The Southern Regional Education Board is calling on middle schools across the South to step up their game and emulate the growth in student achievement that elementary schools have experienced in recent years.
The report by the SREB, a nonprofit, Atlanta-based organization that works to improve education in 16 Southern states, said that student achievement appears to falter once students enter the middle grades, leaving many unprepared for high school and college.
It urges school systems to adopt new policies to focus students on science and mathematics courses, target students at risk of falling behind and intervene with more learning time and accelerated instruction, and require middle schoolers to complete academic and career plans.
