Researchers tell us that middle schoolers need the direction, love, and guidance that they received from caring adults as grade-schoolers. Their fears need to be addressed, their hopes nurtured, and their voices respected. Without the sustained involvement of parents and other adults in safeguarding their welfare, young adolescents are at risk of harming themselves and others. Many of these kids come from neighborhoods steeped in violence and homes infected by poverty, abuse, drug addiction, or indifference. Toss in reduced funding for education, higher teacher-student ratios, and reductions in counseling and other programs and it becomes clear that middle school reformers have some formidable obstacles in their paths.
Funding is the key issue.
The shift is going the wrong way. Developmentally Responsive Middle Schools, the NMSA identifies six characteristics of middle schools and describes several educational practices that reflect student and societal needs. The characteristics are not a boilerplate for middle school reform. Educators need to understand that school improvement is not an event. There's an ebb and a flow to improvement that occurs as communities change and as kids change.