To improve Alexandria’s troubled middle schools, the district is thinking small.
Full-time police officers » 6.75 percentOther union city employees » 6.5 percentNonunion city employees » 3.25 to 6.5 percentSource: Rockville government
The school board is voting this week on part of the superintendent’s reforms that would create new three small schools within the city’s two existing middle school buildings. The plan also would install a new academic plan at the original two schools, Francis C. Hammond and George Washington.
The goal, according to first-year schools chief Morton Sherman, is “personalization, engagement and customization for higher levels of achievement.”
The trend in recent years has been the opposite. In 2008, both Hammond and Washington students scored well below Virginia averages on yearly Standards of Learning tests, as enrollments at the two schools increased. While 84 percent of students statewide passed the math exams, only 61 percent of Hammond students did the same, and 60 percent of Washington students did. Hammond has a enrollment of 1,241 students; Washington’s is 940.
The plan would be free of cost in 2010, according to school officials. School boundaries would not change, but students within each building would be divided into separate sections with their own teachers and administrators. Common spaces such as the gymnasium and the cafeteria would be shared.
In redistributing those students among five schools, Sherman is “doing what he was hired to do,” said board member Scott Newsham. He added that the last time middle schools underwent significant change was in the early 1990s.
“Middle schools are one area about which we’ve heard constant complaints over the years,” Newsham said.
Other districts have faced similar troubles. In Montgomery County, a three-year, $10 million reform plan has been slowed by tight budgets, but includes efforts toward smaller schools similar to those in Alexandria. Nationwide, middle school reform has become the cry of researchers, who tout it as the key to better high school graduation rates.
As part of Sherman’s plan, each school would take part in the Middle Years Program of the International Baccalaureate system, a British style of schooling gaining popularity in U.S. high schools.
The Middle Years Program consists of eight academic subject groups, including technology and a foreign language. It’s overall philosophy includes “intercultural awareness, holistic learning and communication.”
School board member Charles Wilson said some worries remained about working out the kinks in time for the start of next school year.
“Overall, however, I sense cautious support among the board, and I’m confident we’ll support the proposal,” he said.
The board and superintendent will meet Thursday to discuss and vote on the plan.
