Principal Tim Wernentin at Rock Island High School in Illinois noticed that middle school students coming to his high school were not prepared to succeed in ninth grade. Many of his freshmen were not able to attain passing grades in crucial areas such as math and language arts. He considered extending the school day for all ninth graders, but that idea seemed too radical. Instead, he created an initiative for his incoming students called “Rock Solid.”

For the Rock Solid program, Principal Wernentin decided to offer students moving up from middle school an option to get started at Rock Island High before all the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth graders arrived. Ninth graders got the whole school to themselves during the last few weeks of summer. So, instead of extending the school day, he extended a special welcome! During the Rock Solid session, ninth graders got tours of the school, met with the teachers they would have, and received free tutoring sessions for any academic areas they struggled with.

Mr. Seemy’s class thought that this was a brilliant idea. In fact, they thought the middle school should offer a Rock Solid program for elementary school students moving up to middle school.

In order to plan a program like Rock Solid effectively, you must identify the problems and think about solutions in a detailed way.

1. Step One: Think silently for a minute about what was difficult for you when you moved up to middle school from elementary school.

2. Step Two: Get into groups of four. Share what you wrote. Ask other students in your group if you need to clarify anything for them.

3. Step Three: As a group, select one problem that you think might be solved by a program like Rock Solid.

Discuss the following questions as a group, and then write down your responses individually.

• What is your approach for addressing the problem?

• Do you think that students entering middle school would like your idea?

• How would you know if your approach was effective?