Cultures of Excellence and Belonging in Urban Middle Schools

Abstract

Over a three-year period, Education Development Center, Inc. selected and studied three urban middle schools that intentionally set out to serve all of their students, including those with identified disabilities, those acquiring English proficiency, and those recently immigrated to the United States. The three schools share the philosophy that all students are academically competent when they are given the tools for constructing knowledge. All three schools have strong records of progress on various measures of academic learning, including standards-based, statewide tests. Although these schools have developed different cultures around academic excellence, they share a number of common features. This paper discusses seven features of the cultures of excellence and belonging that characterize these schools, drawing on a case study of one of the schools to illustrate how the features interact and mutually support one another.