Successful School for Adolescents

Therefore, successful schools for young adolescents provide:

1) Curriculum that is relevant, challenging, integrative and exploratory, 2) multiple learning and teaching approaches that respond to their diversity, 3) assessment and evaluation programs that promote quality learning, 4) organizational structures that support meaningful relationships and learning, 5) school-wide efforts and policies that foster health, wellness, and safety, and 6) multifaceted guidance and support services. (National Middle School Association, 2003, p. 7). B&S, p. 152

What strikes me about this excerpt is that it carefully addresses each part of a whole, a whole process of successfully providing a balanced environment for students to both feel accepted, yet challenged to do his/her best. Each of the above five steps requires careful planning and research. One principal or one great teacher cannot accomplish these goals. It would take the entire learning community to make these five steps happen. That learning community would need to be broken down into committees. These cannot simply be accomplished by a vote of a governing body or the school board. Task forces would need to be assigned these tasks and each task force would need to form a plan of action and take the steps to ensure that steps are implemented to reach each of these goals. Finally, after each of these tasks is implemented, there needs to be an assessment plan to monitor the progress and/or suggestions made to solve any conflicts and tweak the process for success.