Establishing the Middle School Concept in Schools Housing Grades 6–12 or 7-12

Other aspects of the middle school concept include:

• curriculum that integrates content and skills on both the horizontal and vertical axis
• a variety of teaching/learning strategies congruent with developmental needs
• continuous assessment of student achievement
• various intervention / exploratory programs geared towards the strengths, weaknesses, and interests of students
• defined advisory as well as social/emotional learning components
• flexibility within defined structure of the master schedule
• collaboration on an interdisciplinary as well as a content area (tm/dm) basis
• required and elective exploratory courses
• commitment to the least restrictive environment for all students

The following steps will enable the middle school concept to be a significant aspect of comprehensive master schedule.

STEP 1: Connect with mission/vision statement with the school/district.

• Review statement; update where necessary.
• Assess the commitment to students’ developmental needs.
• Use as a standard when making curriculum and scheduling decisions.

STEP 2: Choose a primary framework or basic organizational plan for the school.

• Traditional schedules feature 6, 7, 8, or 9 periods per day, including a lunch module or period
• Day 1/Day 2 schedules are based on an eight period instructional day. Four classes meet on the first day at 80-90 minutes each while the other four classes meet on the second day for 80-90 minutes each.Lunch is a module connected to periods 3 and 7.
• Rotating-drop schedules are constructed as an 8-period day with a common lunch. Four classes rotate in the morning, dropping one class each day. In the afternoon, three of the four classes meet daily. Class length is usually 60 minutes; all students and teachers eat lunch between the morning and afternoon rotations. Other variations for lunch are possible.

STEP 3: Explore inserts.

• Options include single subject, combination/interdisciplinary teams, Freshman Academy, and career pathway cohorts.
• Within any of the structural options, inserts provide opportunities for flexibility, curriculum integration and integrated focus on standards or competencies.
• Credit recovery programs enable high school students to increase the likelihood of graduating in four years.

STEP 4: Organize opportunity for intervention/enrichment as an integral part of the day.

• Tier I is the responsibility of every classroom teacher.
• Tiers II and III are typically accomplished in the intervention module of the school day; numerous options exist.
• Design a professional development program to help staff implement intervention/ enrichment.

STEP 5: Determine bell and lunch schedules.

• Structural frameworks impact bell and lunch schedules.
• Lunch and passing time can vary in length.
• Teachers’ contract may determine length of lunch period.

STEP 8: Finalize teachers’ assignments to identify middle school responsibilities (core and exploratory) within context of the middle school concept.

Example 1

• Grade 6 core team / no high school responsibilities
• Two-teacher teams / 2 sections on a team
• Students in exploratory periods 4 and 9 with shared staff

Example 2

• Core teachers are responsible for two middle school grades
• Core teachers do not have high school assignments
• Students in exploratory classes periods 4 and 8 with shared staff
• Special education could be organized with co-taught and/or replacement classes

Example 3

• Core teachers will teach 3 sections of grade 7 and 2 sections of their subject for high school students.
• Seventh grade students will be in exploratory classes periods 4 and 8.
• Middle school schedules should be created prior to determining high school assignments.
• Special education could be organized with co-taught and/or replacement classes

Example 4

• Physical Education teacher is assigned classes at middle and high school levels.
• Classes meet on alternate days at both levels.
• Physical Education teachers are part of the exploratory program in middle school.
• Middle school assignment is created following core schedule.

Example 5

• Technology teacher is responsible for courses at middle and high school levels.
• Sixth and seventh grade classes meet on a quarterly basis.
• Eighth grade technology classes are electives on a semester basis.
• High school courses could be on a semester or yearly basis.
• Technology teachers are part of the exploratory program in middle school.
• Middle school assignment is created based upon core schedules.

STEP 9: Plan course selection process.

• Determine required and elective courses for each grade level.
• Student course requests can be expressed online or printed form; identify approval when necessary.
• Include information to inform parents of unique programs, opportunities for high school pathways, and career technology program.

STEP 10: Create department summaries to include both middle and high school courses.

• Student course requests (6 or 7-12) become basis for equitable distribution of allocated FTE (full time equivalent positions).
• Summary chart for each department includes number requests per course, sections to be created, resulting average class size, weight (frequency of class meetings), and aggregate periods of instruction per course (sections times weight).

• Aggregate periods of instruction per department totaled.
• Teachers’ contract impacts total FTE including staff available per department. Total aggregate periods are divided by periods per week a teacher may teach (usually 25 or 30) to determine FTE warranted in that department.

Department Summary: English/Language Arts (Sample)

STEP 11: Based on department summary, assign teacher for each section created for total school

• Assignments for grades 6-8 were completed in Step #8
• Monitor average daily pupil load and number of preparations for each teacher

STEP 13: Create a conflict matrix for each singleton course

• Conflict matrix is a managerial tool to effectively spread singletons throughout the schedule.
• To this point, decisions about the master schedule are based upon student requests and number of sections created.
• The conflict matrix determines placement of singleton courses on the master schedule. The goal is to provide the greatest number of students with their first choice of courses.
• Patterns are continuously analyzed as the schedule is finalized.
• The following example indicates the number of students requesting AP English 12 and other singleton courses.

STEP 14: Create master grid to place all sections of all courses (middle and high school) as prerequisite to enter master schedule into software package.

• Prerequisite for Steps 15 and 16
• List all departments and a row for each teacher in that department.
• Create 12 columns for a 9-period day.
• Place all middle school sections (core and exploratory) on grid by teacher and period.
• Monitor FTE allocation for consistency with department summaries.

STEP 15: Place singleton high school courses on grid by teacher and by period.

• Conflict matrix data is the basis for placement decisions.
• Initial run of schedule will ultimately identify additional conflicts that may not have been anticipated.

STEP 16: Enter remainder of high school courses

• All high school sections can now be placed on grid.
• Confirm that teacher assignments are consistent with contract language.

STEP 17: Audit total seats available for each period and for each grade level.

• Each period should contain the same number of seats (middle and high school separately).
• To the extent possible, each period should have the same number of seats available for each grade level.
• Continue to use conflict matrix in decision-making.

STEP 18: Prepare for initial run of master schedule.

• Utilize data base to confirm that all students have full course requests.
• Review encoding of teachers’ assignments (course number, section number, seat capacity, period of the day, accessibility for inclusion students, room number).
• Course requests can be prioritized or weighted to ensure seats for students with numerous singletons.

STEP 19: Adjust master schedule as needed in subsequent runs.

• Identify students with incomplete schedules and determine adjustments needed in master schedule.
• Identify sections that closed as well as those that did not load to indicated capacity.
• Adjust master schedule to accommodate specific situations.
• After modifications, activate additional runs, repeating the two-part analysis until the greatest number of students have been scheduled and sections of the same course have loaded equitably.
• Once 90% or more of student have been fully scheduled, high school students with incomplete schedules should meet with a counselor or administrator to choose alternate electives; required courses or courses required for graduation cannot be changed.
• Prior to first day of school, complete schedules should be published for entire student population.

STEP 20: Implement professional development.

• Training in the implementation of the schedule provides teachers with ownership.
• Specific training is essential to achieve full implementation of middle school concept.
• Framework and inserts chosen impact details of professional development.
• As needed, training should be on-going process.

STEP 21: Assess the scheduling process and product created

• Formal assessment should be conducted by school leadership team.
• Determine the extent to which schedule reflects mission-vision of school/district.
• Assess extent to which schedule enhances the teaching/learning process.
• Teachers, parents, and students should participate in process.
• Record modifications/adjustments to be considered for following year.
• Critically assess implementation of middle school concept; identify goals to be achieved in future years