Turning Points - Transforming Middle Schools

Principles & Practices
Services and Support
History
Turning Points Schools
Vision for Students
Beliefs About Teachers

Sara Joseph had only been teaching for a few years when her school became a member of Turning Points. She had experienced such a rough start in the classroom that she had started to question whether or not she had made the right career choice. More than anything, the isolation from her colleagues really troubled her. Then two things changed when the Turning Points work began. First, with the emphasis on teaming, her sixth grade team actually started to have regular meetings focused on curriculum and student work. For the first time, Sara felt like she had the support of her more senior colleagues. Then, her team nominated her to represent the school at the Turning Points regional network meeting and summer institute. The first network session was a revelation. Sara sat down at a round table with six colleagues from other schools in the district and neighboring towns. Following a prompt from the regional center facilitator, they shared examples of things they were doing at their schools to improve student learning, the struggles they experienced, and strategies they might share. Sara couldn't keep her hand moving fast enough to capture all the ideas and questions-a team-wide literacy focus and reading challenge, integrating service projects into the curriculum, the struggle to find more team planning time, engaging families with galleries of student work. It was inspiring to hear the creative ideas and comforting to know that other schools faced similar challenges. On the way home Sara thought maybe she would stick around for at least a few more years to help the Turning Points work take root.

Participation in a network of schools working on common issues and sharing a vision strengthens the efforts of each individual school. The network offers the opportunity to develop strong collegial relationships and to share ideas and strategies. Turning Points schools participate in a range of regional network activities including an institute for leadership teams, network meetings for school teams, regular principals' meetings, and school-team visits to partner schools. National network activities include an annual National Leadership Conference and a summer Turning Points National Institute.

Strategies:

Network meetings for teams from schools
Regional and National summer institutes on Turning Points practices and middle school reform with a strong focus on improving learning, teaching, and assessment
"Critical friends" visits with partner schools to provide feedback on key issues of learning, teaching, and assessment
Lab visits to observe classrooms and teachers exhibiting exemplary Turning Points practices
Annual National Leadership Conference

Click on the links below to learn more about other Turning Points practices.

Improving Learning, Teaching, and Assessment for All Students -->
Building Leadership Capacity and a Collaborative Culture -->
Data-based Inquiry and Decision Making: How Are We Doing?-->
Creating a School Culture to Support High Achievement and Personal Development-->
Networking with Like-minded Schools -->
Developing District Capacity to Support School Change