A Crack in the Middle

By Joellen Killion

By many measures, the edifice we call public schooling has a crack down the middle. Reforms adopted over the last 15 years have focused either on students at the start of their academic life or near the end of their K-12 experience--from smaller class sizes through 4th grade and the push for universal literacy by the end of 3rd grade, to higher standards for high school graduation and required exit exams.

Left largely unattended are students in the middle grades, just as they are reaching a vulnerable and confusing crossroads in their lives. Nearly a decade ago, the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development called the years from ages 10 to 15 "the last, best chance" to ensure that young people reach a fruitful adulthood.

But statistics show us that the nation has yet to heed fully the council's warning. Middle-grade students tend to do less well on national exams than they did in elementary school. And the inequities between high-achieving and low-achieving students deepen...