Sen. Reed’s comments from his floor speech: on Success in the Middle Act

Supporting raising student achievement in the middle grades

June, 2009

Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) introduced the Success in the Middle Act (H.R. 3006/S. 1362) June, 2009. Attached is bill summary/cosponsors.

Sen. Reed’s comments from his floor speech:

Mr. REED. Mr. President, today I am introducing the Success in the Middle Act, which will help provide new support for raising student achievement in the middle grades. I thank Senators Klobuchar, Stabenow, Whitehouse, and Lautenberg for joining me as original cosponsors.

We know that the middle grades are an important and unique transition period for young people, and a critical time in a student's educational and social development. The middle grades are the key to ensuring students remain on track to college and career-readiness. International comparisons indicate that students in the United States do not start out behind other nations in math and science, but they fall significantly behind in these subjects by the end of the middle grades. According to the 2007 National Assessment on Educational Progress, only one-third of eighth grade students in the United States can read at proficiency or above. For math proficiency, this number falls to 31 percent of all American eighth grade students.

There has been significant focus during K-12 reform discussions regarding high school reform, and while there is no doubt that this is an essential component of improving our education system, addressing dropout prevention must begin earlier. It must begin at the middle schools that feed into the thousands of ``dropout factories'' across the country. Dropout factories are high schools in which fewer than 60 percent of students graduate. As one of the leading experts in the area of middle and high school reform, Robert Balfanz, has stated, middle schools are the ``first line of defense'' in identifying at-risk students and then effectively intervening to prevent them from dropping out. Balfanz's research has shown that sixth-graders who failed math or English, attended school less than 80 percent of the time, or received an unsatisfactory behavior grade in a core course had only a 10 to 20 percent chance of graduating on time. Without successful intervention, these behaviors lead students to course failure, non-promotion, and eventually dropping out.

That is why I am reintroducing the Success in the Middle Act. This bill will help strengthen that first line of defense by authorizing grants to states and school districts to improve and turnaround
low-performing middle schools. It would concentrate new resources on the middle grades by requiring districts to develop an early warning indicator system for identifying students at risk of dropping out, and tailoring research-based interventions to get these students back on track to graduating college and career-ready. These interventions would include high-quality professional development for teachers; personal academic plans such as the Individual Learning Plans required in Rhode Island; mentoring and counseling; and extended learning time. When he was in the Senate, President Obama was the lead sponsor of this legislation. I am pleased that the President has continued to recognize the need for increased investment in middle and high school reform, including earlier this year, his action to encourage states and school districts to spend a significant portion of their American Recovery and Reinvestment Act education funds on improving student achievement in the middle and high school grades.

I was pleased to work with the Rhode Island Middle Level Educators, Rhode Island Association of School Principals, ACT, Alliance for Excellent Education, The College Board, International Reading Association, National Association of  Secondary School Principals, National Council of Teachers of English, National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform, and National Middle Schools Association, and a host of other education organizations on this bill.