Turning Points - Transforming Middle Schools

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The humanities exhibition on the Revolutionary War is a week away, and the faculty of 8th Grade Team G (math, science, language arts, drama, social studies, and special education) are immersed in fine tuning their plans. For the entire first period of the day, they hammer out the final details of the exhibition, which is a culmination of several months of study of the Colonial period of American History.

Students were asked to create a character who would have lived during Revolutionary War times–a composite character who fits into different social and political categories (e.g. "Literate, free African American woman in New England; Loyalist shipping clerk in New York; Son of Liberty in Lexington). For several weeks they have been doing background research through books, journals, and the Internet to create a vivid portrait of their characters. Students have been practicing research skills and preparing to demonstrate critical understanding of the important themes and events of the Revolution.

For their final exhibition, students will create a role play in which small groups of characters will grapple with a political problem of the time. One problem states "You have been asked to speak out publicly in support of the new Declaration of Independence. You have observed that the Declaration a) guarantees the right of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" to white males only, and b) does not abolish slavery or indentured servitude." As the students role play their different characters’ views and explore the multiple perspectives on issues of the day, they will receive a "news flash" of a new development or disruption to their problem and have to think through a response on the spot. The group discussing the Declaration will be told that a slave insurrection is gathering force in the next town with Indians and white workers joining the fray. How does this news influence their response? Do individuals change their opinions?

The teachers have added this element of a "news flash" to this year’s exhibition to push students to higher levels of critical thinking – bringing knowledge to bear on a new and unfamiliar situation. This morning, with the date approaching, the team meeting is full of energy and anxiety. Will the students be fully prepared for next week? Do they understand clearly enough what is expected of them?

Two new teachers on the team are concerned that the students are anxious and feeling unprepared. The experienced members reassure them, "They know more than they think."

"They haven’t practiced yet, that’s why they’re freaked." The math teacher who taught on the team last year offers to walk students through the draft rubric for the performance and show them a clip from a video of last year’s exhibition. "We need to talk with them about what the criteria means and get their feedback. What does ‘role appropriate’ mean? What does it mean to have a ‘clear synthesis of ideas?’"

The meeting continues with more discussion of how to best prepare students for their performance. By the end of the hour, everyone agrees on a rough plan for the next week and each teacher takes on a contributing job – pulling together the task list for the exhibition, putting the rubric on transparencies, developing the schedule for exhibition preparation, etc. People leave in a hurry for their first class of the day, but clearly feel better about getting ready for the exhibition.

Team meetings like this one are a cornerstone of Turning Points. At Amherst Middle School, in its fifth year of implementing Turning Points, daily common planning time for academic teams has allowed them to create a strong professional collaborative culture where student learning is constantly at the forefront. As principal Mary Cavalier puts it, "We are creating an environment where all kids can be successful at the highest level. We expect 100% student participation in exhibitions like this one, and we find we are able to get it."

Following students in Team G after the morning team meeting, you witness the benefits of such strong collaborative planning. In each classroom, similar learning goals and thinking skills are emphasized – What is the important information here? What is the evidence for that point of view? Students hear many consistent messages about learning: We know you will be successful at this, we’ve done it before. Take a look at the work done by last year’s students. Can you do better? When one student was asked what she thought about the exhibition project, she sighed, with some pride, "This is Amherst Middle — they like to be hard."

School Size and Demographics: Over 700 7th and 8th grade students. 66% of student body is White and the rest are evenly distributed among Black, Hispanic, and Asian students, with a few Native American students. 27% of students qualify for free or reduced price lunch. Families speak a total of 27 languages.

Strong Practices: The school has placed considerable emphasis on developing the strength of its teacher teams as well as shared decision-making. A representative leadership team coordinates a data-based inquiry process across 10-15 member study groups that mix grades, teams, and specialties. These inquiry groups have been a successful structure for examining and making change in critical areas. For example, one inquiry group looked at the impact of the schedule on achievement by different groups (race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status).

Other strong practices include: school and team learning goals, 8th grade exhibitions, effective team planning time (including regular meetings dedicated to looking at student and teacher work and to discussing and planning integrated curriculum).

Turning Points Change Process: Amherst Regional Middle School operated as a traditional junior high until the Amherst Regional School District hired Mary Cavalier, the principal, to create a middle school. In her first year at the school, she spent time building relationships with the staff and sharing information about what a middle school should look like. At the end of the first year and with the help of a small group of school leaders, she restructured teams and created a new block schedule. She also worked with a district representative to write a comprehensive school reform grant with Turning Points.

In the spring of the first year of Turning Points' involvement, the leadership team began to clarify its role and decision making process. All members of the leadership team served a second year in order to provide stability. After that second year, the leadership team established a membership rotation so that no more than half of the leadership team is new.

As the school began its third year as a middle school, teams began to establish clear identities; the leadership team was tackling significant discussion and making major decisions in a representative fashion, and the full faculty was engaged in using data to make decisions around collaboratively chosen challenge areas.

During the last year of the grant, three in-house coaches began sharing responsibility for sustaining the Turning Points initiative in the school. Their most significant roles were: to conduct a full-faculty review and orientation about Turning Points, to fully implement the practice of looking at student work on a weekly basis, and to plan and facilitate the preparation for the School Quality Review process facilitated by the Turning Points regional center. Amherst Regional Middle School has been affirmed as a Turning Points demonstration school.