Taking Middle Path To Ready Students For Future Careers

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Education has long been the key to advancement in American society, and its value will become more important in coming decades.

The demand for an educated workforce is growing given the requirements of the 21st century economy and the impending retirement of the high-skill baby boomers. Studies show that we will not be able to import enough qualified workers from other parts of the country or the globe: We need to prepare the young people growing up in our region for the jobs of the future. There is no more critical point at which to intervene right now than at the middle school level.

Long neglected in education reform debates, the middle grades (sixth-eighth) are starting to receive the attention they deserve. In United Way of Greater Los Angeles’ recently released report, “Seizing the Middle Ground: Why Middle School Creates the Pathway to College and the Workforce,” we highlight both the academic and social-developmental challenges facing the approximately 400,000 middle-graders in Los Angeles County and what needs to be done to make sure students go on to graduate from high school prepared for college and the workforce. Among the report’s findings are these sobering facts:

– For every 100 ninth-grade students enrolled in Los Angeles County schools in 2001-02, only 57 graduated four years later and only 12 went on to a California public university.

– Less than 50 percent of students who failed at least one class in grades six-eight graduated from high school within four years compared with more than 66 percent of students who never failed a class.

– More than 70 percent of middle schools serving low-income populations are failing federal education standards.

– Nearly half of students do not feel safe at school, and 13 percent have carried a weapon onto school property at least once.

– Half of the middle schools in L.A. County are overcrowded, with an average size of 2,100 students; these schools provide one counselor for every 609 students, two and a half times the recommended ratio.

The report clearly shows that middle-grade students overall are not doing well in Los Angeles County. Educators, parents and, ultimately, all of us bear a collective responsibility for these failures. Many middle schools are overcrowded, lack enough counselors and do not provide safe, nurturing learning environments. All middle schools in the county spend well below the national averages per pupil, and just half of teachers in the critical subject of math have a specific credential in math.

Outcomes are even more dire for low-income communities of color, highlighting what UCLA researchers Jeannie Oakes and John Rogers have dubbed an “opportunity gap.” For the good of our region and future economy, we need to align resources to address these disparities and raise the overall achievement of students.

On May 29, United Way convened an expert group of 80 leaders from across educational, business, philanthropic and community sectors to discuss the implications of these findings and steps on how to address them. The recommendations that came out of this session provide a three-point roadmap for us to follow moving forward.

First, we need to focus on preparing middle-grade students for college prep and career technical education of high school through teacher and professional development, and by educating and engaging parents about postsecondary options.

Second, we need to set up ways to intervene early with middle-grade students who are struggling, both within the schools (such as resources for counseling) and outside of schools (such as after-school and parent engagement programs).

Third, we need to provide youth with small, personalized learning environments, which can be accomplished through collaborative teaching or reorganizing into smaller school units.

These recommendations cannot be ideas that exist only on paper. The good news is that at the session we also heard examples of where these ideas are already being put in to action.

In Long Beach, for example, the school district, Cal State University Long Beach and the city college have developed a goal to make higher education and high-paying careers attainable for every Long Beach student, beginning with the incoming sixth-grade class of fall 2008.

Project GRAD Los Angeles shared their example of working with schools and higher education partners in the San Fernando Valley on a Middle School Algebra and Robotic Summer Institute in 2007, helping 99 percent of 165 students who were at risk of not enrolling in algebra go on to pass the class this academic year. In LAUSD, the Board of Education is considering a “small schools” resolution requiring that newly constructed middle schools have enrollments no larger than 400 and that current large schools be broken down into smaller school units.

We need to build on these promising examples to improve conditions and outcomes for middle-grade students. Not only is it the right thing for our kids, our collective future depends on it.


Elise Buik is president and chief executive officer of United Way of Greater Los Angeles.

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