From the Mouths of Middle-Schoolers: Important Changes for High School and College

Abstract

WE MAY believe that middle school students are flaky. And why wouldn't we think that? They're undergoing hormonal changes, they sometimes exhibit defiance, and they're not good at accepting advice. Yet, when we took the trouble to ask, we found their opinions about their current school activities and about their preparation for success in high school and college to be thoughtful and enlightening. What's more, their opinions confirm for me that some emerging high school reforms are taking us in the right direction. Three highly regarded organizations, the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), Phi Delta Kappa (PDK) International, and the Lumina Foundation for Education, undertook an important project to collect the opinions of middle school students using a scientific polling process. The idea to poll middle school students took shape at a meeting in Washington, D.C., when Gerald Tirozzi, executive director of the NASSP, and I talked about school reform. Opinions range widely on this topic. The Republicans say one thing, the Democrats suggest other solutions. Educators offer different ideas, and parents are vocal with their own opinions. At some point--we can't remember who said it first--one of us suggested that there was a voice missing from the conversation: the voice of students--in particular, middle school students. What do the middle school students think about their schools and the preparation they receive for further schooling and for success in life? A METHOD TO OUR MADNESS Having raised these questions, we set about answering them. And while the project loomed large, the three sponsoring organizations had some experience in working at this scale, so we undertook the following steps to learn more about the opinions of middle school students. 1. Establishing goals. First, we needed to be clear about why we would undertake the daunting task of polling middle school students, and we identified four goals: * to bring the voice of middle-level students to the forefront of the national dialogue on school reform; * to draw the attention of policy makers and the public to the importance of effective schooling for students in the middle grades; * to inform educators about the strengths and weaknesses of middle-level schooling, as seen through the eyes of the students; and * to provide a roadmap for the changes needed to improve middle-level education. 2. Identifying prior research. We checked to determine if anyone else had polled middle school students about their schooling, with a focus on instructional rather than behavioral issues. We didn't find any data of this kind from polls of 12-and 13-year-olds. 3. Developing questions. Knowing that we wanted to cluster our questions, we identified six broad topic areas: 1) testing, 2) No Child Left Behind, 3) the curriculum, 4) teachers and teaching, 5) preparation for high school and college, and 6) current school experiences. The question-development process was iterative, with extensive involvement by the staffs of PDK, NASSP, and the Lumina Foundation. We presented a draft set of questions to the members of an NASSP advisory committee who were middle-level administrators and made further refinements as a result of their suggestions. 4. Conducting the poll. The three partners needed a highly reputable polling organization with experience in youth polling. We turned to Harris Interactive, one of the most experienced market research companies and one with considerable experience in the youth market. Using a state-of-the-art polling model, Harris gave us access to a sample of middle school students who had received their parents' or guardians' permission to participate. The draft questions were forwarded to scientists at Harris, and they suggested important changes to minimize question bias. Harris also provided the appropriate questions to establish the sample's demographics and tested the questions with a representative student panel before suggesting final edits. …