In March, Speaker Christine C. Quinn kicked off the Council’s Middle School Task Force, which has been charged with developing a set of recommendations to improve academic achievement in New York City’s middle schools. Patrick Montesano, director of AED Middle Start and vice president and director of the AED Center for School and Community Services, was one of approximately 20 middle-grades leaders and advocates invited to join the task force. Members are working to develop a blueprint to reform and restructure the City’s middle school system. The task force began its work with a series of public meetings that were held in all five boroughs to gather information from parents, students, teachers, school administrators and advocates. In addition, the task force members have been visiting middle schools throughout the city and reviewing test scores, best practices, and recommendations from previous task forces. The task force is also considering the research and recommendations put forth by the NYC Coalition for Educational Justice (CEJ).,AED helped to inform CEJ’s January report-New York City’s Middle-Grade Schools: Platforms for Success or Pathways to Failure-and its subsequent “call to action.” Also being considered are issues outside of the classroom, such as parental involvement and connecting students to support services and enrichment programs.
The Middle School Task Force has been meeting frequently throughout the spring and is scheduled to complete its work by the end of June. Given Middle Start’s long history of improving student achievement in the middle grades, one area that AED has taken the lead on is the shaping of formal recommendations on teaching and learning in middle-grades classrooms.
View the press release (PDF) with more information on the Task Force.
STUDENT SUPPORTS FOR ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT