Getting middle school students back on track: A school-university-corporation partnership

Educational Forum, The, Spring 2002 by Brown, Mark, Johnson, Iris DeLoach, Grueninger, Carl E III

Located on the corner of Dayton and Baymiller Streets in the northwest end of downtown Cincinnati, Lafayette Bloom Middle School opened as a middle school in 1915. Sometimes referred to as the "oldest junior high west of the Allegheny Mountains," Bloom's current student population has approximately 450 students (81 percent African American and 19 percent European American). The school's educational staff supports both regular and special education for grades 7 and 8. There are 35 teachers, a principal, an assistant principal, a librarian, a school guidance counselor, a school social worker, a parttime psychologist, and two instructional assistants. The school also has the Bridge Connection Program, an on-site partnership of social-service agencies coordinated by a social worker, to support the families of children at Bloom.

More than 80 years ago, Dayton Street was known as Millionaire's Row. The millionaires are gone now, but Bloom may be worth more than a million dollars to its atrisk urban students. This group of students has failed at least one year during their elementary school years. They've entered into a contract with their teachers, promising to work diligently throughout the school year to do two years of work in one year. In this way, they could move from seventh to ninth grade in one year. The program designed to help these students get "Back-on-Track" with their same-aged peers began in the 1991-92 school year.

The following school year, as the Backon-Track Program was gaining ground, Bloom entered a partnership with Miami University through its Institute for Educational Renewal (IER-MU). Housed in the School for Education and Allied Professions (SEAP), the IER-MU is a network of partnerships among public schools, socialservice agencies, and Miami University. The mission of the IER-MU is to develop integrated learning communities and simultaneous renewal through shared responsibility for the education of children and families. In an effort to support the simultaneous renewal of Bloom and the SEAP, the partnership expanded in 1996 to include Bloom, Miami University, and the Procter & Gamble Corporation (P&G). P&G officials wanted to encourage the Bloom-- Miami partnership to investigate ways to expand the Back-on-Track concept. At the same time, P&G also wanted to support efforts for Miami University's preprofessional educators to get an innovative urban school experience at Bloom. Immediately, the principal made provisions to double the number of students in the Backon-Track Program, and Miami more than doubled the number of methods students and observers assigned to Bloom.

THE BACK-ON-TRACK MODEL

This article offers a description of efforts supported by a collaborative partnership to improve the learning conditions for more students at Bloom by adapting the Back-on-Track model. It addresses the impact of grant funding from P&G and further posits answers to the following questions:

* What is the significance of the Backon-Track model in terms of the social and academic needs of urban middle school students?

* What roles) did the Bloom-Miami-- P&G collaboration play in creating successful learning outcomes for both Bloom students and Miami University students?

* What is the significance in terms of providing innovative urban experiences for Miami's preprofessional educators?

* What is the impact of the Back-onTrack Team and Bridge Builders Team in terms of facilitating academic achievement for Bloom students?

* What is the impact of the Back-onTrack Team and Bridge Builders Team in terms of professional development of Bloom faculty and Miami University preprofessional educators?

Background

Approximately 50 percent of Cincinnati's more than 3,700 public school students who are behind one year or more by the time they reach the middle school fail to complete high school. Those students failing two or more years have more than a 90 percent chance of dropping out before high school graduation. In September 1991, the administrative team at Bloom, under the leadership of the former principal, noted that 65 percent of their incoming seventh graders had been retained in elementary school for at least one year. Moreover, 40 percent of those students had failed two or more years. The prognosis for these students seemed dim. However, the group of students who failed one year had a good chance to be successful in the Back-onTrack intervention program designed at Bloom.

To participate in the Back-on-Track Program, students must:

* not have enrolled in a seventh-grade class before Back-on-Track;

* have failed at least one year in elementary school;

* have reading and mathematics skills that indicate the likelihood for academic success; and

* agree to govern themselves by the rules of conduct concerning classroom participation, completion of homework, and behavior.

Furthermore, parents of student participants must meet with the Back-on-Track teachers and sign a contract that gives permission for the child to be instructed through this program, provided he or she cooperates.