SREB Urges Greater Focus on Middle Grades in South

A new report raises concerns about the achievement levels of middle school students in many Southern states and outlines steps state leaders should consider to better prepare young people for high school.

The report by the Atlanta-based Southern Regional Education Board finds what it calls modest gains among most of its 16 member states in meeting state standards for middle-grades reading and mathematics between 2003 and 2007. But it argues that those advances are inadequate and that many of the states, in a region from Texas to Delaware, have set their standards too low.

In fact, the report notes that during the same time period, reading scores on a national assessment in the SREB region were generally “stagnant,” and that gains in math...