The 16 Characteristics

Middle schools are a hot mess - or so stereotypes say.  So are adolescents (allegedly).  Examples?  Here are links to read about the disastrous rep of middle schools.  The first two are for those who are particularly interested in education, enjoy reading at length, or have a lot of free time.  The third is a series from the New York Times, and let's be honest: an article generally requires little commitment, unless it's one of the crazy 13-page ones, in which case you find the summary and read that only!

• The Middle School Mess by Peter Meyer, education writer 
• Mayhem in the Middle: How middle schools have failed America--and how to make them work by Cheri Pierson Yeck (2005) 
  
• The Critical Years series from the NYT

Here's a link to read about the tough age that is adolescence:

• Adolescent storm and stress, reconsidered by J. Arnett (1999) 
• The creator of the "storm and stress" model, G. Stanley Hall

The question of what to do with middle schools is a trending and important issue.  Just Google "middle school difficulty/mess/disaster/failure."  The Association for Middle Level Education's (AMLE) This We Believe: Keys to Educating Young Adolescents identifies 16 characteristics that are essential to middle schools.  Here's a visual:

Source: Association for Middle Level Education
(On a side note: It strikes me that the essential attributes are common sense.  Shouldn't education be developmentally responsive, challenging, empowering, and equitable at every level?  As a public educator, I'm actually just embarrassed when I encounter stuff like this.)

What do these look like?  Let's find out.  I'll select 9 of the 16 characteristics, explore embodiments of each that someone/someplace is currently implementing in public education, and reflect upon how I can use these with my students.  Because they have just entered the high school site of my non-graded school and are early learners (e.g. 14 - 18 years of age, but developmentally ~4 - 8 years of age and in a 6:1:1 classroom setting) much of what is applicable to "young adolescents" in middle school is also applicable to my students.