A Case Study: Meeting Students' Needs in a Middle School

Several years ago, one of us worked with a middle school located in an area where nearly 90 percent of the students were on free or reduced lunch and were either Hispanic or American Indian. When confronted with problems of student absenteeism and failure, the staff initially looked at national research on middle schools and developed a schedule and instructional strategies that they believed were best suited to the needs of middle school students. They created a block schedule in which students spent nearly half the day in a language arts, reading, and social studies block and the other half in a science, math, and health block. In addition, to respond to problems of student tardiness and students' learning styles related to time of day, the blocks were rotated at the end of the semester. In addition, a study period was scheduled following the morning block, and students who were having difficulty with their work remained with their block teacher and an assistant while other students attended an elective. Therefore, for half the school year students had the potential for a tutorial in nearly half their academic subjects. During this time, students were guaranteed to have assistance from someone who spoke their first language.

To increase the students' sense of significance and power, the staff created a yearly fall retreat in which approximately 40 students and 10 adults spent several days camping and developing a vision for the following school year. This vision was used as a theme for decorating the school, for helping students set goals, and for school events. One year when one of us was working at the school, the theme was "Make all the right moves." Chess figures were used to decorate the cafeteria, and students used this motto as a lead-in to short- and long-term goal setting.

In addition, the staff created a number of clubs representing activities selected by the students. The Native American club became well known regionally for its performances, and several other cultural clubs made performances and arranged special events. Students formed a recycling club that became actively involved in the community.

The faculty became concerned, however, when they noted that despite the fact that student achievement and attendance were improving dramatically, there was still a very high rate of late arrivals to school. Rather than assign detentions or use some other form of coercive discipline, the faculty met with students and parents to discuss the issue. Cultural differences regarding time were discussed. The group, therefore, decided to place the responsibility on the students to decide how important it was to be on time. The school decided to move the club program from fourth to the first period. Students who arrived late were invited to study in the cafeteria but were not allowed to participate in the club for that day. Student tardies virtually disappeared. The students simply decided that the club activities were important enough to offset their lack of concern with timeliness.

What did to turn around students' absenteeism and failures?