The Middle School Slump: Who's Slumping?

            After reading about the drop in student achievement that students experience when transitioning to middle school for class (http://educationnext.org/stuck-in-the-middle/), I couldn’t help but wonder about teacher retention in the middle grades. Everyone knows that middle grade students face tremendous physical, social, and emotional change, as well as a corresponding decline in academic achievement. As a middle school teacher, I wonder, what impact does this have on teacher retention?

            I work at a K-8 public school, but the grades are separated among three different buildings. In the middle school building where I teach, more than 60% of the staff were new teachers last year. After speaking with the only veteran teacher in the 200+ student middle school building, last year was no different than the five years before that. The majority of the lower-grades are, conversely, staffed veteran teachers that have become fixtures in the school community. I had a hunch this was a citywide, if not nationwide, trend, and after reading several articles about teacher retention, this is what I found: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/17/education/17middle.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.      

According to the article, middle school teachers do, in fact, have higher attrition rates than elementary or high school teachers in several urban districts. Teacher attrition rates are alarmingly high, in general, but it appears that middle school teachers leave school systems at slightly higher rates than their counterparts in other grades. While the article acknowledges the challenges of middle school student volatility, rising violence, and slumps in achievement, especially in urban areas, it focuses primarily on teachers. The author praises the unique personality traits of career-long middle school teachers, such as great senses of humor and grit. She also examines the lack of teacher preparation focusing on the middle grades. Teacher personalities and teacher preparation matter, but what about school structure? Does a K-8 model have higher teacher retention rates than a 6-8?

Much more than this, I wonder, what about our students? What do students at this developmental age need to succeed in school? I think that this highly social and self-conscious, identity-searching subgroup of students needs to quit being shoved into existing models that are clearly failing them. If we start asking ourselves what it is these students need, instead of how to make the current situation better, we will likely be faced with needs that require bold and revolutionary changes in our mindsets, our curriculums, our classrooms, and our schools, not just our teachers.