Advocating+for+Middle+Level+Education

Alone we can do so little: together we can do so much. Helen Keller While education is a state responsibility and a local function, it also should be a national priority. Richard Riley

__resources, policies,__//__community partnerships__//

 //"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever does." -- Margaret Mead// Advocating for Middle Level Education

A quick look in a dictionary will tell you that **advocacy** is defined as the active support of a cause, idea, or policy and an **advocate** is a person who supports or defends a cause or a person who pleads on another person’s behalf.

Sound familiar? Middle level leaders find themselves being advocates within their schools, their communities, and beyond. Advocacy opportunities happen on a daily basis as they work with young adolescents and middle level colleagues; on a weekly basis as they come in contact with parents, policymakers and community members; and on an ongoing basis at the state and federal levels as they respond as citizens to statutes and regulations that impact their work as educators or their students’ education and well-being. The challenge for effective middle level leaders is to focus on advocating for what is right for young adolescents and that may mean advocating for something that is not the current practice in a school, most expedient, or easiest to accomplish.

Clearly, the primary responsibility of educators continues to be the academic achievement and personal development of their students. But, there’s a new responsibility today, especially for middle level leaders—advocating for the implementation of the full range of structures and supports that research and practice indicate work best for 10 through 14-year-olds. The hallmarks of middle level education such as teaming, advisories, flexible block schedules, hands-on instructional strategies, and exploratory opportunities throughout the curriculum are at risk due to a variety of reasons. We can quickly list the challenges that can hinder our progress—tight budgets, testing targets, teacher shortages, and aging facilities, to name a few. But, the key to successful advocacy is to rise above these challenges by building deeper understandings of what is necessary and broader partnerships to accomplish what is needed thereby gaining the support and resources necessary to implement successful schools for young adolescents.

National Middle School Association’s 2001 annual conference was held in Washington, DC. This location provided a unique opportunity to offer a special workshop on advocacy for middle level educators. Three experienced advocates shared lessons they had learned with the participants. Together, they focused on helping middle level educators understand the importance of their voices in advocacy work. These advocate specialists knew parents, community members, and policymakers recognized and valued the unique expertise and understanding middle level educators could offer to those responsible for making decisions that will impact the education of our children.

David Shrieve, National Council of State Legislators Senior Director told the group, //“I’ve learned over many years as a lobbyist that the best advocate is the one closest to the issue.”// David Rudolph, a Maryland State delegate and former middle school teacher and principal said, //“Most legislators only hear war stories about middle school education. Let them see the good stuff! Invite policymakers to your school.”// And, Jody Powell, press secretary to President Carter, summed it up by telling the participants, //“We have an obligation to speak out for what we believe. It won’t be heard, it won’t be believed, and it won’t be sustained unless you carry the message.”//

Their points are as relevant today as they were in 2001. First, as middle level leaders we are the ones closest to the “issue” and can speak with a currency of knowledge and passion of need better than anyone else. Second, one can’t assume the public-at-large recognizes or understands the needs or accomplishments of our students or our schools. Middle level leaders need to find a variety of ways to let people “see it” and “experience it” for themselves, if they are to truly understand the support that is necessary. And third, you can’t assume someone else is doing the advocacy work for you. An effective middle level leader doesn’t have the luxury of choosing NOT to be an advocate in today’s environment. A leader’s commitment to his or her students and to their successful education requires daily advocacy if the “message” is to be heard, believed, and sustained.

__Getting Started __

It's easy to focus on the challenges and get bogged down in all the things that need to be "fixed" as a school leader. I remember one October in particular when my list of what's going wrong seemed to be getting exceptionally long. The first session of our school's outdoor education week had been hit by an unexpected blizzard in the high Colorado mountains. Getting the students home safely was a significant challenge. But, telling the rest of the student body that their sessions would have to be cancelled due to the storm and couldn't be rescheduled because the camp was closing until next summer turned out to be even more difficult. Outdoor education was one of those highlight events for our students and their cries of "unfair" were loud and strong, never mind the state was recovering from a record-setting blizzard! That was followed by the discovery that the roots of a huge tree in our school's courtyard had grown through the drain pipes leading into our school's kitchen and the school cafeteria had to be closed for a week while the floor was torn up and repairs made. Cold, sack lunches weren't popular with anyone and only seemed to add insult to injury for some.

When these events were added to the general ups and downs of a typical school week, an unusual grumpy mood seemed to be accelerating like a gathering storm for faculty and students alike. At a morning faculty meeting one of the teachers said, "I didn't even want to come to school this morning. I didn't want to find out what else is going wrong!" But another teacher replied, "I agree it feels like we've had more than our fair share in the last few weeks but let's not forget all the things we've got going right! I'd really rather focus on those things and the rest will eventually work itself through." We all chuckled and began to move on when one teacher said, "That's it, let's take a few minutes to list all the things we've got going right and get things back into perspective." And that's exactly what we did. We quickly began to call out things that were going right and within moments had a pretty impressive list up on the board. We began organizing our list into categories: school programs, student achievement, and faculty recognition were quick to appear. One teacher suggested she was going to take this list and share it with her kids during team meeting time. " I'd like them to add to it. They're all so down about missing out on outdoor ed they've lost focus on the other great opportunities we have here. I'm tired of hearing complaints about not getting to do something!" In a matter of minutes, the entire faculty decided they were going to follow her suggestion as well and that was the beginning of "celebrating what's right" at our school.

Overtime, we discovered it was a productive way to help us chart our growth as a school and it became an advocacy tool we used both within the school and throughout the community. It's easy to focus on the problems or to move on quickly once something has been accomplished without taking time to celebrate. Instead, we built the practice of generating lists a couple of times a year. Students and faculty alike enjoyed focusing on the positive. Here's some of the ways we used "celebrating what's right" in our advocacy work.
 * Once the lists are developed in faculty meetings and in various student meetings (advisory groups or teams), compile a master list and celebrate it through a school meeting, team meetings, and on a hallway bulletin board.
 * Send the list to your superintendent, central office personnel, and school board members with a cover letter explaining the list and its importance.
 * Feature a few items on the list in every school newsletter and on your school's web site, updating it frequently.
 * Develop a program based upon the list and present it at the next parent meeting, your local community organizations. When appropriate write a press release about a specific event or students' accomplishments and share with the local media. Invite students and faculty members to collaborate with you in developing programs and news releases to encourage collaborative team work.

Building a foundational list of “what’s right” at your school is a good starting point. It helps take the next step of developing concise message points that can be repeated consistently and frequently to key audiences. These key messages open the door to discuss specific needs or issues with a variety of audiences and help keep us focused on priority issues. Message points work best when they are customized to each school and audience. Some suggestions include statements such as: “Our focus is doing what's best for young adolescent learners;” “Learning to read and using reading to learn in all content areas is a priority at our school;" or “ Every student deserves access to the best programs and practices our school can offer.”

Often the most important advocacy work a school leader does occurs on a day to day basis as instructional leader of the school. Using the message point, "Learning to read and using reading to learn in all content areas is a priority at our school," is one that might typically be used in multiple settings. Why? As students enter middle school the emphasis on learning to read begins to shift to using reading to learn in a variety of content areas. Understanding how to read a math word problem and knowing specific math vocabulary is different than reading a social studies textbook or knowing social studies vocabulary words. Many content specific teachers do not fully understand this shift in reading emphasis or styles themselves and worry that paying attention to content reading skills will take away important time from learning the specific content itself. Yet research and practice tell us these skills are important to the academic success of our students and to their ability to become life-long learners. Therefore, an instructional leader may be advocating for the implementation of a content reading and writing program. This might mean convincing the faculty of its importance, encouraging and supporting professional development, advocating for money to support the professional development at the district and state levels, or even advocating for legislation that fully addresses the reading needs at the middle level. In every one of these instances having a consistent message point about the importance of reading to learn and the importance of doing what's best for young adolescent learners is an important communication tool. Heres a few things to keep in mind when using message points. >  __Reaching Out for District-Level Support __
 * Focus on only a few message points.
 * Keep the message simple and free of educational jargon.
 * Repeat the message often.
 * Tailor the message to your audience. It may be slightly different for the math teachers than for your superintendent.

Your superintendent and school board can be key allies in building support for your middle level school if they know and understand what you are trying to accomplish. Barbara Wheeler, a past president of the National School Board Association, in a speech to middle level leaders at a NMSA conference said:

//“If you can interest school board members and the superintendent in middle level education, they will become powerful advocates in what you are doing. One message that Board members need to hear is that young adolescents succeed academically when the middle school concept is fully implemented. Our job is student achievement. We need data to make decisions. If the data shows student achievement, we (the board) will buy into your message.”//

•  Keep your superintendent and school board informed of research in effective middle level practices. •  Invite the school board to hold a daytime meeting at your school so students can attend and talk with board members about issues of concern to students. It will become one of their favorite meetings of the year. Whenever students speak at Board meetings, board members pay attention. Let your students demonstrate their own academic achievement! • <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; color: black;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Get board members into schools. Involve them in awards presentations, invite them to speak to a class, ask them to be available to parents during a PTA/PTO meeting or some other time when parents are present. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">• <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; color: black;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Provide your school’s Web site address to school board members. Send them copies of your newsletter <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">• <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; color: black;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Invite your superintendent, school board members, and other parent leaders to attend middle level conferences, school visitations, and professional development opportunities with you. Experiencing common learning experiences gives you the opportunity to talk about its potential impact on your own school and district.

__<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Advocating in Your Community and Beyond __

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Middle level leaders understand the importance of community support and the impact of state and federal mandates on their schools every day. While opportunities to be a middle level advocate at the community, state and federal level don’t occur on a daily basis, the importance of advocacy work at these levels shouldn’t be under estimated. Your outreach can make a difference, especially if you can provide data and personalized stories that help these policymakers understand the critical link middle level education is in the educational continuum.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">• <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; color: black;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Help civic organizations feature students at their meetings. This would be especially appropriate during NMSA’s Month of the Young Adolescent, NASSP’s Middle Level Education Month or during American Education Week. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">• <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; color: black;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Build ongoing partnerships with senior citizens in your community. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">• <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; color: black;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Invite business leaders, especially realtors, to a breakfast at the school. Give them a tour of the school and explain the caliber of learning taking place. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">• <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; color: black;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Offer to be an elected official’s resource on education. Help them see the results of the programs they’re funding or better understand the need for supporting programs not yet funded. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">• <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; color: black;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Stay in contact with your state representatives. Invite them to visit your school to speak with classes. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">• <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; color: black;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Federal representatives are important targets for advocacy work, but you’ll be more successful if you do some research before making your first contact with them. Direct letters, faxes, or e-mails to their staff person in charge of education. You can find all this information on their web site. Make only a few simple points and illustrate them with anecdotes from your school. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">• <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; color: black;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Most Senators and Representatives have district offices that keep them informed of happenings from their home state. Get acquainted with the staff members who run the office in your area and invite them to visit your school. Contacts like this may eventually lead to a visit from or an appointment with your legislator.

“Middle level schools do not operate in a vacuum. They reflect the aspirations of their local communities and are part of a system of education that determines their organizational structure, their funding, and their ability to hire and develop exemplary staffs. Middle level schools also must respond to state goals and directives ranging from testing targets to teacher licensure standards. Likewise, federal policy affects all aspects of middle level education and can strengthen or hinder state and local efforts to improve schools.” (Success in the Middle, p.3)

The above statement clearly summarizes the importance of middle level advocacy and underscores the reason that middle level leaders are recognizing that being an advocate is an important responsibility. One key thing to remember-- advocacy work is most effective when it focuses on **what’s best for kids**, consistently over time. Don’t wait until there is a concern or a problem to speak up. Being pro-active makes a difference and when emergencies do arise your voice will already be known and trusted.
 * Advocating within the district:**

• Being the squeaky wheel helps – but you have to be careful you don’t squeak all the time.

• I love to mentor new middle level educators. I work with parent to help them understand the characteristics of the early adolescent. In the district, I am tenacious about advocating for a quality middle level program that ensures equitable access to all students and families,

• Keep parents and influential members of the community informed of middle level issues and ask them to lobby for you at the district and community level.

• Parent orientations to middle school are crucial for incoming students.

• Work within district feeder patterns to ensure everyone know important aspects of middle level education.

• I bring the message of middle school education to our school board at their monthly meetings and to our school community at student character award breakfasts each month.

• I talk “middle school” every chance I get.

• Always invite the district office staff to middle level functions. Pass on information to the school board through the superintendent – newsletters, articles, etc.

• Visit the elementary schools to talk with 5th graders and get to know the 5th grade teachers in the district.

• Apply for school recognition when appropriate – Schools to Watch, Teams that Make a Difference, Breakthrough Schools, State Awards, etc. If the school receives the recognition, it creates pride for the community - a great way to spread the word about middle level education.
 * Advocating outside the district:**

• I work with my professional organizations and follow their lead in advocating for support of middle level programs.

• I write and have published articles on middle level issues. I am actively involved in my state principal and middle level associations.

• Keep local media engaged in your school. Try inviting the local news people to the school to work with students – TV studio personnel to teach video editing, newspaper reports to work with English students, etc.

• Stay in contact with state legislators – offer to be their middle level expert.

• Each month, all the middle level principals in our county (multiple districts) meet together for breakfast to share news and discuss middle level issues. • Stay aware of pending state and federal laws that can impact middle level education. Advocate for local policies that support young adolescents.

• Tell your stories – state and federal legislators want to hear specific stories. Instead of saying “NCLB needs to modify its policy on special education students” share a story that explains why you feel that way.

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