An Opportunity for Ownership: Developing a Sense of Community in a Rural Middle School

Abstract

A riddle: what do rural towns and middle school reforms have in common? One answer may be a strong sense of community. The political reality of expanding expectations and dwin dling resources means that students, teach ers, and parents need to change their tradi tional roles. Schools are increasingly turning to resources outside of the classroom to help with both academic and non-academic prob lems. Eureka Middle School (EMS) has found some user-friendly ways to deal with such intractable problems as communicating more clearly and keeping learning personal more accessible. Eureka middle school (grades 5-8) has approximately 28 students per class and a pupil operating expenditure that is two-thirds of the state's average ($3355 vs $5066). Despite deficits in resources; options and output have increased by actively using the school's phi losophy: Shared ownership for the success of the students. Teachers, parents, and students share ownership in the middle school by working to identify and solve its problems.