These ‘Schools to Watch’ Rise Above Challenges

Every one of the 700 students at John F. Kennedy Middle School, 10 miles from the Mexican border, receives free or discounted lunches because of their families’ low incomes, and two-thirds have limited English skills.

The El Centro campus offers after-school and Saturday classes for students falling behind and evening computer lab hours for students and parents. The school holds evening workshops so parents can learn about homework expectations and the college application process.

These and other efforts persuaded a national organization focused on middle school education to honor Kennedy as one of a handful of “Schools to Watch.”

“We’re up against a lot,” said Principal Suzanne Smith. “When you work hard and you do what you need to do, and do what you get paid for, to get this acknowledgment -- we were ecstatic. We’re going to work that much harder.”

The National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform began the Schools to Watch program in 1999 to recognize middle schools that are models of academic excellence, are sensitive and responsive to the needs of those entering adolescence, and are equitable in providing strong teachers and resources for all students.

“Schools to Watch is not just about high test scores,” said John Harrison, vice president of the National Forum and executive director of the North Carolina Middle School Assn. “It’s about having high test scores in an environment that meets kids’ needs and everyone has access to it.”

Kennedy is one of four California middle schools -- there are 15 across the nation -- to be so honored by the National Forum this year. The other California honorees are Robert A. Millikan Middle School & Performing Arts Magnet in Sherman Oaks, Bernice Ayer Middle School in San Clemente, and Rancho Milpitas Middle School in Milpitas.

“It felt good to be validated,” said Cheryl Baughn, principal at Bernice Ayer. “It always feels nice to have someone else recognize what you know about yourself.”

The awards come at a time of renewed focus on the special educational needs of sixth- to eighth-graders, who are preparing for high school while undergoing momentous change.

“Over the last 20 years, we’ve seen a tremendous shift across the country in the reduction of junior high schools and an increase in middle schools,” Harrison said.

“Parents send children to middle school, and they go there as children. By the time they leave eighth grade, very often they’re young adults,” he said. “There’s a tremendous amount of physical, emotional, mental ... changes.”

Junior high schools are often primarily focused on preparing students academically for high school; middle schools allow more experimentation, such as smaller-group learning and exploration of such subjects as dance or higher science.

At Rancho Milpitas Middle School, the nearly 700 students are grouped in five teams for more intimate learning. One team is for English learners, another features an art elective, and a third offers a drama elective. Each group has its own set of teachers, for continuity and forging close relationships, said Principal Mike Madalinski.

“The teams have common prep periods, so the teachers can sit down and talk about academics and the needs of the kids -- so the kids don’t fall through the cracks,” Madalinski said.

At Millikan Middle School, students can participate in “academies” that focus on subjects such as robotics, physics or math, and the school is designated a performing arts magnet. Student projects are scattered around the campus, such as a pond with a waterfall.

“It’s very beautiful,” said sixth-grader Israel Taragano, 12, of North Hollywood, who is a member of the science academy and helped build the pond last year. “It has an ecosystem and algae and plants and ... five turtles that love to come out.”

Deborah Woolford, 45, of Studio City said she was hired as a math and science teacher at Millikan partly because of her previous work as a stand-up comedian. In addition to the pond project, Woolford organized “An Evening at the Millikan Improv,” a comedy-club night with students telling jokes to their classmates. Such electives helped land Millikan its Schools to Watch award.

Woolford called the award a major honor for the school, highlighting “not just what teachers are doing but what the kids are doing. It makes you very proud to work here and be a teacher and to be part of that.”

It’s quite a change from the early 1990s, when the school was in crisis. Parents were pulling their children out after a student was shot and killed on campus and two female students were assaulted on their way there.

For Principal Norman Isaacs, who has worked at Millikan for 20 years, making the Schools to Watch list is a validation of how far the campus has come.

At one point, he said, “the community was going to close the school. We decided we would give it one last shot, and emphasize arts and technology. We’ve tried to create an atmosphere where students are really involved and enjoy being here.”