The weak link in students? education ? middle school ? is getting an overhaul, with a report advocating that sixth-grade students learn foreign languages and officials extend the school day.
The Maryland Middle School Steering Committee, which two years ago convened dozens of officials from throughout the state, lists 16 recommendations in its report released Tuesday morning at a state school board meeting. The report aims to improve students? performance in the formative period when they begin to enter puberty and prepare for high school.
“The expectations are much higher in middle schools today,” said Gerald Scarborough, assistant superintendent of curriculum and education in Harford County and co-chairman of the committee. “The rigor at middle schools needs to be ratcheted up.”
The report did not say how long middle school days should be extended, but calls it “ludicrous” to believe that all students can achieve national and state standards going to school for six hours each day.
The report also recommends that all students master algebra before high school because that subject has been seen as the foundation for future math skills.
In addition, teachers should use technology as often as possible and teach more through online courses, the report suggests. Online courses are becoming increasingly popular not only in colleges and universities, but also in high schools, where students can learn self-discipline.
Superintendent Nancy Grasmick said the plan is “critical to what will ultimately be our graduation rate” because most students who drop out of school do so in ninth grade, a year after they leave middle school.
Students generally perform well in elementary schools throughout the country, but once they enter middle schools, their achievement plunges.
In Maryland, math proficiency plummets 29 percentage points from the end of elementary school to the end of middle school, according to the report. About 86 percent of fourth-grade students test proficient in math, but only 57 percent of eighth-grade students test proficient, according to the report.
School board members generally praised the report butsaid it would not be easy to carry out.
“The committee has laid out here in its 16 recommendations a very ambitious agenda for middle schools,” said Blair Ewing, a state school board member.
Examiner Staff Writer Dorothy Rowley contributed to this report.
