they saw them.
- provide opportunities for collaboration and networking so that middle grade students' needs could be met more effectively.
Throughout the discussions the need to understand contemporary youth and the societal context in which they live was ever-present. Participants, regardless of their specialties, were sympathetic toward young people who are seeking to mature in a society which offers few anchors but many distractions and conflicting standards. Three basic beliefs about adolescents grew out of the deliberations:
- all adolescents are potentially "at-risk."
- physical, emotional, social, and cognitive changes are monumental and fast in young adolescents.
- adolescents walk a fine line between normal to non-normal development, and many cross the line even those with good family support, positive school experiences, etc.
Therefore, educators and service providers must accept the following facts:

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- The logic of the adolescent's responses depends Among the convictions which our Task Force formed

on the student's perception of the world.

are these general principles or guidelines:

- Service providers cannot base judgments and - A common vision must be shared by all those

actions on their own value systems.

agencies that serve Georgia's middle school students.

- The tracking system of education is a social - Middle schools must assume responsibility for

classification of students. It must be eliminated.

meeting the needs of the "whole" child.

Members of the Task Force also interviewed groups of middle school students in order to hear their concerns and receive their recommendations. The message from these adolescents was that there is a need for caring adults who respect each student as an individual. Issues such as ability grouping, adult "power trips," cooperative learning, teacher's high and low expectations, boredom, and active learning were discussed with the students.
Some of the students' reactions to the first two Turning Points recommendations (create small communities for learning and teach a core academic program) were these:

- Middle school environments should be supportive, and "safe," and student-friendly if they are to ensure success for all students.
- Learning should be active, not passive.
- Related services are usually best provided where the students are, at school.
- Teams of service providers working in collaboration can best serve our youth.
- Parent and community involvement is essential if educational and related services are to achieve the maximum effectiveness.

I think this would be very helpful in giving each person a place to belong and I think people learn faster in smaller groups.
I think we should mix higher level and lower level students so that they can help each other. This might separate friends, but it is a good method for learning.
People get to know each other and respect each other without the pressure of a large group.
It is good to be in small groups ofstudents because communication is better and friends are usually closer.
I feel that more tolerance ofpeople's opinions and actions should be taught.
Fewer facts and more teaching of things that will help you later in life. Health should be more prominent.

The dialogue meetings, discussions, and other Task Force activities were successful. They increased the awareness of the status of young adolescents, their schools, and the need to coordinate youth services. These collaborative efforts between community representatives, youth service professionals, and educators already have enhanced existing programs and initiated new projects throughout the state.
Task Force members have implemented programs for the coordination of services as a direct result of the project. For instance, Mrs. Joan Aiken, Principal, Lawrenceville Middle School, has invited case workers from the Juvenile Court to schedule student conferences on campus during the school day. This arrangement provides an opportunity for assigned caseworkers and teachers to discuss individual progress and to benefit from joint knowledge of individual students.

I think it would be very good to expand the minds of students by teaching critical thinking and not focusing totally on memorization offacts.
We need to teach our kids to get along with each other because they may not learn to otherwise.

Although progress is apparent, the surface has only been scratched. The Department of Education and the Department of Human Services are fully cognizant of the need for further collaborative efforts. The goal remains and will be pursued until all those who serve Georgia's 10 to 15 year olds are working in harmony, like clockwork.

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Problems Identified in Three of Georgia's Regional Dialogues
Valdosta
Counselors in all schools Trust-building activities to strengthen services from agencies
Networking all services within the community Transportation to available services Additional funds Classes on parenting skills Nurses in all schools
Milledgeville
Teen pregnancy Lack of high-quality adult role models Lack of communication with parents
Duplication of services Limited community and business support, inadequate transportation to services
Alcohol abuse by students Limited parental involvement Need for school social workers Lack of coordination among agencies Lack of communication among all segments of the community Inappropriate tracking of students Peer pressure for unhealthy choices Need for school clinics with multiple services
Gainesville
Inadequate health care and nutrition Inadequate teacher training
Inappropriate tracking of students Limited business and community support Students who do not fit program criteria Lack of collaboration among service agencies
Lack of parental involvement Inequitable distribution of services
Duplication of services Limited access to transportation Poor communication with parents
Limited school nurses Lack of parenting skills No measure of confidentiality Limited information sharing among professionals

SEX AND GEORGIA'S TEENAGERS
1.Young adults ages 20-29 years have accounted for 23 percent of all AIDS cases reported in Georgia. Because AIDS symptoms may not appear for 10 years or more after infection, most of these people are likely to have been infected during adolescence.
2.In 1990, over 11,446 girls in Georgia ages 10 to 17 became pregnant; 998 of these were under 15 years old.
3.Eight hundred and thirty-one new cases of syphilis were reported among Georgia teenagers ages 10-19 in FY 1991. People who have STDs have a higher incidence of HIV infection than those with no history of STD.
4.Two thirds of Georgia teenagers surveyed in 1990 reported being sexually active, 30 percent of these with four or more partners. Two thirds of those sexually active did not use a condom the last time they had sex.
5.Twenty eight percent of Georgia teenagers surveyed in 1990 said they had never been taught about AIDS in school. Since 1988-89 all Georgia public schools have been required by law to teach about HIV/AIDS.
- Georgia Department of Human Resources, May 1992

To understand adequately the present, one must know something of the past. Perspective is needed to chart a course for the future as well as a thorough understanding of just where we are now. This section provides educators and citizens alike the information that is needed to gain a perspective on the past and a good grasp of current realities on most basic aspects of middle level education in Georgia.
The section to follow which contains brief descriptions of excellent programs should also be viewed as a part of middle level education in Georgia.
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Perspectives on Middle Level Education in Georgia

The idea of establishing an appropriate educational program for young adolescents is 85 years old. Georgia, however, got a late start.

A National Perspective
No sooner had Americans seemingly settled on the pattern of an eight year elementary school followed by a four-year high school in the last decades of the 19th century than agitation to change this 8-4 plan began to appear. Kicked off by Harvard President Charles W. Eliot's concern over the age and preparation ofHarvard's freshmen and moved along by a series of major national committee reports, the idea of reorganizing public education took hold fairly rapidly and substantially.
As public school administrators joined the movement, however, the justification for reorganization took on a different cast. It wasn't advocated so much for better college preparation as it was for reducing the mass ofleft-backs and the drop-outs that several studies had revealed and for accommodating G. Stanley Hall's depiction of adolescence as a time of storm and stress as well as the newly recognized extent of individual differences.

become thepredominate pattern of school organization in the United States. In some states, all secondary schools were "reorganized" and it seemed certain that the old, traditional four-year high school would literally pass out of the picture. In various surveys conducted, educators queried showed a clear preference for the 63-3 over any other pattern of organization.
" Georgia, as a state, never really got caught
up in the junior high school movement.
At the peak of the junior high school movement in the 1950s there were more than 7,000 separate junior high schools in the country, almost half of them instituted after World War II. But all was not well with the junior high school. Criticisms concerning its tendency to be merely a little high school mounted. By the late fifties, it was clear that changes in the junior high school that had evolved needed to be made.

There were a number of clearly defined functions for the new 7-9 junior high school. These functions were often encapsulated in phrases that became common place when discussing the junior high school in the early 1900s. "Economy of time," "bridging the gap," "increased holding power," and "meeting the needs of early adolescents" were the most frequently cited. Several other social and cultural factors contributed to the climate that supported major changes in the way schools were organized during this period in our history. As early as 1916 one observer was led to claim that "the junior high school movement was sweeping the country."
By the late 1930s half of all the secondary pupils were enrolled in schools that deviated from the traditional 84. By the 1950s, the separate junior high school followed by the separate senior high school (6-3-3) had

Reorganization in Georgia
Georgia, as a state, never really got caught up in the junior high school movement. There were some, to be sure, but they were relatively few and far between compared to many other states. Moultrie and Augusta were two examples of cities that had junior highs back in the 1930s. In 1934 there were only sixteen junior high schools in Georgia. The number had increased to only 21 by 1945.
One factor that apparently was quite instrumental in delaying the state's movement toward junior high schools was a decision by the City of Atlanta's Board of Education in 1948 to abolish their junior high schools. The Board had asked its research personnel to make a national study of the junior high school. The thorough and excellent study concluded with a clear recommen-

31

dation that supported junior high schools in Atlanta. The Board, however, decided to go instead with a 7-5 plan and so the lighthouse system of the state at that time failed to be the example of reorganization that it might have been.
There were, nevertheless, some serious movements toward the junior high school in Georgia in the 50s and 60s. A separate junior high teaching endorsement was enacted by the State Board. It was, however, "toothless," and its existence was never a real factor in implementing intermediate schools. The colleges that developed junior high school preparation programs found that students chose either of the overlapping certificates (elementary, K-8 or secondary, 7-12) rather than the narrower junior high certificate.
Georgia, because of its large size and unevenly distributed population, also presented a myriad of school organizational patterns. As was true in the nation, the large number of various plans of organization that existed in Georgia did not reflect different beliefs about the best way to organize schools but simply mirrored the pragmatic approach employed by local boards of education. Lacking a clear state commitment or guiding policies, systems naturally tended to choose the line of least resistance or greatest economy. Building usage, bus routes, and budgets took priority over educational considerations - and still do.
Table 1 gives data on the separate junior high schools in Georgia for the two school years, 1960-61 and 196667.
Table 1
Separate Junior High Schools in Georgia 1960-67

Grades 78 79 8-9 68
Totals

196061 13 11 12 9 45

1966-67 31 33 18 11 93

Separate junior high schools more than doubled in the seven year period. It appeared that, belatedly, the state was now well into the reorganization movement. The trend to consolidate, the relentless march of people to the urban areas, the expanding residential suburbs and desegregation presented local boards with opportunities to consider alternate patterns of school organization. They often chose some form of an intermediate unit, whatever the rationale may have been. Increasingly, in Georgia and elsewhere, however, the view was taking hold that the most desirable educational program for young adolescents could be achieved best in a school that was separate and was specifically designed for them.
" By the 60s the view was taking hold that
the most desirable educational program for young adolescents could be achieved best in a school that was separate and was specifically designed for them.
A statewide "Leadership Conference on Junior High School Education" was organized and held on July 5, 6, and 7,1964 at Georgia College (then The Woman's College of Georgia). Harl Douglass and Jean V. Marani were the featured out-of-state speakers and consultants. The meeting, which involved several State Department officials headed by the late Claude Ivie as well as practitioners, was successful and led to a number of follow-up activities.
One of the activities initiated was an attempt to secure a more distinctive certificate for the middle grades. A committee, which included representatives of GEA and GTEA, met several times and prepared a strong recommendation. The State Board, however, failed to act on the petition and no change in the weak endorsement lying between the overlapping elementary and high school certificates occurred.
Enter the Middle School
As the embryonic renaissance and reformation of the junior high school was being formed in Georgia and the nation the middle school idea entered the picture. William Alexander, a highly respected curriculum

32

expert, became the major spokesman for the advocacy of a 5-3-4 or a 4-4-4 as an alternate and better means of organizing public schools. The earlier age of the onset of puberty, the clear failure of the junior high school to develop a distinctive program, new knowledge about the nature of early adolescence as distinguished from adolescence itself, and the launching of Sputnik, which led to a demand for more math and science, all played roles in making the middle school a sound and attractive idea.
At first, the middle school was advanced, usually unfairly, at the expense of the junior high school. Comparisons were drawn between the theory of the middle school and the reality of the junior high school making the middle school look almost utopian. It is always easier to create a new entity than to change significantly a well-established one, so the idea of a middle school caught the education public's fancy and the movement got off to a good start. The four year high school, once thought to be dying, was back in the saddle, as school systems shifted grades to create middle schools of grades six, seven, and eight. Surprisingly, elementary education hardly uttered a complaint as the sixth and sometimes fifth grade was taken from it.
Research studies done in the late 60s showed that the new middle schools were surprisingly similar to the old junior high schools. The grades included and the name over the door may have changed, but in terms of curriculum and program there was little that was different. Interscholastic athletics, departmentalization, and rigid schedules held sway in 6-8 schools as they had in 7-9 schools. But new recruits with abundant energy were now enrolled in the effort to develop an appropriate educational program for early adolescents. The middle school provided a fresh start for an old educational ideal.
" The middle level movement has gone on to
become the longest running, most extensive educational reform effort in the United States.
The middle level movement, which now includes junior high school folks as well as middle school folks, has gone on to become the longest running, most extensive educational reform effort in the United States. It has been on the cutting edge for some time and shows

no sign of slacking off. This is a significant reality since one's experiences during the middle level years largely determine one's values, attitudes, and standards for life. Increasingly, the critical importance of these years is being recognized and the calls for reform are more numerous. The Carnegie Corporation's Turning Points is a happy case in point.
" One's experiences during the middle level
years largely determine one's values, standards, and attitudes for life.
In the early 70s efforts were made to form a middle school organization in Georgia. Interest was high and sincere, but unfortunately a problem appeared that led, ultimately, to the creation of two organizations. To be a Georgia Education Association affiliate a group had to be distinct - in this case middle level principals - but to be an affiliate of the National Middle School Association an organization could not be restrictive but had to be open to all concerned with early adolescent education. As a result, the Georgia Association of Middle School Principals and a Georgia League of Middle Schools were formed. The two organizations continue to this date as separate entities but collaborate in many ways. The League has reorganized as the Georgia Association of Middle Schools.
Another major development assisted Georgia's growth in the middle school movement. A bold move by Gary Johnson, a Baldwin County principal, and his committee in 1974 resulted in Atlanta being selected as the site for the National Middle School Association conference the first held outside of the midwest. The 1975 NMSA conference proved to be a resounding success, in program quality and in number of registrants, and initiated the excellent reputation that NMSA has developed for putting on outstanding conferences.
In 1978, Georgia College sponsored a major state conference on the middle school. Paul George, Nancy Doda, and Bob Malinka, all nationally known middle school leaders, were brought in as presenters. Subsequent annual conferences sponsored by the Georgia Association of Middle Schools and the Georgia Association of Middle School Principals have strengthened and consolidated the movement in Georgia.

33

Perhaps the most significant occurrence advancing middle level education was the finally successful effort to establish separate and distinctive certification for the middle grades. A State Department appointed committee, working under the auspices of the Teacher Education Council, met many times and developed a strong report which culminated in the adoption of the present middle grades certificate by the State Board of Education.
As a result, Georgia is one of a mere handful of states that have achieved this long overdue goal. Approved middle grade programs in nearly every teacher education institution followed quickly and now no state in the Union is as well equipped to provide the teachers needed at the middle level as is Georgia.
" No state in the Union is as well-equipped to
provide the teachers needed at the middle level as is Georgia.
Our state has developed a large number of outstanding middle schools, many of which have attracted national attention. Cobb County, under the leadership of Mary Downey Bracegirdle, Fulton County under the leadership of Burma Lockridge, and Gwinnett County, under the leadership of Jim McGarity, provided the bulk of such middle schools.

Most recently, Q.B.E. and state incentive grants for middle schools that evidence certain middle school conditions and characteristics have focussed considerable attention on middle schools and led to much positive action.
The Road Ahead
What lies ahead for middle level education in Georgia? Prospects would seem bright - a supportive State Department, extensive teacher preparation programs, a large cadre of knowledgeable and able practitioners, hundreds of committed teachers, a bevy of experts, two state based professional associations. There is cause for real optimism.
Yet the road ahead is beset by many obstacles. To remove them will take more than enthusiasm, more than advocacy, no matter how genuine that enthusiasm is or how valid that advocacy is; it will take courage and continuous effort by classroom teachers and administrators in every school which includes middle level grades. We must not overlook the fact that early adolescents are an age group, not a school group, and they deserve an appropriate educational program regardless of the organizational pattern in which they happen to be enrolled. They deserve as well support and assistance from other agencies that deal with the out-of-school aspects of their lives. Since there is a new awareness and a readiness to make changes we must strike while the iron is hot.

Based on an article by John H. Lounsbury in Becoming, GMSA Journal, Fall 1991

Numerically Speaking: School Organization in Georgia

The lack of a consensus on how the grades should be combined into school units has long been characteristic of our public schools in Georgia. During 1991-92 there were 53 different grade combinations in operation among our state's school districts. Almost any grade mix imaginable could be found somewhere in Georgia's potpourri of grade combinations from a single school unit with kindergarten and all twelve grades under one roof to other units composed solely of a single grade.
Until recently there was no clear indication from the state level as to a preferred way of dividing the grades into school units. Continuing the assumption ofjust two levels, elementary and secondary, local school systems, therefore, tended to make organizational decisions based on tradition, existing facilities, pupil demographics, and economics.

Providing exact statistics on the number of middle level or intermediate schools in past decades has been difficult. Lack of uniform definitions, varied school names, and state records that did not recognize intermediate units contributed to this condition. However, available data are sufficient to reveal major developments in the existence of middle level schools.
Georgia's school systems did not establish many 7-9 junior high schools in the 1930s and 40s, far less than states of comparable size, only 16 existent in 1934 and just six more in 1945. They did begin to organize junior high schools in the 50s and 60s, but Georgia's belated move to institute separate school units between elementary schools and high schools became very apparent by the 1970s with the institution of 6-8 middle schools.

School Year

Intermediate Schools in the Georgia Public School System During '71-2, '75-6, '80-81, and '91-92

Intermediate Grade Combinations

two-grade combinations

three-grade combinations

four-grade combinations

5&6 6&7

7&8

8&9

5-7

6-8

5-8 6-9

Total Units

7/-2

0

5

48

19

10

33

,

75-6

0

10

59

28

17

63

,

80-1

1

4

61

26

6

86

24

0

197

25

0

231

15

1

228

9/-2

6

5

32

3

6

227

8

2

293

Legend: single grade (Le., schooJs with just 5th grade, etc) school units were excluded considered to be the preferred middle school combination of grades
the traditional junior high school combination of grades

D preferred middle school units
traditional junior high units

35

In 1971-72, middle school units composed of the preferred 6-8 grades made up 16.75% of total units while traditional junior highs made up 29.49%.
By 1975-76, the reverse was true in that preferred middle school units made up 27.27% of total units while junior high units declined to 14.72%. The percent of 68 middle school units continued to increase in 1980-81 while 7-9 junior high units decreased.

Pupil enrollment in 6-8 middle schools, 1991-92
number of students per school

201-450 451-600

601-850

8511100

1101 +

In 1991-92, preferred middle school units made up

over 77% of the total units. This means that during the 11 year period from 1980-81 to 1991-92 Georgia had a

No. of schools

20

34

83

68

24

surge of over 163% in the number of 6-8 middle

schools!

The number of 6-8 middle schools increased 587.88% from 1971-72 to 1991-92. while traditional junior high combination units decreased by 93%.
Even though we still have at least nine different combinations of grades in our intermediate institutions it is evident that a consensus has emerged on the most desirable grade configuration for a middle level institution - 6-8. Local conditions sometimes necessitate different combinations but rarely because of a belief that some other arrangement is preferable.
When considering the schools that serve 10-15 year olds it has to be recognized that there are many sixth, seventh, and eighth graders enrolled in elementary schools, combination junior-senior high schools, and a smattering of other grade organization patterns. These students too are young adolescents and deserve a developmentally appropriate program. Although such schools are small and the percentage of middle level pupils served in them is relatively small, they too deserve experiences and services that best meet their needs.

While the chart shows that the median middle school falls in the desirable 601-850 range there are more "too big" middle schools than "too small" ones.
Certainly, Georgia's middle schools generally speaking are "large enough." For too long in America we have acted as if "bigger is better." The optimum size for a middle school in the view of most middle level educators is somewhere in the range between 500 and 750. When schools reach toward or exceed 1,000 students they tend to become impersonal institutions. Large schools then have to make special efforts to create smallness within bigness. Schools within a school, teaming, and teacher advisory programs are means used to retain a sense of intimacy in larger institutions. These data would indicate that school systems should consider carefully school size and guard against creating large middle schools under the mistaken impression that middle schools need to be large in order to offer needed programs.

36

Cobb County, Georgia Pioneer in Middle School Education

Visitors from all over the country came to view Cobb County's early middle schools - thoroughly up-to-date in facilities and programs.

T he first two middle schools in Cobb County were opened in 1972. However, the middle school movement in the district really began with the comprehensive study initiated in 1969. This study committee, comprised of leading educators throughout the southeast, recommended that Cobb County implement a middle school program. Consequently, the county began planning educational specifications for new buildings, and a programmatic schema was worked out along the lines espoused by William Alexander and Donald Eichhorn. Mary Compton of the University of Georgia and John Lounsbury of Georgia College were influential in helping set the direction.
Cobb County middle schools were designed to be exemplary middle schools. All students were assigned to academic teams of teachers who had extended common planning time. A rotating exploratory program and a varied physical education program were implemented.
Interscholastic sports were not a part of the physical education program from the beginning. Instead, intramurals were begun. Awards and activities were designed for all students, not just the "stars."
The change from a junior high to a middle school program did not always occur smoothly even though all nine middle level schools extant in 1972 soon changed to block scheduling and teaming. Teams readily accepted the idea of planning jointly for behavior management and organizational changes although interdisciplinary activities and curriculum integration came more slowly. As a result, much staff development has gone on from the beginning to inform teachers about what a "real" middle school involves. Teach~rs qUickly learned to appreciate the benefits of teamIng. In fact, when common planning time was threatened in the eighties, teachers were adamant about

saving it. Money received through the Georgia Middle School Incentive Grant program helped to maintain teams.
Three accomplishments stand out as we look back on the success of middle schools in Cobb County. First, our emphasis on creating a positive, rewarding school climate, including an advisor/advisee system and appropriate student management systems, has made our schools happy, positive, and success-oriented places for early adolescents to learn and grow. Second, our schools have had an excellent record of academic achievement. All classes are heterogeneously grouped with the exception of extended mathematics. Third, we have molded a wonderful group of teachers, administrators, and auxiliary staff who understand, appreciate, and work wonderfully with our "tweenagers."
In the early years Cobb County middle schools had hundreds ofvisitors and greatly influenced the development of middle schools in Georgia as well as other states. We still have many visitors in our sixteen middle schools. It was rewarding to note in reading Turning Points that the middle schools in the Cobb County School District have all the characteristics recommended. However, we are never satisfied. Our clientele and our ideas about schooling are changing.
But in the last twenty years we feel we have "kept the faith." Throughout the changes and challenges that lie ahead we must not in our zeal forget the students we are privileged to serve and their unique needs.
- Mary Bracegirdle Director, Middle School Instruction
Cobb County Schools

37

The Development of the Fulton County Middle School Program

Beginning in the 1970s, this large metro area school system moved to middle schools and became a model for many.

A t the request of the Fulton County School System, the Georgia State Department of Education conducted an evaluation of the Fulton County Schools during the 1970-71 school year. The report pointed out the need for reorganizing the current 7-5 grade level structure. The specific recommendation was to establish either middle or junior high schools incorporating grades six through eight.
Deputy Superintendent Dr. Douglas McRae formed a "Steering Committee" to follow up on this recommendation. The Committee included elementary and secondary teachers and administrators, central office administrative staff and curriculum specialists. This committee spent the next three years studying and visiting middle and junior high schools throughout the U.S.
On November 4, 1974, the Middle School Steering Committee made a report to the Fulton County Curriculum Coordinators which recommended the creation of middle schools.
Because shifting populations in North Fulton County necessitated the closing of two elementary schools and one high school in the Sandy Springs area in the spring of 1975, the school system seized this opportunity to implement a middle school.

tee were provided for the 730 students who entered the school in September of 1975.
The Sandy Springs Middle School program emphasized a student centered approach and utilized interdisciplinary teams to provide the basic academic program. A unique aspect of the program was the inclusion of foreign languages - Spanish and French - at all three grade levels.
For the following five years the school received federal grants to continue with staff and program development and evaluation. The Georgia State Department of Education recognized the Fulton County program for its excellence and offered monetary grants to other school systems wishing to adopt (or adapt) the Sandy Springs model. During the following year nine school systems in the state received grants and adopted the SSMS model. Eighteen other school systems visited the school. Sandy Springs staff members made presentations at local, state, and national middle school conventions annually for the next seven years.
In 1982 Fulton County opened a second middle school and subsequently ten more completed the transition from a 7-5 to a 5-3-4 grade level structure for the county.

A Federal Grant for Staff Development and Program Evaluation was requested and received in the summer of 1975. Plans were put into action to open a pilot middle school in the old Sandy Springs High School facility that fall. The building was renovated to provide open spaces for teams, a staff was selected, and a workshop for the entire staff was organized.

The Fulton County School System's focus on program and staff development has resulted in a truly classic middle school program for students.
- Burma L. Lockridge Retired Coordinator of Middle School Curriculum
Fulton County Schools

For six weeks the Sandy Springs Middle School Staff worked with well-known and capable middle school consultants to plan the program. All the components recommended by the Middle School Steering Commit-

38

In 1990 the State Board of Education adopted the Middle School Program Criteria defining the desired middle level organization and program. The impact of the state middle school criteria has been positive and substantial. As an officially endorsed yardstick middle schools quickly measured their programs against it, especially if they sought to receive an incentive grant.
Middle School Program Criteria
(1) Purpose. This rule provides criteria for the implementation of a middle school program in grades six, seven and eight or seven and eight. (2) Definitions.
(a) Academic block - four and one-half hours of instruction time for mathematics, social studies, science and language arts/reading.
(b) Common planning time - 85 minutes of mutual planning by interdisciplinary teaching teams during the student day.
(c) Exploratory block - a variety of exploratory courses in four different areas of study: foreign language, vocational education, fine arts and/or personal learning.
(d) Incentive grant - an additional funding for a middle school program. (e) Interdisciplinary team - teachers responsible for teaching academic areas of language arts/ reading, social studies, science and mathematics to an assigned group of students. (f) Middle school - a school containing grade levels six, seven and eight or seven and eight. (3) Requirements. (a) Each local board of education applying for a middle school grant shall have an operational plan. The plan shall detail how state requirements are being met. (b) The plan shall be submitted by June 1 of each year on forms provided by the Georgia Department of Education for approval by the Georgia Board of Education. (c) Each school with a middle school program shall contain grades six, seven and eight or seven and eight. (d) Each middle school shall have a full-time principal.
1. If more than the eligible grades are in the school, the grades above and/or below the eligible grades shall also have a full-time principal.
39

(e) The middle school program shall include at least two interdisciplinary teams per grade, with each team containing two to five teachers in grade six, and three to five teachers in grades seven and eight, with the following exceptions.
1. Based on a feasibility study for consolidation purposes reflecting a system's total student population for grades six, seven and eight or seven and eight in one school, a single interdisciplinary team may teach language arts/reading, social studies, science and mathematics, subject to approval by the Georgia Department of Education.
(t) The middle school shall provide each interdisciplinary team a minimum of 85 minutes of common planning time during the student day.
1. Each team shall use weekly at least two hours of this planning time to discuss student needs and instruction, modification of student groupings and modification of daily or weekly schedules.
(g) Each interdisciplinary team shall have control over the academic time of its assigned students. Individual student schedules may be adjusted for Chapter I, gifted program and pre-algebra/algebra.
1. The team shall provide daily at least four and one-half hours of academic time in the subject areas of English/language arts/reading, mathematics, science and social studies.
2. A local system may substitute foreign language instruction in place of language arts/ reading during the interdisciplinary time.
(i) To be eligible for foreign language instruction during the interdisciplinary block, a student shall score at or above the 60th percentile on a nationally normed test of reading achievement administered during the previous or current school year.
(ii) The foreign language instruction shall not count as an exploratory course.
(h) Each school shall schedule middle school students for physical education and health as prescribed by state statutes and state rules.
(i) Each school shall offer exploratory short courses that 1. Reinforce academic knowledge and skills, particularly basic skills;
2. Foster the development of logical and critical thinking skills;
3. Expose students to various high school subject areas; and
4. Focus upon knowledge and skills currently or eventually useful to students and shall be related to the state board-approved competencies.
(j) Each student shall complete at least eight different exploratory courses during a three-year middle school program. If the program is a two-year program, students shall complete six different courses.
1. Students shall complete at least two courses in each of three different areas in a three-year program or at least one course in each of three different areas in a two-year program.
2. Each course shall contain a minimum of 20 contact instructional hours.
40

3. Selections shall be made from the following list.

Areas of Study

Courses

I. Foreign language

Any foreign language

II. Vocational education (Exploration)

Agriculture, business (keyboarding/word processing) home economics, industrial arts and PECE

III. Fine arts

Chorus, instrumental music, drama, survey of performing arts and survey of high school visual arts

IV. Personal learning skills

Computer utilization, library research skills and survey of high school courses (math, science, social studies and language arts beyond the regular middle school curriculum).

(k) Locally-developed courses shall be submitted for approval by the department.
(1) Study halls are prohibited in an approved middle school.
(m) All teachers shall be certified in field.
1. At least 50 percent of the certified staffserving as interdisciplinary team members shall hold middle grades (4-8) certification or shall earn five quarter credit hours or five staff development units annually in courses specifically approved for middle grades certification.
2. The remainder of the certified middle school staff, excluding those members assigned to the middle school for the first time for the current school year, shall have earned five quarter credit hours or five staff development units in the Nature and Curriculum Needs of the Middle Grades Learner Course.
(i) For the first year that a middle school receives an incentive grant, all staff members enrolled in such course during the school year shall be considered as having met this criterion.
- Adopted: September 13,1990
Authority O.e.G.A., S20-2-151(b)(3); 20-2-290 Effective October 17, 1990 State Standards: 112.1, 112.2
DOE: Office of Instructional Programs Division of General Instruction

41

In 1991 the State Board of Education adopted a list of core values concepts and mandated the teaching of these values in grades K-12 complementing the work of the family. The adoption of this policy followed an extensive period of study, correspondence with other state education agencies, and seven public hearings held throughout the state. Taking these positions, Georgia joined a growing number of states, local boards, and organizations that are reaffirming the right and responsibilities of public schools to assist youth in developing appropriate personal values and attitudes.
List of Core Values
CITIZENSHIP
Democracy: government of, by, and for the people, exercised through the voting process. Respect for and acceptance of authority; the need for and primacy of authority, including the law, in given circumstances. Equality: the right and opportunity to develop one's potential as a human being Freedom of conscience and expression; the right to hold beliefs, whether religious ethical, or political, and to express one's views. Justice: equal and impartial treatment under the law Liberty: freedom from oppression, tyranny, or the domination of government Tolerance: recognition of the diversity of others, their opinions, practices, and culture.
Patriotism: support of and love for the United States of America with zealous guarding of its welfare. Courage: willingness to face obstacles and danger with determination Loyalty: steadfastness or faithfulness to a person, institution, custom, or idea to which one is tied by duty, pledge, or a promise
Respect for the Natural Environment: care for and conservation of land, trees, clear air, and pure water and of all living inhabitants of the earth
Conservation: avoiding waste and pollution of natural resources
RESPECf FOR OTHERS
Altruism: concern for and motivation to act for the welfare of others. Civility: courtesy and politeness in action or speech Compassion: concern for suffering or distress of others and response to their feelings and needs. Courtesy: recognition of mutual interdependence with others resulting in polite treatment and respect for them.
42

Integrity: confirmed virtue and uprightness of character; freedom from hypocrisy Honesty: truthfulness and sincerity Truth: freedom from deceit or falseness; based on fact or reality Trustworthiness: worthy of confidence
RESPECf FOR SELF
Accountability: responsibility for one's actions and their consequences Commitment: being emotionally, physically, or intellectually bound to something Perseverance: adherence to action, belief, or purpose without giving way Self-control: exercising authority over one's emotions and actions Frugality: effective use of resources; thrift
Self-esteem: pride and belief in oneself and in achievement of one's potential Knowledge: learning understanding, awareness Moderation: avoidance of extreme views or measures Respect for physical, mental, and fiscal health; awareness of the importance of and conscious activity toward maintaining fitness in these areas.
Work Ethic: belief that work is good and that everyone who can, should work Accomplishment: appreciation for completing a task Cooperation: working with others for mutual benefit Dependability: reliability; trustworthiness Diligence: attentiveness; persistence; perseverance Pride: dignity; self-respect; doing one's best Productivity: supporting one's self; contributing to society Creativity: exhibiting an entrepreneurial spirit; inventiveness; originality; not bound by the norm.
43

Georgia Schools of Excellence
Middle and Junior High Schools

1984 Glynn County Middle, Glynn County* Magnolia-Chappelle Middle, Thomas County Rothschild Junior High, Muscogee County George Edwards Middle, Rockdale County Sandy Springs Middle, Fulton County Fairplay Middle, Douglas County Garrett Middle, Cobb County* Putnam County Middle, Putnam County Five Forks Middle, Gwinnett County Columbia Junior High, Columbia County
1985 Risley Center Middle, Glynn County Lee County Upper Elementary, Lee County Fort Junior High, Muscogee County Conyers Middle, Rockdale County* Ralph Bunche Middle, Atlanta City Evans Junior High, Coweta County Tapp Middle, Cobb County* Ballard A. Middle, Bibb County North Whitfield Middle, Whitfield County* Oconee County Intermediate, Oconee County
1986 Lee Roy Myers Middle, Chatham County Hahira Middle, Lowndes County A.S. Staley Middle, Americus City George Edwards Middle, Rockdale County Southwest Middle, Atlanta City Spalding Junior High, Spalding County Pepperell Middle School, Floyd County Center Junior High, Waycross City Duluth Middle, Gwinnett County* Evans Middle, Columbia County
1987 Booth Junior High, Fayette County Cook Middle, Newton County Cousins Middle, Newton County Dalton Junior High, Dalton City* Marietta Junior High, Marietta City Shiloh Middle, Gwinnett County* Sutton Middle, Atlanta City Warner Robins Junior High, Houston County William James Middle, Bulloch County

1988 Wilder Middle, Chatham County Nashville Middle, Berrien County Tabor Junior High, Houston County George Edwards Middle, Rockdale County* Crabapple Middle, Fulton County* Fayette County Junior High, Fayette County Dodgen Middle, Cobb County Valley Point Middle, Whitfield County Five Forks Middle, Gwinnett County*
1989 Matt Wilson Middle, Tift County Perry Middle, Houston County Conyers Middle, Rockdale County Inman Middle, Atlanta City Jonesboro Junior High, Clayton County* Dickerson Middle, Cobb County Center Junior High, Waycross City Summerour Middle, Gwinnett County
1990 Cook Middle, Cook County Staley Middle, Americus City* George Edwards Middle, Rockdale County Pointe South Junior High, Clayton County East Cobb Middle, Cobb County* Sweetwater Middle, Gwinnett County
1991 Hinesville Middle, Liberty County Northside Middle, Houston County Conyers Middle, Rockdale County Sandy Springs Middle, Fulton County Taylor Street Middle, Spalding County Coosa Middle, Floyd County Center Junior High, Ware County Otwell Middle, Forsyth County* Trickum Middle, Gwinnett County*
1992 Cook Middle, Cook County George Edwards Middle, Rockdale County Adamson Middle, Clayton County McClesky Middle, Cobb County TJ. Elder Middle, Washington County Pinckneyville Middle, Gwinnett County

* Also National Schools of Excellence

The Close Relationship of Health and Education

Recognizing the crisis that exists in adolescent health and its effect on education, Georgia has initiated collaborative programs to turn things around.

G eorgia ranks 47th nationally in the quality of life of its children (Kids Count, 1991). This ranking is based on health, education, and social indicators that are complex and often expressed as interwoven problems affecting the same individuals and families. Many of the risk factors for these problems are common. For example, teen pregnancy, dropping out of school, substance abuse, and delinquency have common roots related to inattentive parents, poor academic performance, acting out behavior, early risk taking behavior (Dryfoos, 1990). A common risk factor for not completing school and for infant mortality is maternal education.
We know that in order to be healthy, one needs to be educated, and to be educated one needs to be healthy. The business of schools is education, a literate public, not health care. Yet school staff are identifying more and more children whose needs go beyond the classroom and many of which are health related. In the school-based health programs in Georgia we find that from 50% to 75% of the students participate. They come seeking care for acute illness (30%), physical examinations (25%), mental health counseling (20%), reproductive health counseling (8%), acute injury (7%), and a variety of other problems (Georgia school-based clinic data base, June 1992). Teachers and staff report better attendance of students where these services are available and more time to devote to teaching since they have others to help students with their non-academic problems.

by instituting a breakfast program, the children received treatment, and in six months the teachers reported improved behavior in the classroom. Only with the interaction of health workers, school staff, and, in this case, the community, could these children have benefited in this way.
In 1991, Governor Miller charged the Departments of Education, Human Resources, and Medical Assistance to work together to reduce teen pregnancy, school drop outs, substance abuse, and delinquency. The result was the Family Connection initiative in which fifteen communities developed partnerships with the goal of having educated children and strong families. The initiative calls for integrating social, mental, and physical health services with education so that individual children and their families get whatever it takes to be successful in school and be productive citizens. This effort recognizes the complex nature of the problems these children and families face and the need for comprehensive, family focussed, community based initiatives to address them.
- Becky Winslow, Director Office of Adolescent Health Georgia Department of Human Resources
Division of Public Health

Health programs in schools address the issues of access to health screening and care and recognize the importance of good health in order to learn. For example, in one elementary school children were screened for anemia. A large number ofstudents were found to be anemic in this school where 80% received free or reduced lunches. As a result the community responded

45

Recognizing the teenage pregnancy crisis in our state and the related national AIDS epidemic, the Legislature enacted specific legislation dealing with these controversial and difficult topics in 1988. Key provisions of this somewhat controversial bill follow.
Key Provisions of Sex and AIDS Education
(a) Each local board of education shall prescribe a course of study in sex education and AIDS prevention instruction for such grades and grade levels in the public school system as shall be determined by the State Board of Education. Such course of study shall implement either the minimum course of study provided for in Subsection (b) of this Code section or its equivalent, as approved by the State Board of Education. Each local board of education shall be authorized to supplement and develop the exact approach of content areas of such minimum course of study with such specific curriculum standards as it may deem appropriate. Such standards shall include instruction relating to the handling of peer pressure, promotion of high self-esteem, local community values, and abstinence from sexual activity as an effective method of prevention of pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
(b) The State Board of Education shall prescribe a minimum course of study in sex education and AIDS prevention instruction which may be included as a part of a course of study in comprehensive health education for such grades and grade levels in the public school system as shall be determined by the state board and shall establish standards for its administration. The course may include instruction concerning human biology, conception, pregnancy, birth, sexually transmitted diseases, and acquired immune deficiency syndrome. A manual setting out the details of such course of study shall be prepared by or approved by the State School Superintendent in cooperation with the Department of Human Resources, the State Board of Education, and such expert advisers as they may choose.
(c) The minimum course of study to be prescribed by the state Board of Education pursuant to subsection (b) of this Code section shall be ready for implementation not later than July 1, 1988. Each local board shall implement either such minimum course of study or its equivalent not later than July 1, 1989. Any local board of education which fails to comply with this subsection shall not be eligible to receive any state funding under this article until such minimum course of study or its equivalent has been implemented.
(d) Any parent or legal guardian of a child to whom the course of study set forth in this Code section is to be taught shall have the right to elect, in writing, that such child not receive such course of study.
- (Code 1981, 20-2-143, enacted by Ga. L. 1988, p. 868, 1)
46

Professional Associations Serving Middle Schools

Two professional education associations in Georgia specifically and exclusively serve middle level education through a variety of services.

GEORGIA MIDDLE SCHOOL ASSOCIATION
Georgia Middle School Association is an active affiliate of the National Middle School Association. It is open to all persons interested in improving educational programs for young adolescents. Membership categories are Individual ($20), Institutional ($50), and Student ($10). The Association publishes a newsletter, a journal, and monographs. It sponsors a major annual conference and occasional regional meetings.

GEORGIA AsSOCIATION OF MIDDLE SCHOOL PRINCIPALS
The Georgia Association of Middle School Principals is an affiliate of the Georgia Association ofEducational Leaders. It is open to principals and assistant principals in middle and junior highs. Dues are $25.00 a year. The Association holds an annual meeting and also meets at the times of the GAEL Conferences. GAMSP cooperates with the GMSA in several projects.

GMSA strives for the continuous improvement of education for 10-15 year olds in Georgia by promoting statewide acceptance of the middle school concept. The Association works through a number of standing committees to carry out its mission.

The Association engages in efforts to educate the public about the nature of middle grades learners, to network and support schools and administrators, to formulate and influence legislation, and to cooperate with other organizations in furthering common goals.

The Association is governed by a 21 member Steer- The Association is governed by a Board composed of

ing Committee which meets periodically during the the offices and the six regional directors. 1992-93

year. 1992 officers are:

officers are:

Executive Director: Chairperson: Past Chairperson: Chairperson Elect: Treasurer:

Linda Hopping, Principal

President:

Mike Campbell, Principal

Crabapple Middle School,

Daniell Middle School, Marietta

Fulton County

(404) 591-6807

(404) 552-4520

Past-President: Walker Davis, Principal

Kimothy Jarrett, Principal

Commerce Middle School,

Griffin Middle School, Cobb County
Wayne Mullins, Principal Cousins Middle School Newton County

President-Elect: Bobby Pennington, Principal Perry Middle School, Perry
GAEL Immediate Past-President: Bob Puckett, Principal Coose Middle School, Rome

John Spindler Coordinator of Middle Schools, Fulton County
Martha Reichrath, Principal Chamblee High School

Secretary:

Kathy Garber, Principal Edwards Middle School, Conyers

Treasurer:

Winnette Bradley, Principal Murphy Middle School, Augusta

GAEL Board Member-At-Large:

Beanford Hicks, Principal

Charlie Gray Middle School,

Moultrie

47

Middle Grades Teacher Education and Certification

Procedures adopted by the independent Georgia Professional Standards Commission regulate the teacher education and certification process.

T he Professional Standards Commission (PSC) is the state agency responsible for issuing certificates to all qualified elementary and secondary education personnel in Georgia. The PSC also recommends the standards and procedures for preparing educational personnel in state public and private colleges and universities, and applies these standards to grant state approval of teacher education programs.
The Commission operates independently from the Georgia Board of Education. Its membership of 18 people appointed by the Governor consists of 9 public school teachers, 2 school administrators, 2 faculty members from teacher education institutions, 2 members of local boards of education, and 3 representatives of business or other private sector groups.
The PSC certifies teachers in Georgia by one of two routes. (1) They may attend an approved program at any one of 33 institutions with a state approved teacher education program. The PSC issues the level of certificate based on the institution's recommendation that the student has successfully completed all requirements of their approved program. (2) The individual may be certified by meeting the PSC minimum certification standards. The determination that the individual has met minimum standards can be made through reciprocity provided for out-of-state certificates with which Georgia has an interstate compact; or the individual may request a transcript evaluation from the PSC Office. The PSC prescribes the necessary requirements which the individual must complete to meet the minimum standards for the level of certificate requested. The level of certificate is determined by the completion of a 4th, 5th, 6th or doctoral year of program completion.
The PSC defines Elementary Education as Early Childhood Education K-4, or Middle Grades Educa-

tion, grades 4-8. For each teaching field, certification is governed currently by separate state rules for minimum certification standards and for teacher education approved programs in colleges and universities.
The state approved middle grades teacher education program must include primary and secondary content concentrations. The primary concentration may be either in Language Arts, Science, Mathematics, or Social Sciences. The secondary concentration may be in one of the content fields listed for the primary concentration or in art, music, health/physical education, or career education. The applicant must have completed a professional education sequence which included nature of the middle grades learner, teaching methods for middle grades, and an effective classroom management course.
Minimum certification standards at the bachelor's degree four year level include the completion of 45 quarter hours in the primary and secondary concentration, plus five hours in the teaching of reading. Graduate level certification also is based on the completion of a primary and secondary content concentration.
Middle grades certificates may also be added to current state certification. For example, an individual holding a secondary certificate may add a middle grades certificate by completing 15 quarter hours ofcoursework that includes 5 quarter hours in the nature and curriculum needs of the middle grades learner, and 5 quarter hours in a supervised practicum in grades 4-8.
During 1992-93, the PSC anticipates making major changes in the state certification process. One change is
in the process of determining how teachers are paid. In
the past, teachers were paid according to the level of certificate they held and if they were teaching in a field for which they were certified. For example, a person who had a bachelor's degree in art education with certification at the 4th year level, would continue to be

48

paid on a bachelor's level scale even if they successfully completed a Master's degree in Fine Arts. The PSC has changed the procedure so that the teacher's pay scale can be based at the Master's level degree.
The PSC also plans to require that all initial certificates for education personnel be based on the individual's completion of a teacher education approved program. No longer will the individual be able to receive initial certification through completion of minimum certification. Subsequent teaching fields may be added through transcript evaluation or out-of-state certificates may be issued on the basis of reciprocity.
The PSC is also planning to change the state rules that govern the approved programs for teacher education preparation. Current state rules are very prescriptive in

their requirements of specific quarter hours of coursework to be completed. The new rules will combine current state program approval rules and the National Association ofState Directors of Teacher Education and Certification (NASDTEC) rules. The new rules will be broadly based standards which will allow colleges and universities greater flexibility in program design and course configuration.
NASDTEC has completed outcomes-based standards for middle grades education which assess the characteristics ofmiddle grades teachers. These standards will be applied in Georgia to determine future approval of teacher education programs.
- Fran Watkins Georgia Professional Standards Commission
Teacher Education

Approved Middle Grades Teacher Education Programs in Georgia

Agnes Scott College

4

Albany State College*

4

5

Armstrong State College*

4

5

Augusta College

4

5

6

Berry College*

4

5

6

Brenau College

4

5

Brewton-Parker College

4

Clark Atlanta University Columbus College* Covenant College Emory University Fort Valley State College* Georgia College*

4

5

6

4

5

6

4

4

5

6

5

5

4

5

6

Levels of Program Approval
4 Bachelor's 5 Master's 6 Specialist's 7 Doctorate

Georgia Southern University*

4

5

6

Georgia Southwestern College*

4

5

6

*NCATE-Approved Institution

Georgia State University*

4

5

6

Kennesaw State College*

4

5

LaGrange College

4

5

Mercer University/Atlanta

4

5

6

Mercer University/Macon*

4

5

6

Morris Brown College

North GeorgiaCollege*

4

5

Oglethorpe University

4

5

Paine College

4

Piedmont College

4

Shorter College

4

Spelman College*

4

Toccoa Falls College

4

University College of Mercer/Forsyth 4

University of Georgia*

4

5

6

7

Valdosta State College*

4

5

6

Data provided by Certification Section,

Wesleyan College

4

Georgia Professional Standards Commission,

West Georgia College*

4

5

6

January 1992

49

Converting from Junior Highs to Middle Schools

The experience of Clayton County serves as an example of the process that should be followed when systems move to convert to middle schools.

T he Clayton County Board of Education approved the conversion to the middle school organizational structure in 1985. In order to permit the restructuring of the district the board called for a bond referendum to be held in 1986 which would fund two new high schools and a new middle school, which, in turn would enable the relocation of sixth graders from the elementary level to the middle school level, and ninth graders from the junior high level to the high school level. The final result would be a restructured district with grades K-5 housed in elementary schools, grades 6-8 housed in middle schools, and grades 9-12 housed in high schools.
Upon the successful passage of the Bond Referendum in 1986 the Board of Education asked that the staff finalize plans for the gradual conversion of the junior high schools. During the 1987-88 school year the first school to be converted was identified, and the faculty, staff, and community were involved in inservice programs regarding the middle school concept, State Incentive Grant Criteria, etc. During the 1988-89 school year the prototype of the Clayton County model was implemented while preparations were made in the next five identified junior high schools for conversion in 1989-90. At the beginning of the 1989-90 school year six of the nine schools had been converted. During the 1989-90 school year preparations were made at the remaining junior highs for conversion, as well as the opening of a new middle school. With the opening of the 1990-91 school year the conversion process was complete and all ten schools began operation as statefunded middle schools receiving incentive funding.

Results of Conversion
The conversion to middle schools has resulted in numerous benefits such as:
- Teacher-to-teacher, teacher-to-administrators, and teacher-to-parent communication have been improved.
- Parental involvement has increased.
- Teacher collaboration and student-teacher interaction have increased dramatically.
- Disciplinary problems have decreased.
- Faculty and staff morale has improved.
The benefits achieved are the result of our having instituted a number of program features including the following:
- Academic interdisciplinary teams have 110 minutes daily for common planning activities, greatly facilitating short-range and long-range plans. Exploratory teachers have 90 minutes of planning time daily.
- AIl students have the opportunity to explore at least two of three foreign languages.
- Industrial Arts is being phased out in favor of the Explorations in Technology.
- Jim McGarity, Associate Superintendent, Clayton County and
Member, Georgia Task Force

Since 1991-92 the system has concentrated on enhancement activities which foster and encourage more implementation of acceptable middle school practices. Merely reorganizing administratively is not what true implementation of the middle school concept involves. Ongoing staff development is essential.

50

Georgia's middle schools need major restructuring. This is not debatable if these schools are to provide the education needed in this last decade of the 20th Century. There are, however, a substantial number of schools in our state that have broken with tradition and stepped out with significant improvements. These schools are operating programs that mesh the disparate components of their curricula and involve parents, businesses, and community agencies in collaborative projects.
In this section a sample of the many successful, ongoing projects operating throughout Georgia are highlighted. Examples generally evidence some element of outreach which engages persons or agencies beyond the school itself in the educational enterprise. They range from full-service health clinics operated in the school to major projects in interdisciplinary instruction, to a middle school unit within a K-7 school, to a variety of school-business partnerships. These real situations are most encouraging. They make it evident that improvements are possible given initiative, encouragement, and leadership.
51

High-tech in Operation

The most up-to-date technology is widely available and in use in this Gwinnett County middle school that has put a priority on employing technology to enhance student learning.

I magine a school in which students communicate instantaneously with other kids from all around the country, or students did electronic reference searches and got an instant printout, or where students at computer stations collaboratively worked on problem-solving tasks by simultaneously viewing the other team members' data on their station! This is not a school of the future, but a "hi-tech" middle school in Gwinnett County.
Trickum Middle School has three computer labs to support the local technology effort. A networked Macintosh lab with 28 student stations and one teacher station, a networked Apple IIGS lab with 28 stations that provide access to a wide variety of curriculumrelated software that correlates to the basic subjects, and an independent computer lab of Apple II machines. In the exploratory program all 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students experience keyboarding, wordprocessing, database, spreadsheet, graphic utilities, Logo programming, and Logo/Lego robotics.

searches for information and get a printout of text or a map. Every classroom in school is set up with a closed circuit television. Student-generated videos, news from CNN, and other programs can be viewed in individual classrooms through this circuit. The Science Department has a special video camera that projects a live image of micro organisms placed under the microscope.
Communicating via modem is another way Trickum students take advantage of the new advances in technology. Modem stations are available in the media center and both networked labs. By linking to CNN newsroom, daily lessons that correlate to a video clip are accessed online. Groups of students also telecommunicate with other "electronic pen pals" around the country. Sixth grade students are involved in the National Geographic Kids Network. During a project on acid rain, students gathered scientific data about the quality of water in our area and telecommunicated this data to other students in North America.

Trickum, located in Lilburn, has a full-time person in charge of technology responsible for the management of the labs, the classroom stations, and the coordination of the school wide technology effort.
The media center incorporates a variety of technological equipment. The online card cataloging and barcoding system streamlines the process of searches for library titles. Students have access to video editing and recording equipment, players, cameras, videodisc players, and a large screen monitor. Multimedia stations provide access to interactive laserdiscs.
Many other special technological items are featured at Trickum. Four computer stations are equipped with CD-ROM players. These stations run comprehensive packages such as Grolier's Electronic Encyclopedia and the WorldAtlas. Students can quickly do electronic

This year Trickum is offering "late labs" twice a week for interested students, teachers, parents, and community members.
Apple Computers, Inc., the school's business partner, has provided computers, software, a scanner, and technical assistance. The Parent Teacher Student Association has also made significant donations to the technology efforts ofour school. Fifty percent ofthe P.T.S.A. budget is devoted to technology.
Trickum is proud to be a leader in the application of technology. As students, staff, and parents see the positive effects of these innovations, the belief that technology enhances the learning process and better prepares students for the 21st Century is reinforced.
- Sherah Carr, Technology Coordinator Trickum Middle School

53

Providing Continuity in Caring and Learning

Countering the fall "fruit basket turn-over" almost universal in our schools, this North Georgia middle school is keeping a team of teachers and students together for three years.

A team of four teachers and approximately 100 students are staying together for three years in Elbert County Middle School as a part of the Delta Project. The teachers on the team include one science teacher, one mathematics teacher, one social studies teacher, and one language arts teacher. This group ofteachers has worked with the same group of students during the three year period of 1990-91, 1991-92, and 1992-93, the students' sixth, seventh, and eighth grade years. The teachers felt strongly that this would provide continuity for students who are in the midst of a number of major changes not only in their physical development but also in cognitive, social, and emotional development.
The teachers have made a number of changes in team organization, curriculum, and instruction. They work closely and collaboratively as they do extensive shortterm and long-term planning about curriculum changes, instructional changes, and the needs of both individuals and groups of students. The curriculum changes include the designing and teaching of interdisciplinary units. The curriculum has an increased emphasis on higher order thinking and problem solving. The changes in instruction include more extensive use of small group cooperative learning to support student motivation, to provide a context for group problem solving efforts, and to allow students to improve their communication and social skills. It is the intent of the Delta teachers to improve student achievement, thinking and problem solving skills, self-concept/self-esteem, and attitudes and motivation.
Researchers from the University of Georgia have collected data from the Delta team of students and teachers during the three year period. Data also has been collected in each of the three years from students in two additional comparison teams within the school but at grade levels different from the Delta team.

Funds from the Eisenhower Act for the Improvement ofMathematics and Science Education under the Higher Education Section of P.L. 1002297 Title II support the project.
Laurie E. Hart and P. Elizabeth Pate Co-directors
University of Georgia
Students Assess Their Experience of Having the Same Teachers for Three Years.
"The only one disadvantage I think of is that we will have to leave after this year."
"I think that we have the advantage over the rest of the eighth graders in the school ... we have special kinds of projects that can teach us."
" ... we get to work in groups and almost all of our group members help in our discussion."
"The Delta Team also has disadvantages. The teachers have a very strict discipline system, we have detention, in-team-in-house, time-out, and our very own dungeon of discipline."
" ... we know the teachers we will have and don't worry about getting a new teacher that we don't like."
"They teach us through this passageway to be all you can be and get a good education."
"It doesn't seem like I am in the eighth grade because I have been in the Delta Team for three years (it seems like one big experience) ... in a way I wish I could stay in the Delta Team until I get out of school ... I wish they (teachers) could go to high school with us, but they can't. Maybe sometime they will start with sixth graders and go through eighth grade like they did with us."

54

"The Delta Team is like a close-knit family."

"One of the disadvantages is that you can get tired of some people."
"In the Delta Team we can rely on one another ...we have a team that can handle our own problems."
"The only bad thing is that we have to say good-bye to part of our family after three years."
"Something that the teachers do is to try and make everyone feel speciaL"
"I just moved here and 1 walked in and everybody knew everybody. They knew the teachers and everybody. It surprised me ...Usually 1 aggravate the teachers all year because 1 know that 1 will never be in their class again. When 1 got here 1 straightened up quick."
"I pretty much knew how to work in a group, but 1 have learned how to work with people that 1may not get along with very well. Even though we are put into groups, the teachers all want us to be our own individual. 1 feel like I have learned a very valuable thing from these past three years. We have been given a taste of the real world when you have to work with all kinds of people, not just taught book knowledge. I feel very privileged to have been able to be in the Delta Team and to work with some great people."
Reflections from the Teachers
As Delta Team teachers we now can't imagine ever going back to a new group of kids every nine months. Coming back in August after the first year, teachers and

students alike felt as though we were picking up from where we left off. The year-to-year transition that most teachers and students go through was practically nonexistent. The new students that transferred into our school system that were placed in the Delta Team automatically felt the sense of community, thus making their initial adjustment period much easier. When you make the commitment to keep the same group of students for three years, you have a totally different outlook. You no longer say to yourself, "I can put up with anything for nine months," you make a concerted effort to improve each and every student in as many ways as you can reach them.
Parents have expressed on many occasions how our team has provided a lot of stability for their generally unstable "in-between agers." Most feel that having the same teachers for the three years at the middle school has created a sense of community within our team of students as well as with parents. One parent remarked, "Until Jason got to the middle school and became involved with the Delta Team, he hated school. Now he looks forward to each and every day. He was just never like that before. It (the Delta Team) has made a big difference in his whole attitude."
On the down side, don't expect to see many dry eyes in June. The team has become an extended family. Perhaps the biggest challenge of all is letting them go.
- Sue Matthews Team Leader
Elbert County Middle School.

55

Parent Conferences at the Worksite

As a part of Glynn County's Partners in Education Program, parent conferences were arranged at the worksite reinforcing the concept that education is a collaborative effort.

Responsibility for each middle grade student's success should be shared by schools and community organizations.
- Turning Points, pp. 22&23
"Would it be possible to go to a business worksite for parent conferences?" This was the challenge that Harriet Langford, a counselor at Glynn Middle School, posed for the fledgling Glynn County's Partners in Education program in its first months of existence. That challenge was accepted by Bob Brubaker, chief executive officer of King and Prince Seafood. King and Prince is a seafood processing company, and many of its employees are hourly wage workers whose schedule makes it impossible for them to attend conferences at school. Even conferences held at night failed to attract these parents because many of them had been unsuccessful in school and felt uncomfortable in a school setting.

at school is not indicative of lack of interest in the child. Moreover, the worksite conferences validated the importance of parents' involvement in the education of their children and demonstrated the willingness of the schools to make this involvement easier to achieve.
King and Prince Seafood sent a powerful message to its employees: We value education, and we encourage you to become involved in it. The human resources manager at King and Prince best summed up this partnership activity: "It was a win/win situation."
- Pamela Lewis, Director Partners in Education Program

The procedures for setting up worksite conferences were fairly simple. The school counselor, and the human resources manager at King and Prince Seafood, collaborated in identifying participants and working out a schedule for the conferences. The first round occurred after parents received progress reports for the first six weeks. In most instances, the counselor and one or two teachers met with parents for 10 to 15 minutes. The human resources manager provided an office for the conferences, and generally employees were away from their work station for no more than 20 minutes.
The results were beneficial for all the participants. The employer was viewed by the employees as really caring about them as human beings. The parents experienced a connection with the school and their children's teachers that was reassuring and non-threatening.
The teachers were able to connect with parents who traditionally were unavailable to them. Teachers also recognized that a parent's failure to attend conferences

From a Teacher's Perspective
The thing that interested me most about being involved in an on-site conference was the fact that I would be going to my student's parent. In the past, I had always contacted parents by phone or note and while most of them responded in some fashion, many were quick to say that visiting me meant putting their jobs on holdsomething their employers were not enthusiastic about. Now, here I was, ready to switch roles and hopefully get a glance at what their work environments were like. I was excited, thinking that my visits would surely convince parents that I was serious about educating their children.
Entering the worksite, I was impressed by the fact that the employers had set aside a room for our conferences. Suddenly, I felt as if my community agreed with me in believing that education was important. I looked over my notes as I waited for my student's parent to

56

arrive. I had made the visit in order to discuss the wonderful progress my student had been making in language arts class. The door opened and I looked up to see a woman enter. I could see that she had left the assembly line. I stood up to greet her, noticing that she seemed genuinely happy to meet me.
"I've heard lots of things about you from my little girl," she said, adjusting her hair net as we sat down. "She's been worried to death about this meeting. Thinks she's in trouble. Vh, .. .is she? I mean, if she's ... "
"Nothing like that at all, " I laughed, "even though teachers often only seem to deliver bad news. I just wanted to talk to you about how well your daughter has been performing in class. She's very intelligent and I would like you to continue to encourage her."
As I discussed the student's academic performance and got to know her mother better, I knew without a doubt that my visit to the worksite was going to payoff.
As the weeks passed I spoke by telephone with that student's mother frequently, keeping her posted about her daughter's work. We planned what types of books would be good for her to read or discussed her progress. I began to enjoy calling her, feeling that my efforts were

worthwhile. Once, when I did have a problem with the student and had to call her mother at work, I was surprised to see her at my school minutes later.
"It's okay with my boss," she said, "He says that if you can come to me, I can do the same for you."
Within minutes she joined me and other team members and her daughter for an impromptu conference. Needless to say, I understood the commitment this lady's employers had made to my efforts in the classroom. If they thought enough of me to let one of their workers come to my school without docking her pay, I knew that they thought what I was doing was important. They certainly had to think the child I was teaching was important too.
"Thank you for coming up here," I said, "I know that you were busy and ... "
"Not that busy," she said. "If you need me, call me. My boss, my company, they know that what you're doing is important. We can work together."
- Jeff Giddens Sixth Grade Teacher Glynn Middle School

What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all its children. Any other ideal for our schools is narrow and unlovely.
-John Dewey
57

Collaboration - A Major Success Story

The Decatur City Schools have achieved a high level of success with performance standards and the most extensive networking of "outside agencies" found anywhere in Georgia

C ity Schools of Decatur is a "mid-size" school system in Georgia (2300 students). Half of its students are on free/reduced lunch status and nearly 70% are classified "minority." A few years ago, the state kindergarten test was given and state results showed Decatur's children performing in the bottom 13% of the 180 plus Georgia school systems.
In spite of this, student results on the 10th grade BST have been among the highest in Georgia in reading, writing, and mathematics for each of the last six years that were reported under QBE. Results on the ITBS have also been exceptional. Students consistently score at or above 95% of all of the school systems in the state - regardless of the socio-economic status of their student populations.
This came about by implementing performance standards accompanied by strong support programs beginning in 1974. Performance standards were implemented one year at a time in reading - beginning with first grade. Two years later, mathematics standards were implemented two years at a time. Both went through grade 8. A strong writing program (ILA) was implemented in the early 80s at all levels. The standards were reinforced by a structure of accountability between teachers, grade levels, and even schools so that students wouldn't fall through the cracks as they progress from one level to the next.
After having accomplished comparative academic success, it was obvious that the only way City Schools of Decatur could improve was to see that direct services were provided to students who were having difficulty in school but who were inhibited by factors that were not academic. Some of these might be the lack of food or clothing, abusive or neglectful family situations, physical infirmities such as poor health, and so on.
Though we didn't have a great deal of experience

with agencies outside of the educational arena, it was obvious that they existed and that they were providing help to children that could not be garnered through the educational system. Our experiences came through taking children to the health department for dental work, hearing tests, and vision tests. We had worked with the Department of Family and Children's Services via foster children who came into the school system and as a result of the law requiring that all child abuse be reported to this agency. There was some small contact with the juvenile justice system.
Beyond this contact, only the social workers interacted with "outside agencies"; consequently, ignorance prevailed about the services that could be provided and about the individuals who might avail themselves of the services.
A series of superintendent's hearings for problem students quickly showed me that there were few things that the superintendent could do except to chide, reprimand, bestow short-term suspension or refer the student to the school board for long-term suspension or expulsion. The Boys Club, a Wilderness Challenge Program, and some off-campus counseling were the extent of choices beyond those mentioned above.
A friend was newly appointed as the director of the DeKalb County Teen Pregnancy Task Force. She called me about this time to see if she might work with City Schools of Decatur. She asked what she might do to help. I asked her about the possibilities of finding other avenues of assistance for students. To make a long story short, Phyllis Schwartz bridged the gap between the unknown social/health agencies and our school system.
She and a far-sighted principal (Karen Davenport) of the Oakhurst Elementary School in Decatur held a session with between 6 and 10 agency representatives. They put a single child's name on the table - a child who

58

needed assistance. The agencies responded generously. Not only did the child and her family benefit, in the process the agencies learned a great deal more about each other.
This nucleus of collaboration began a relationship that has lasted and grown over the last five years into a spectacular example of what can be done by people working together for children and their families. A networking committee of more than 30 agencies, organizations, churches, and businesses contract annually with the schools to provide services. They meet quarterly to check on progress.
Because of the success of the networking committee, the United Way became involved and assisted the school system in writing requests for proposals to solicit the interest of agencies in working with the schools and receiving funds from United Way for the activities. The governor appointed a committee to discuss setting up a model similar to Decatur's, and Decatur was awarded one of the 15 state grants called the "Family Connection."
Outward Bound began a collaborative arrangement with the school system and is now housed on the high school campus. Between 300 and 400 students and teachers go through the program each year. The program lasts from one day to 13 depending on the purposes and desired outcomes.
A day care/child development center was established at the high school for children of students, faculty, and staff from ages six weeks to three years.
A comprehensive health program was established between City Schools of Decatur and the DeKalb County Health Department. Nurses spend time weekly in each school in the system, and a pediatrician coordinates their activities and is available to the schools. A mental health worker spends 20 hours per week at the Family Connection site, and a social worker serves with the staff of the school system social workers to provide services to children.

ready for school and how we can get community members to take ownership of their strengths and weaknesses to better provide for themselves and their children.
We are constantly being informed of the availability of new funding. Over the last three years, more than $1,000,000 a year has flowed into the school system in the form of personnel, services, and dollars that have not been derived from state education or local educational funds. This is a significant amount for a total state and local budget of under 15 million dollars, and the amount is increasing. The availability of resources, the interest in what we are doing in Decatur, and the desire to emulate our model has been amazing.
Our biggest problem now is determining how to utilize all of the services, to better coordinate activities, and to keep everyone informed about "what's new." We are currently examining new structures for our administrators since each is currently involved with at least one new grant proposal while attempting to keep all of the other activities up and running. Our financial department has run out of numbers to assign projects and threatens to strangle anyone who comes to them with a new grant, but new opportunities keep emerging, and they are getting bigger and better all of the time.
The most rewarding aspect of all of this has been getting the wide spectrum of agencies in the Decatur area involved with children. Everyone has begun working cooperatively. Contacts speed the implementation of services and support. People help people rapidly and unselfishly as a result of the collaboration. Resources have appeared to handle needs without red tape, and individuals are looking for barriers in order to eliminate them rather than to hide behind them and thereby avoid "getting involved."
The focus has moved from scholastics to the needs of a child to the needs of the child and family to getting little ones ready for school to the needs of individuals to own their communities and schools and to determine how to solve the problems they identify through building upon and using their strengths.

More than 30 programs have grown out of the original concept. They provide a wide variety of services to children from foster grandparents and student mentors to a Parents as Teachers grant from Success By Six. Of primary importance is how we can get our preschoolers

Decatur is an exciting place to be.
Don L. Griffith Superintendent
City Schools of Decatur.

59

Easing the Transition to High School

Eighth graders in Bibb County are making a "smoother move" to ninth grade since a county-wide transitional program was implemented three years ago.

M

iddle school/high school committees, which focus on the eighth grade to ninth grade transition, were organized in June

of 1989. These committees have come to be called the

Smooth Move Committees and are made up of teachers,

counselors, and administrators from the middle schools

and high schools. Each August since 1989, committee

members have attended a two-day staff development

workshop conducted by the middle school coordinator

and two high school administrators. The workshop,

funded by Bibb County Schools' Office of Staff Devel-

opment provides middle school and high school person-

nel with techniques and strategies for helping eighth

graders make a smooth transition to high school. Four

committees are then charged with creating a workable

transitional plan. Some of the transitional activities

include the following:

1. Early in the school year, eighth and ninth grade teachers meet to share information concerning students' growth and development, skill development, teachers' expectations, and curriculum/course content.

2. Throughout the year, ninth grade counselors conduct several orientation sessions for eighth grade clusters of students. These sessions focus on high school student life and activities.

5. The day before the actual first day of school for students in August, a Ninth Grade Orientation is held on the four high school campuses for ninth graders and their parents. A program with a school spirit theme is held on each campus, students receive their schedules, and high school students conduct tours of the campuses.
In addition to these county-wide transitional activities, other activities have been implemented by some committees. Examples are:
(1) Ninth graders keep journals during their first week as high school freshmen. (2) a group of eighth graders participated in a Shadow Day at the high school, where they spent the entire day "shadowing" a ninth grader, (3) faculty and staff identified those eighth graders who could be potential high school dropouts and volunteered to serve as mentors for these students.
As a result of the Smooth Move Program, Bibb County students are entering ninth grade with fewer apprehensions and with greater confidence.
- Dori Marshall Middle School Coordinator
Bibb County Schools

3. During the second half of the school year, an evening Open House for eighth graders and their parents is held at each middle school so that ninth grade counselors and other personnel can help parents become knowledgeable about high school policies and course offerings.

4. In the spring, a writing network between eighth grade students and ninth grade students is organized through language arts classes. In this way, every eighth grader has contact with a "buddy" who can answer the middle schooler's questions with "firsthand" answers.

60

A Citizens' Group Initiates Positive Programs

Paulding County middle school students and their parents are better off for several initiatives that grew out of a citizens' group study.

W hen group of citizens in Paulding County (Dallas) met in Dallas to develop a grant for improving the services provided atrisk pupils, many good things resulted. These developments involved not only school personnel but community agencies and individuals as well.

Advisor-advisee programs have been established in three middle schools so that each student is a part of a small group that meets regularly to discuss personalsocial needs and related issues not a part of the regular courses. The advisees and the advisor will stay together for three years to provide a continuity of caring.

The three middle schools in the county began operating a before and after school program for 6-8 graders. Not only was tutorial assistance with school assignments provided, but anti-drug messages were presented along with specific activities designed to enhance students' social skills and self-concepts.
To insure that the tutorial program would be successful special staff development courses were provided for the tutors during the school year and in the summer. Among the courses were cooperative learning, technology in the classroom, life role skills for mental health, and parent power.

Parenting workshops are being held and parents are being prepared to staff a parent tutoring co-op. Parents and other members of the community are gaining an increased understanding of young adolescents, at-risk behaviors, and what constitutes appropriate school programs. The message is going out - the responsibility for learning falls first on the student,but the parent, teacher, counselor, school, and community are all supports for the student.
Hazel Ratliff System-wide Instructional Leader
Paulding County Schools

Academic effectiveness at the middle level is highly dependent upon a warm, open studentteacher relationship.
61

An Alternative Opportunity Program Yields Significant Results

An innovative, success-oriented program in Decatur County has resulted in a major reduction in the number of dropouts and surprising academic gains.

T he ALT-O (Alternative Opportunity) program is specifically directed at dropout prevention. ALT-O presents a positive, voluntary alternative for students who have demonstrated a lack of academic achievement commensurate with their abilities. In this program an incoming seventh grade student who has demonstrated "changed behavior" in the classroom can earn back two years lost through previous academic retention by being promoted to ninth grade. Eligibility is based on multiple retentions, excessive absences, advanced age, low motivation, and lack of achievement in relation to test scores - problems found in school systems nationwide.
Students who are at-risk are targeted by middle school teachers as potential candidates for the program. Students who are eligible are interviewed with their parents. The interviewer(s) try to determine whether or not a student is ready to take control of his/her life. Each year, the ALT-O team of four teachers provides an opportunity for approximately 72 students to "buy back" time.
Although the curriculum is traditional, flexible scheduling, cooperative learning strategies, productivity, and accountability have resulted in a significant success rate among participating students. Performance objectives and skill level achievement based on the state-mandated Quality Core Curriculum allow students to earn high school credits. Instruction focuses on six major themes throughout the year: cause and effect, good versus evil, chaos versus organization, evolution (the concept), cooperationicompetition, and independence/ Interdependence. The thematic/interdisciplinary approach enables students to more easily organize their information and be a part of a small community.

ented; interactive methods of teaching/learning are routine; and enthusiastic, creative, and caring teachers are the foundation. Computers, projects, field trips, peer teaching/tutoring, role-playing, and games are utilized on a regular basis. Grades are based on a one-hundred point scale in such a manner that points are earned for work produced and for observing proper classroom procedures. Only quality work is accepted for a grade and students keep a grid for charting grades.
Following the one year ALT-O program, students enter the high school mainstream for the remainder of their schooling. The relationship formed during the ALT-O year often brings former students back to the faculty for informal support. The short-term objectives of having ALT-0 students pass more high school classes than their at-risk peers, demonstrating a more positive attitude towards school, and having positive self-esteem have been achieved. The ALT-O Program in Decatur County is a success.
A Georgia Innovation Program Adoption Grant is available to local school systems who wish to implement this model. There is a local effort component and use of funds is restricted. Training sessions for faculty/ team/school can be held in Bainbridge or in the adopting system. The training components include an overview, the at-risk learner, the role of support personnel, the program structure, classroom management, cooperative learning, counseling, thematic teaching, video use as an educational tool, control theory, and interdisciplinary teaming. For more information about the ALT-O program contact Richard Johnson, Project Facilitator, (912) 248-2238, or write to him at the Bainbridge High School Annex, 1304 E. Evans Street, Bainbridge, GA 31717.

Not only does the ALT-O program focus heavily on the academics, but equally as important is the development of positive self-esteem. Classes are success-ori-

- Suzanne Bonifay, Principal West Bainbridge Middle School

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An After-school Program Provides Enrichment and a Service
Collaboration between parents, citizens, and administrators led to the establishment of this unique program in Fulton County.

T he After-school Enrichment Program at Holcomb Bridge Middle School began as a pilot in the fall of 1991. It came about because of the perseverance of concerned parents, the PTA, school administrators, and the Coalition For Drug Free North Fulton. Working in collaboration representatives from these groups applied for and received a grant that permitted the hiring of a coordinator who planned and implemented the program.
The program established was based on the philosophy that all sixth, seventh, and eighth graders in the school would have the opportunity to participate in activities and clubs that would be challenging physically, socially, culturally, and cognitively. The program was in session Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from after school until 5:45 p.m.
Activities were offered in six week sessions with most activities an hour in length. Initially fourteen

different activities were offered including drama, environmental club, karate, graphic arts, certified sitter, modeling and manners, baseball card club, origami, international club, and computers. Additional activities were added as the year progressed. Parents paid a nominal registration and enrollment fee. The PTA offered scholarships for students unable to pay the fee.
The activities varied and children and parents were surveyed for interests as the planning continued. Instructors were qualified volunteers, community and local business people, and Fulton County Board of Education instructors.
In the pilot year, the program involved approximately thirteen percent of the student body and became selfsupporting. In the fall of 1992, the program expanded to another North Fulton County Middle School.
- Peg Hoagland Holcomb Bridge Middle School
Fulton County

Today's middle school students will spend 3/4 of their lives In the 21 st century. They need a fUlly contemporary and global education.
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After-school Study Groups and a Nature Trail Bring Success

Cousins Middle School in Newton County launched two very different special programs that have met many of the varied needs of today's students.

M

iddle school students today are different from those of just a few years ago. Many students come to the school in need of

socialization and stabilization as much as academic

development. Therefore, middle schools must be cre-

ative in designing programs to meet the needs of all

students. The After-school Study Groups and the devel-

opment of the Wildlife Habitat and Nature Trail are two

programs implemented to meet varied needs.

The After-school Study Groups are open to all students in the school, not just the so-called at-risk students. Emphasis is placed on how to study, test-taking skills, reading, and mathematics, as well as providing general assistance with homework assignments. Interested teachers were selected for the classes and were paid with funds allotted through our strategic plan budget. The students are multi-aged grouped with the student-teacher ratio held to 18:1. The participating teachers attended a workshop with a consultant from the Sylvan Center in order to design the program.

Frequent parent contacts keep the parents involved with their child's progress. Parents and students are asked to commit to staying in the program for the entire year.

In 1991-92 classes began in February and met twice a week for the remainder of the year. In 1992-93 the program began in October one day per week with more emphasis in individual progress. Computers will be available during each session for remediation or enrichment activities. Classes are multi-aged, and students will be monitored by their academic teachers to verify progress.

The Cousins Middle School Wildlife Habitat and Nature Trail is a 47 acre interdisciplinary outdoor classroom for teachers, students, and members of the community who are interested in building environmental awareness. Many community resources were con-

tacted and gave much assistance in developing the habitat and trail.
The NewtonlRockdale Forestry Commission provided their expertise in layout and land usage, and cleared the .5 mile trail. The Georgia Wildlife Federation provided information on plants, shrubs, trees, and feeders which would attract more wildlife to the area. One of the school's Partners in Education, the Covington K-Mart, provided tools, plants, trees, fertilizer, bird seed, and much more in constructing the trail. Mulch was provided by the Covington/Newton Clean Commission from the recycling of the county's Christmas trees. Newton County High School Construction and Metal Occupation classes constructed the brick and iron entrance to the trail.
Local citizens identified the plants and trees. The city of Covington marked a crosswalk to the trail and provided additional mulch free of charge.
Academic teams in the school adopted 200' sections of the trail similar to the Adopt-a-Highway concept. Study tables are arranged throughout the trail to accommodate entire classes. The Habitat and Trail lends itself to all learning styles. Students can touch, see, feel, smell, hear, and experience the learning environment around them. These programs have provided opportunities for all students to experience some success. The After-school Study Groups resulted in a significant increase in test scores. The development of the Habitat and Nature Trail has provided students, teachers, and community members with a chance to join in a united environmental effort.
- Wayne Mullins, Principal Cousins Middle School Newton County

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A Comprehensive, Adventure-based Counseling Program
In Baldwin County's Boddie Middle School a drug education and outdoor challenge education program were successfully combined to meet the varied needs of at-risk students.

T he extensive drug education and adventurebased counseling program ofBoddie Middle School (Baldwin County School System in Milledgeville) was developed to address the needs of an unusually large number of at-risk sixth grade students. The level of alcohol/drug knowledge as well as abuse among the 180 students was of great concern. Other problems included inappropriate behaviors in class, in small groups, and with authority figures.
An emergency Drug-free Schools grant application was submitted to the State Department and subsequently approved. The project was two-fold, involving an intensive drug intervention wellness program, Camp DETOUR (Drug Education Through Outdoor Utilization of Recreation), and the construction of an outdoor challenge course. The entire sixth grade travelled to Unicoi State Park (150 miles) for four days of outdoor experiences and specially planned activities.

Year two of the project involved a follow-up intervention called Unicoi-Revisited. This was a day camp for seventh graders conducted along the same guidelines as Camp DETOUR. Closure activities are planned for these "original" students now in the eighth grade. In addition, the next sixth grade class participated in Unicoi '92, patterned after Camp DETOUR.
The project was rated very successful by student and faculty participants, parents, and the media. Project results include an increase in self-esteem, a reduction in absenteeism and disciplinary referrals. An unexpected but very important by-product has been an observable rapport and trust between the at-risk group and the faculty.
- Sandy Bell, Counselor, and Rebecca Brock, Assistant Principal for Curriculum Boddie Middle School

Our goalsfor Camp DETOUR were to develop selfworth and personal confidence, to foster trust in peers and adults, to form supportive relationships within the group, and to learn about chemical abuse prevention. These goals were based on our belief that informed, confident children are drug-free children.

The DETOUR activities linked county and city law enforcement personnel, an Oconee RESA drug consultant, Georgia College personnel, counselors, teachers, Board of Education members, and parents. Physical, mental, and emotional wellness was the theme throughout the classes with an emphasis on living a chemical-free life.

The outdoor low-ropes course built by Project Adventure, Inc. on the school campus provides alternative learning experiences in a controlled environment. Challenging activities plus opportunities for stress reduction are made available for students, teachers, parents, and other community members.

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Educational Trips Improve School Climate and Student Learning

To improve school climate and broaden students' educational horizons a field trip program was organized and integrated with instructional and behavioral management strategies.

I n 1985, the staff of Central Middle School in Sylvania, Georgia, decided to develop a process for improving school climate while expanding the educational program for students. The school serves 780 students in grades 6, 7, and 8 with over half of the students qualifying for free lunch. Many have had little opportunity to travel or experience cultural enrichment.
In the past, teachers and administrators relied on strategies for managing student behavior that were basically reactive and negative in nature. The staff then decided to develop some positive strategies. We felt that many students would be helped by having tangible reasons for appropriate conduct. These positive strategies have included extra reading time, extra recess time, and special class activities. In our arsenal of goals, however, learning outside school has become the heavy artillery. The field trip program has been a major factor in improving the school climate and reducing discipline problems.
Students in each grade participate in the program each semester. Recent experiences have included the historic ship collection at Charleston, South Carolina and Ft. Pulaski near Savannah. The trips are advertised well in advance. Lessons are coordinated in several classes centering around the trip. Activities are held to cover incidental expenses and scholarship needs for students who may need money for tickets or similar expenses.

To help young people set and accomplish long-range goals, students are informed at the beginning of the semester that participation in the trip is contingent on good citizenship. In the weeks preceding the trip, students will go to extreme and sometimes amusing measures to stay out of trouble. The idea is not to catch students and punish them by taking away the trip, but rather to use the trip as an incentive to encourage the young people to manage their behavior and develop self-control in order to attain a deserved goal.
There are problems that should be recognized including planning time, expense, safety, and legal considerations. Our staff feels, however, that the educational and cultural enrichment, improved rapport with students and between staff members, parent involvement, and dramatic decrease in discipline problems, make this program valuable.
- A. L. Freeland, Principal Central Middle School, Sylvania

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The Olympics - A County-wide Interdisciplinary Unit

All of Fulton County's middle schools, and all of their teachers participate in this two-week Interdisciplinary unit centered around, most appropriately, the Olympics.

I n 1977 Fulton County embarked on the development of an interdisciplinary curriculum centered around the basic concepts and ideals embodied in the Olympic games. It was developed in conjunction with a committee formed from the USOC (United States Olympic Committee).
The interdisciplinary approach, which is central to the middle school philosophy, offered the opportunity to teach content from all curriculum areas, both academic and exploratory. The entire Sandy Springs Middle School was first involved in a two-week Olympic experience that culminated in an Olympic Field Day. Teachers from every discipline met with members of the USOC Education Council and spent several months developing and refining the unit.
Since 1977 the Olympic interdisciplinary curriculum has been continuously refined to fit changing needs and varied school settings. Workshops have been conducted throughout the south and the plans have been disseminated across the country as a result of exposure through NMSA conferences and other educational gatherings.
The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games is currently using this curriculum as a base for a total curriculum, K-12, to be used by systems in connection with the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
The curriculum contains activities for grades 6-8 in all areas. The activities are sequential so that students experience a natural progression during each of the three middle school years. Topics covered include mythology, fact and opinion, reference skills, nutrition, exercise and physical fitness, drugs and athletes, metrics, values, cultures of various countries, and the history of the Olympics.
Students are placed on countries by teams and across grade levels. For instance, students in 6A, 7A, and 8A Work together during this unit as members of the Swiss

Olympic Team. This provides an excellent opportunity for peer assistance and true team spirit to develop at all levels in the school. The most important thing to remember in the development and execution of the unit is that every student in the school, including all special education students, must be provided an opportunity to participate fully in both the curriculum and field day aspects of the Olympics.
Points and medals need to be awarded for all events, both fun and serious, and medals should be awarded for every event run during the field day. The efforts made and sportsmanship displayed by students working together is one of the most rewarding and long-lasting benefits of the Olympic unit.
The Olympic Unit provides a unique and in-depth opportunity for parent and community involvement in the school. In small town settings the entire town becomes involved in the field day with an opening parade through town and the lighting of the torch by the mayor or another town official. Guest speakers provide an excellent opportunity for students and adults to become involved in "real-life" experiences which are connected with various topics covered by the curriculum. Parents are eager participants in coordinating and helping during the field day events. Various ethnic groups can share cultural activities with students. Restaurants serving ethnic foods can contribute to a "tasting" party.
The possibilities of the unit are almost endless, and the expansion and refinement of activities to fit all types of schools and learners is one of the most exciting aspects and the essential reason for the universal appeal of the curriculum.
- Linda Hopping, Principal Crabapple Middle School Fulton County

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School-based Health Clinics Serve Young Adolescents
Major successful efforts to link health services to schools already exist in many Georgia communities.

T he Georgia Department ofHuman Resources, Office of Adolescent Health, funds 14 comprehensive adolescent health projects aimed at keeping Georgia's children in school and healthy. Clinics are located in public schools. A few other school-based health programs exist with local and/or private foundation funding. Some of these projects will be highlited as examples.
These fourteen state-supported projects provide physical examinations and mental health assessments along with health education and counseling. Reproductive health counseling may be offered, but no contraceptives are distributed in school-based clinics. All clinics have referral mechanisms and close links to the private medical community. All services require parental permission which is obtained in writing at the beginning of the school year or at the time a student seeks service if permission has not been gotten earlier.
Perhaps the best-known of Georgia's Healthy Children Projects is the Southeast Health Unit located in Waycross. Dr. Adrienne Butler, the Deputy Health Director of the unit, oversees clinics located in fourteen school sites in eight sparsely populated poor counties. Creative use of personnel, collaboration with other agencies, and the imaginative ability of Dr. Ted Holloway to cut through red tape have made this project a national model.
At each clinic the qualified staff provide general health assessment to any sixth or ninth grade student who has parental consent to use the clinic. They also give mental health counseling, group therapy, drug and alcohol counseling, nutritional counseling, sports physical assessment and counseling, and referral for reproductive health concerns. School personnel, counselors, administrators, and clerical staff work with the health specialists.

In Health District 9-1 (Chatham County area) schoolbased programs are set up for middle schools which had experienced high rates of absenteeism, drop-outs, and teen pregnancy. A nurse is available on a part-time basis to provide health screenings, sexual abstinence counseling, and family planning referrals as well as participating in the life skills curriculum provided by teachers.
The project in Health District 2 serves Dawson and Lumpkin counties. A teen center is located in the middle and high school complex in each county. Staffed by a full-time nurse and secretary and a mental health counselor who rotates between the two sites, clinic personnel are visible, accessible, and considered a part of the faculty.
The middle school principal, Stan Worley, assesses the clinic in these statements:
"The Comprehensive Teen Center has created a more healthy, secure atmosphere in the schools for students. The summer school program is one of the prime components. It has helped students build self-esteem, learn resp.onsibility, and learn how to cope with the day to day living in the structure of the school. The key to the success of this program is the people - all the people involved with students networking together and having the same philosophy and goals. If anyone is thinking about putting a health center in a school where it operates as a separate entity, don't do it. When the clinic is part of the school it will succeed. That's why our Comprehensive Teen Center has been so successfuL"
A parent added these supportive comments:
"Having a health center in the school system provides comfort and a sense of security. It is very important for children, especially during puberty, to have someone they can trust to talk to about what is wrong. The summer school program is wonderful and I'll praise it

68

until the day I die. You have brought back and instilled in my son his confidence. The parent meetings opened my eyes to so much. It taught me to take time to listen to my child. The money I paid for the summer program did more for my child than all the money I paid for tutoring for academics. What you taught in the summer program needs to be taught as a subject for all the kids all year. The Comprehensive Teen Center is just as important as any academic subject because you deal with self-esteem, coping with daily problems, and responsibility."

And finally two students offered these observations:
"We need health centers in schools in case of accidents and emergencies."
"It's good to have the health center if you are sick and don't have the money to see a doctor."
- Janice Fleming, RNC Comprehensive Teen Center

Pediatricians don't compartmentalize kids. We've got to consolidate services. We've got to take care of kids in one place.
- Adrienne Butler, M.D., Healthy Children
69

School-Business Partnerships Yield Multiple Benefits
Nash Middle School in Cobb County has enlisted the assistance and involvement of many parents and a whole variety of business partners.

N ash Middle School serves a high risk population. The student body of over 1,000 is 15% special education, 5% ESOLstudents, and nearly 40% minority. The transience rate ranges from 60%-80%. The demographics of the Nash community have changed significantly over recent years. To help meet the challenges associated with a high risk population, the faculty, staff, and administrative team saw the need to make short and long-range improvement plans. The staff organized itself into five design groups.
One of the five design teams at Nash is "Community and School." With help from the leadership team, this group manages, monitors, and evaluates existing programs as well as helps establish new programs aimed at involving the community in Nash's effort to improve the learning environment and quality of life for its students. In the recent past, Nash opened a school clinic, started a breakfast program (400 students daily), initiated a week-long environmental camp program for 8th graders, established a citizenship program, established a "check-out" library for Nash parents, and celebrated our efforts toward academic and social excellence by the school-wide "I Make A Difference At Nash" program. This year, the Nash staff, students, and parents will sign documents that explain the obligations of each party.
In the 92-92 school year, a new Student Assistance Program will organize all special services and outside resources for students who have needs not met in the regular program. Aside from resources in the school system such as counselors, social workers, and student support teams, we are now utilizing community agencies in making available drug and pregnancy screenings, psychological evaluations, and financial and family aide assistance.

Partnerships
Though many partnerships between businesses and schools exist today, few have been as active as the ones currently involved with Nash. Some of these partnerships began formally through the Chamber of Commerce program, and others informally by people interested in getting involved. To each of the partners we are indebted, for we could not provide all that is needed for our students without the community involvement.
A. Barnett Bank of Smyrna has been our partner for two years. This year, Barnett Bank will work with another Nash partner, Altrusa International, to write and print a cookbook. The profit from this book will go for projects that help children.
B. Altrusa International,a service organization, has provided two large maps to hang in our lobby to show the many countries our students come from. These reflect our cultural diversity and promote cultural harmony. Altrusa also sponsored our first summer program for rising sixth graders judged to be high risk. These students were invited to become Nash Ambassadors and were trained with team building activities to prepare them for helping new students. They received Nash Ambassador tee shirts which they wear twice a month when assisting new students by teaching them the "ropes" at Nash. They meet frequently for support, and we are very hopeful that these students will be a big help to the many children who enter Nash during the year. An equally important goal of the program, of course, is to provide the Ambassadors with an opportunity to shine themselves and be leaders at Nash.
C. Georgia Power of Smyrna has been an integral part of our successes. It has provided funds to give teacher and student awards and has been involved in career activities and a work related program.

70

D. Members of Telephone Pioneers, our newest partnership, have already been active. During the summer they hosted a softball tournament which raised $880.00. In addition, they have provided clothes for our Clothes Closet for students and families in need. This year, retired Pioneers will serve as volunteers in our clinic and will participate in a "Big Brother/Big Sister" type program for Nash students in need of such a relationship. To begin our school year, Mr. Tom Alexander of BellSouth provided a wonderful facility for our pre-planning.
E. Though not an official partner, Home Depot is beautifying our school's entrance by landscaping the atrium for 25% of the total cost.
F. The Olive Garden and the City of Smyrna have joined as new partners for 1992-93.
The Parent-Teacher-Student Association emphasizes student participation, citizenship, student recognition, and anti-drug campaigns.
These programs will continue along with new emphases on campus beautification and family participa-

tion. School dances are sponsored by PTSA on Friday nights so that our children have a safe place to go with adult supervision.
Finally, the Nash PTSA, Partners in Education, and staff are planning to sponsor a Thanksgiving Day celebration where all of our families and extended families are invited to have Thanksgiving dinner at school. Donated food and volunteer workers, along with financial help from PTSA and Partners, will allow a real feast to be served in the school cafeteria at no cost to the diners.
A few years ago, the staff at Nash worked hard and mostly alone to help stem the tide of problems flowing to school from the surrounding community. Today Nash is blessed with a productive PTSA, official and unofficial Partners, and community agencies willing to help us "Make A Difference" in the lives of the wonderful young people we call Nash Tigers.
- Ellen S. Cohan, Principal Nash Middle School, Cobb County

Middle level education needs to provide a variety of exploratory and enrichment experiences along with the academic core.
71

Business Partnerships Make a Difference
Teacher mini-grants which support imaginative projects and an energy conservation unit are two successful outgrowths of partnerships.

T hree years ago, Lawrenceville Middle School entered into our first formal business/education partnership with Jackson Electric Membership Corporation. The efforts of this partnership along with the addition of Kroger, our second business/ education partnership, have allowed us to move beyond the doors of the traditional classroom and into opportunities for extension of classroom experiences for our students.
All partnership activities are planned to meet objectives in four major areas: Student achievement, community leadership and responsibility, teacher support and appreciation, and partner appreciation. Led by a joint steering committee of school and business representatives, projects and activities are discussed and plans made for implementation of those that effectively communicate the meaning of our special partnerships. Many activities and projects have greatly enhanced the learning experiences of LMS students.
One activity that has been particularly successful is the teacher mini-grant project. This project provides Lawrenceville Middle School teachers the opportunity to apply for mini-grants of up to $500.00 per grant. The grants provide teachers extra funding to allow them to create and try new and innovative techniques and instructional ideas. The mini-grant funds have provided such things as a cash register for special education students, sets of trade books for whole language instruction, aquariums for classrooms, funding for a Saturday field trip for at-risk students, and publication of a student drug-free school newsletter. The total minigrant money available each year is only $1,000. That money coupled with teacher creativity buys a lot of educational experiences.

JEMCO technicians. This unit of study teaches energy conservation in terms of both ecological and economical savings. A culminating activity for the eight day unit is the invitation for families to have energy management switches installed on water heaters and central air conditioners. The advantages do not stop with conservation. Money saved by the use of the energy management switch is made as a tax deductible contribution to Lawrenceville Middle School for the purpose of purchasing computers and equipment to expand technology in the school.
Another exciting partnership project supports the expansion of vocational education for at-risk students. Identified students will "work" at Kroger for three hours each week. Working closely with Kroger job coaches, the students learn about the responsibilities of being a good employee. The students will have the opportunity for training in different departments with academic experiences in the classroom supporting the skills needed to become a productive worker.
Our partners in education, Jackson Electric Membership Corporation and Kroger, have gone beyond the traditional roles of business/education partnerships. They are truly our partners seeking to guarantee the success of all students and to help students make successful transitions into adulthood and the work force.
- Joan Akin, Principal Lawrenceville Middle School
Gwinnett County Schools

Another successful learning activity is our energy conservation unit developed by science teachers and

72

Georgia Cities in Schools

The largest dropout prevention program In the United States is currently operating successfully In seven Georgia communities.

E very day an average of 100 Georgia students drop out of school. Georgia Cities in Schools is a proven approach which brings together educators and community leaders to make a difference in these young people's lives. Since starting nearly twenty years ago in Atlanta, CIS dropout prevention programs have provided new opportunities for thousands of young people in Georgia. Projects are operating in Atlanta, Burke County, Candler County, GriffinSpalding, Hancock, LaGrange, and McDuffie County.
The mission of CIS is simple - to enable all Georgia children to complete their education through high school graduation, thereby ending the school dropout phenomenon. Each Cities In Schools project includes:
- Control by a local non-profit organization whose board of directors represents the community - including educators, business persons, religious leaders, and service professionals - and who come together to take responsibility for solving the local dropout problem.
- A partnership of business, state, and local government, local school districts, and local private sectors.
- Coordinated involvement of youth services professionals, educational staff, and caring volunteers in programs at schools.

2. Attitude Improvement
Attitude improvement includes the development of healthy and positive attitudes toward others, yourself, work, and the overall environment. A growing sense of responsibility for the well-being of others and the larger world is also a sign of improving attitudes.
3. Comfort Zone Expansion
Expansion of comfort zones combines the development of new skills and abilities, willingness to use these, and (perhaps most important) the ability to seek help in areas where help continues to be needed. The ability to be comfortable with success is another important "comfort zone" objective.
4. Setting and Achieving Goals
We present goals as anything the students wants to have, do or be. Regular student practice in developing written goals and evaluating progress toward their achievement is an integral part of our curricular approach. As students learn to do this, they improve their abilities to determine personal directions, make the decisions necessary to accomplish their objectives, and persist in carrying them out until the goal is accomplished or revised.

The CIS approach to the learning needs of "at-risk" These program goals are implemented in a context

early adolescents is designed to accomplish four closely which encourages students to take increasing responsi-

linked goals:

bility for their own learning processes.

1. Enhanced Self-Esteem
Self esteem enhancement involves the development of a positive personal identity and the ability to respect yourself for being responsible and self-motivating. Abilities to resist peer pressure and to recognize your Own achievements and those of others instead of building yourself up by putting others down are also included.

CIS programs have been praised by President Bush and Senator Sam Nunn. These projects are supported by state and local funding partners. There is an established process for establishing a local project. For more information contact Neil Shorthouse, Executive Director, Georgia Cities in Schools, Inc., 96 Pine Street, NE, Atlanta, Georgia 30308 (404) 873-3979.

73

A School-Within-A-School Serves Early Adolescents

An elementary school organized a middle school unit to meet the needs of its early adolescent fifth, sixth, and seventh graders.

Stilson Elementary, first established in 1901, is nestled in a rural agricultural community in southeast Bulloch County. Once an elementary and high school, it has always enjoyed the support of its community. In the past five years this K-7 school has grown from just over 200 to around 400 students.
After a long period of operating with self-contained classrooms in these upper elementary grades followed by a misguided attempt to departmentalize it was decided to organize a middle school unit of grades 5-7 within the elementary school. During 1989-90, an assessment of our school was undertaken to determine our many strengths and our obvious limitations.
After examining the characteristics of middle graders and the characteristics of our students, we decided that the fifth grade should be included in our middle school. Since each grade level had two units, or classes, it was only logical to have two member teams at each grade level. Students change classes for blocks of time rather than the traditional periods. Classes were located so that each class in a grade level would be located next to each other. This facilitates communication between teachers and minimizes the confusion of changing classes which could interfere with instruction in lower grade classrooms housed in the same building.

During our summer retreats and six-weeks planning sessions we have endeavored to provide an educational program based on the physical, social, emotional, and intellectual needs of the developing pre-adolescent and addressed the functions of (1) articulation, (2) exploration, (3) integration, (4) differentiation, (5) evaluation, (6) socialization, and (7) guidance.
In an elementary school we have been able to accomplish much in implementing the middle school concept. Excellent teamwork and planning have made this possible. When people are dedicated to meeting the needs of boys and girls, they will find an innovative and creative way "to get the job done." The middle school concept lends itself to much flexibility in its administration. We encourage others to look at themselves and see the host of opportunities the middle school philosophy presents.
- Dianne Bath, Principal Stilson Elementary School, Brooklet

Providing adequate planning time has presented a problem, especially since we have one physical education teacher and share an art teacher. By some imaginative scheduling and calendar adjustments we have been able to resolve the problem. To accomplish more intensive and long-range goal setting summer retreats have been held in the North Carolina mountains at no expense to the teachers.

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Integrating HIV Education Into Middle Level Teacher Education

Since middle level teachers will have to deal with HIV/AIDS education, teacher education programs will need to include information to prepare teachers for this responsibility.

W ith the increase in the spread of HIV into the teenage population, the need to provide HIV Education for pre-service and in-service teachers in middle level education has become a priority. Georgia Southern University has implemented a program to do this.
Both undergraduate and graduate students in middle level education at Georgia Southern University now become active participants in an HIV awareness program as part of their teacher preparation program. The program focuses on seven central goals:
1. To develop an understanding of HIV and its effects on the teenage population.
2. To make connections between HIV and the social and emotional development of the early adolescent.

At the undergraduate level these goals serve as a central part of an existing interdisciplinary block of courses in science and health for the middle grades. At the graduate level, in-service teachers, administrators, and counselors participate in a ten-quarter hour summer health education institute. At both levels, teachers participate in large and small group seminars and roleplaying situations, attend special lectures and discussions conducted by health educators and state health officials, plan and teach instructional lessons and units that integrate HIV education into the existing curriculum, and participate in discussion groups that assist in gaining confidence in addressing HIV-related issues.
The program at Georgia Southern emphasizes information and the development of strategies for assisting early adolescents in making decisions about healthrelated issues, relationships, and moral choices.

3. To understand the connections between HIV and other teenage health issues, such as alcoholism, drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, and venereal disease

- Ronnie Sheppard, Chairman Department of Middle and Secondary Education
Georgia Southern University

4. To relate HIV to teenage sexuality

5. To examine preventive strategies appropriate for the early adolescent

6. To examine the role of a positive self-image in enhancing decisions by teenagers that will affect lifelong health choices

7. To examine strategies for planning and teaching interdisciplinary units that include HIV education within the science and health curriculum and the teacher advisory program.

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... a skilled teacher is a person who can open a number of different windows on the same concept.
- Howard Gardner The Unschooled Mind
~.I-i~
~~ j i J
Human potential though not always apparent, is always there, waiting to be discovered and invited forth.
- William Watson Purkey

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An Agenda for Action

N o level of human development is more important to the development of the individual or to the future of our society generally than is the period of early adolescence. During the years between ages 10-15 young people form the attitudes, beliefs, values, and standards which determine their behavior for the years ahead. Young children are not able to formulate their personal beliefs in an intellectually independent way, and by the time they have grown into full adolescents at the high school level their values are largely set. As Alfred North Whitehead phrased it, "These are the years when the lines of character are graven." While all levels of education have real importance, it is true that the educational experiences, both in school and out, that youth undergo during this vulnerable time have very special and enduring importance.
" Young adolescents are little understood
and insufficiently appreciated.
Yet young adolescents are little understood and insufficiently appreciated. Perceptions of them tend to be negative and adults view this period as one to be waited out - "this too will pass." The schools that serve them, junior high schools, intermediate, and middle schools, have been a part of majority practice for over fifty years, yet they have never achieved an identity in keeping with this existence. Fortunately, this situation is now being corrected. The middle school movement, initiated in the early 1960s, has spread rapidly and impacted schools all across the United States and even abroad. The young National Middle School Association has become a force to be reckoned with and the source of extensive resources and services for middle level educators and for the public.

Probably no single event, however, has had as much impact as the report of the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development's Task Force on Education of Young Adolescents. Issued in June of 1989, Turning Points: PreparingAmerican Youth/or the 21st Century gave new and needed visibility to the plight of our 10 to 15 year old youth. Powerful and provocative, Turning Points has become the most widely read document in
" Turning Points has galvanized many
previously scattered efforts to reform middle grades education.
the field. It has galvanized many previously scattered efforts to reform middle grades education. Spin-offs from the report in the way of study groups, task forces, commissions and committees have touched virtually every school district in the country, certainly in Georgia. While the report dealt primarily with education programs provided young adolescents it placed education in a broader context and emphasized the importance of health and the role of the community.
Georgia has been a major player in this national drama. Remarkable progress has been made in restructuring and revitalizing the education of young adolescents and in collaborating with other youth serving agencies - but much, much more remains to be done.
" All citizens need to become better in-
formed about young adolescents and to become involved in efforts designed to improve their education and well-being.

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Therefore, the Georgia Task Force urges all citizens to become better informed about young adolescents and whenever possible to become involved in efforts designed to improve the education and wellbeing of these young people who will shortly be our leaders in industry, business, education, homemaking and child rearing, education, and social services. In addition, the Task Force offers these more specific recommendations and urges those responsible to take action on them.
Task Force Recommendations
Every local board of education should review its policies and programs which affect this age group and initiate needed formal reform efforts in line with the recommendations of Turning Points. A specific person should be designated to provide leadership in this effort. This central office person should ensure that staff development programs provided in the system include activities and experiences that are specifically designed to achieve the recommendations of Turning Points and related components of the middle school concept. Appropriate professional literature and resources should be made available to middle level faculties.
Administrators of middle level schools should become active in the middle school movement, joining the appropriate professional associations and updating their knowledge of contemporary middle level education.

School boards should provide incentives to teachers or to teams who are willing to institute change and implement important reform efforts.
School boards and administrators should assume the initiative in seeking to coordinate those agencies that serve our common client - the young adolescent. The school could well be the site for performing many nowscattered services.
Teachers should increase opportunities for young adolescents to understand themselves. Classroom guidance and other peer interaction activities should be important parts of classroom procedures.
Parents who have young adolescents or children approaching these years should take specific steps to become better informed about the nature and needs of this developmental level and the educational implications of that understanding. This should enable them to set reasonable expectations for behavior, achievement, peer group relationships, and responsibility for decision-making.
Schools serving 10 to 15 year olds if not already doing so should institute parent education and involvement programs. Parents need assistance in understanding more fully the developmental nature of young adolescents and the educational implications of those characteristics. They deserve opportunities to share in the school program.

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Selected References
Arnold, John. (1990). Visions of teaching and learning: 80 exemplary middle level projects. Columbus, OH: National Middle School Association.
Organized by categories and subjects, these descriptions of successful, ongoing projects are stimulating to faculties anxious to catch a vision of what could be.
Beane, James. (1988). A middle school curriculum: From rhetoric to reality. Columbus, OH: National Middle School Association.
This challenging monograph puts the curriculum issue in a new perspective. In addition to a frank critique of the subject curriculum, Beane sets forth a proposal for developing an ageappropriate curriculum.
Code blue. (1991). A report of the National Commission on the Role of the School and the Community in Improving Adolescent Health. Alexandria, VA: National Association of State Boards of Education.
The frightening mental and physical health of America's adolescents, backed up by current statistics, are set forth. The relationship of health to education is highlighted.
Council on Middle Level Education. (1985). An agenda for excellence at the middle level. Reston, VA: National Association of Secondary School Principals.
A response toA nation at risk, this forthright pamphlet sets forth the conditions necessary for achieving an appropriate middle school program.
Epstein, Joyce and Mac Iver, Douglas. (1980). Education in the middle grades: National practices and trends. Columbus, OH: National Middle School Association.
The most comprehensive and recent data available on the status of middle level schools. Based on studies conducted by The Johns Hopkins University's Center for Research on Elementary and Middle Schools.
Hechinger, Fred. (1992). Fateful choices: Healthy youth for the 21st century. New York: Carnegie Corporation of New York.
The sequel to Turning Points, this volume pulls together data concerning the state of adolescent health. Detailed and discouraging in the picture it paints which it labels a national crisis, the book offers significant recommendations.
Johnston, J. Howard. (1990). The new American family and the schools. Columbus, OH: National Middle School Association.
A full, forthright, and factual treatment of the now-prevalent "new American family." Provides an excellent perspective and offers valuable suggestions for how schools can deal best with the current reality.
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Lipsitz, Joan. (1984). Successful schools for young adolescents. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
Readable and revealing, this significant volume presents intimate and rich descriptions of four exemplary middle schools. Valuable analyses and conclusions included.
Lounsbury, John (Ed.). (1992). Connecting the curriculum through interdisciplinary instruction. Columbus, OH: National Middle School Association.
A complete resource for teachers moving into interdisciplinary instruction. Includes rationale, research results, examples of successful integrated instruction, and assists for nurturing effective teaming.
Myers, John & Monson, Luetta. (1992). Involving families in middle level education. Columbus, OH: National Middle School Association.
Reasons for encouraging family involvement, a comprehensive review of related research, guidelines for implementing programs, and lists of related resources and organizations are all included in this brief monograph.
Merenbloom, Elliot. (1991). The team process: A handbook for teachers. Columbus, OH: National Middle School Association.
A hands-on resource that will assist a faculty in implementing teaming which is the key characteristic of the modern middle school.
This we believe. (1982/1992). Columbus, OH: National Middle School Association.
The official position paper of the NMSA, this foundational document has given direction to the movement. The recent reissuance includes all the resolutions of the Association that have been adopted as well as the original statement.
Turning points: Preparing American youth for the 21st century. (1989). New York: The Carnegie Corporation of New York.
One of the most influential documents issued since the 1950s, this powerful report of the Carnegie Corporation's Task Force on Education of Young Adolescents documents the plight of our youth and offers a vision for reform.
Turning points: States in action. (1992). Washington, DC: Council of Chief State School Officers.
A comprehensive description of the activities of the 27 states funded by the Carnegie Corporation (Georgia included) to implement the eight recommendations of Turning Points. The activities of states to fulfill that mission are attractively presented.
Wheelock, Anne. (1992). Crossing the tracks: How detracking can save America's schools. New Press. New York City. Distributed by W. W. Norton, Inc. and NMSA.
An important new volume which treats thoroughly the vexing issue of ability grouping and tracking. Ample case studies of schools that have successfully de-tracked are included. Needs to be read and contemplated by educators and citizens alike.
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Federal law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin (Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964); sex (Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 and Title II of the Vocational Education Amendments of 1976); or disability (Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990) in educational programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance.

Employees, students, and the general public are hereby notified that the Georgia Department of Education does not discriminate in any educational programs or activities or in employment policies.

The following individuals have been designated as the employees responsible for coordinating the department's effort to implement this nondiscriminatory policy.

Title II

Martha S. Staples, Vocational Equity Coordinator

Title VI

Bill Gambill, Associate Superintendent of Schools, Coordinator

Title IX

Ishmael Childs, Coordinator

Section 504 and ADA Wesley Boyd, Coordinator

Inquiries concerning the application of Title II, Title VI, Title IX, or Section 504 and ADA to the policies and practices of the department may be addressed to the persons listed above at the Georgia Department of Education, Twin Towers East, Atlanta 30334; or to the Director, Office for Civil Rights, Education Department, Washington, DC 20201.