(FRANKFORT, Ky.) -- Three Kentucky schools have been named Schools to Watch by the Kentucky Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform.
The three are:
- Mahaffey Middle, Fort Campbell Dependent
- Adairville Elementary, Logan County
- Auburn Elementary, Logan County
The Kentucky Schools to Watch program is modeled after and affiliated with the National Schools to Watch program. That program is sponsored by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle School Grades Reform, which has identified criteria to describe high-performing schools that serve students in the middle grades.
Such schools are academically excellent, responsive to the developmental challenges of young adolescents and socially equitable, with high expectations for all students.
"We have good research data which shows that schools that are consistent with the National Forum's vision are schools where children are successful," said Sara Delano Moore, co-director of the Center for Middle School Academic Achievement (CMSAA) at Eastern Kentucky University, the lead organization of the Kentucky Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform.
"We're eager to share with other schools around Kentucky -- and around the nation -- the work of these three schools that any middle school, regardless of size or status, can adopt if they make that commitment, such as Mahaffey's priority on giving their counselor time to counsel, Adairville's looping of students at the middle grades level and Auburn's infusion of the arts and use of rubrics," Moore said.
The Kentucky Department of Education, the Kentucky Middle School Association, the Collaborative for Teaching and Learning and the Kentucky Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform also participate in the Kentucky Schools to Watch program.
The three Schools to Watch will be recognized on Wednesday, April 14, with ceremonies at each location.
Launched in 1999, Schools to Watch began as a national program that identified four schools across the country that were meeting or exceeding a set of strict criteria for excellence, including Barren County Middle in Kentucky.
In 2003, Kentucky, Virginia, Illinois and Colorado were selected by the National Forum to participate in statewide programs, joining existing programs in California, North Carolina and Georgia.
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RECOGNITION CEREMONIES INFORMATION
(all times local)
Wednesday, April 14
8:30 a.m. - 9 a.m.
Auburn Elementary
10:30 a.m. - 11 a.m.
Adairville Elementary
1:45 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.
Mahaffey Middle
Featured speakers: Sara Delano Moore, co-director of CMSAA; John Harrison, National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform; and Gene Wilhoit, Kentucky Commissioner of Education