Special Report
School & District Management

Turning Points: Transforming Middle Schools

October 04, 2000 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

What:
A national design for middle school change, based on recommendations from the influential 1989 report by the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development.

See Also

Return to the main story, A Feast of Offerings

Who:
Coordinated by the Center for Collaborative Education in Boston. Approved this year by New American Schools, the private, nonprofit corporation in Arlington, Va., that promotes whole-school-reform models, as its first middle school design.

The network now has 50 schools. They agree to form leadership teams to guide the change process and work closely with coaches from the collaborative, who provide 25 to 35 days of technical assistance and professional development each school year. Schools administer self-study surveys every other year, which are processed by the University of Illinois’ Center for Prevention Research and Development.

Schools participate in three meetings annually with others in the Turning Points network, in addition to summer institutes for both program leaders and the entire faculty.

Contact: Center for Collaborative Education
1135 Tremont St. Boston, MA 02120
(617) 421-0134

Key Principles:

  • Creation of small, caring communities for learning.
  • Instruction in a rigorous core academic program.
  • Success for all students through effective instruction and school structures.
  • Empowerment of teachers and administrators to make decisions.
  • Staffing of middle-grades schools with teachers who are prepared for teaching young adolescents.
  • Improvement of students’ academic performance through the development of character, creativity, and health.
  • Re-engagement of families in the education of young adolescents.
  • Connections between schools and their communities.

Key Practices:

  • Improvement of teaching, learning, and assessment for all students.
  • Development of leadership capacity and a collaborative professional culture.
  • Application of data-based inquiry and decisionmaking.
  • Creation of a school culture that supports high achievement and personal development.
  • Links with like-minded schools.
  • Development of district capacity to support change.

A version of this article appeared in the October 04, 2000 edition of Education Week as Turning Points: Transforming Middle Schools

Events

School & District Management Webinar Fostering Productive Relationships Between Principals and Teachers
Strong principal-teacher relationships = happier teachers & thriving schools. Join our webinar for practical strategies.
Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and K-12 education jubs at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Artificial Intelligence Webinar
Promoting Integrity and AI Readiness in High Schools
Learn how to update school academic integrity guidelines and prepare students for the age of AI.
Content provided by Turnitin

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School & District Management Download Downloadable: A Guide to Working With Community Educators
Bringing community members into school can build public support for learning, ignite student interest, and support teachers. Here's how.
1 min read
Candid photograph of a diverse group of adults working together on a project in the library. The people are sitting around a table in the library concentrating hard while looking down at their project work on the desk in front of them.
E+/Getty
School & District Management Congressional Budget Cuts Threaten Free School Meals for Millions
More than 12 million children could lose access to federally subsidized free school meals if Congress changes program requirements.
5 min read
Students eat lunch in the cafeteria at Lowell Elementary School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Aug. 22, 2023.
Students eat lunch in the cafeteria at Lowell Elementary School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Aug. 22, 2023. A proposal by congressional Republicans would force 24,000 schools out of a program that allows them to serve federally subsidized free school meals to all students, a new analysis finds.
Susan Montoya Bryan/AP
School & District Management Opinion 'Consulting' Doesn’t Need to Be a Bad Word for Schools
To meet K-12’s pressing challenges, academics, consultants, and school districts need to work together.
5 min read
The United States Capitol building as a bookcase filled with red, white, and blue policy books in a Washington DC landscape.
Luca D'Urbino for Education Week
School & District Management Opinion Education Leaders Share Their Ideas for Handling Political Uncertainty
If you lead long enough, chaos will find you. Here's how to manage it.
8 min read
Conceptual illustration of classroom conversations and fragmented education elements coming together to form a cohesive picture of a book of classroom knowledge.
Sonia Pulido for Education Week