What is Texas Schools to Watch®?
What is the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform?
What does it mean to be a "Texas Schools to Watch?"
What are the minimum eligibility requirements?
How is Texas Schools to Watch® different from other recognition programs?
When are applications due?
Why should our school apply to be a Texas Schools to Watch®?
What if we begin the application process and we realize we are not ready to be a Texas Schools to Watch®? Should we submit our application?
What process is used to determine if a school is designated a Texas School to Watch?
What if we apply and are not designated as a Texas School to Watch®?
If we are designated as a Texas School to Watch, what is our role in middle grades reform? What are our responsibilities?
What benefits are associated with being designated a Texas School to Watch?
Once designated as a Texas School to Watch, does a building automatically maintain their status in the future?
What if I still have questions?
What is Texas Schools to Watch®?
Texas Schools to Watch® is an exciting new program that is part of the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grade Reform. The program is both a recognition and capacity-building program designed especially for middle grades schools. Texas Schools to Watch® is a partnership between the Texas Middle School Association and the Texas Association of Secondary School Principals. 2011 marks the inaugural year for the program, as Texas becomes the 19th Schools to Watch state.
Each year this program shall identify schools throughout the state that are academically excellent, developmentally responsive, socially equitable, and structured for success. The sites selected shall represent a wide range of student demographics, physical plants, size, and programs. All shall be characterized by their successful implementation of Texas Standards, their ongoing quest for school improvement, their organizational structures and their dependence on locally disaggregated data as the impetus to drive instruction and practice.
What is the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform?
The National Forum is an alliance of educators, researchers, national associations and officers of professional associations and foundations committed to promoting the academic performance and healthy development of young adolescents. The National Forum, which developed the original Schools to Watch criteria, serves Texas as a source of inspiration and expertise. Additionally, the National Forum convenes the annual National Schools to Watch conference in Washington, D.C. in June. This conference is open to both Texas Schools to Watch® and to those that aspire to become a school to watch. For more information, go to www.mgforum.org
What does it mean to be a “Texas School to Watch?”
The Texas Schools to Watch® program seeks to recognize a small number of diverse, high-performing, growth-oriented middle grades schools to demonstrate what all middle grades schools are capable of achieving.
The program identifies high-performing, middle-grade schools that are:
- Academically excellent—challenge all students to use their mind well;
- Developmentally responsive—sensitive to the unique developmental challenges of early adolescence;
- Socially equitable—democratic and fair, providing every student with high-quality teachers, resources and supports; and
- Organizational structure is in place to enable aforementioned three characteristics.
What are the minimum eligibility requirements?
The program seeks high-performing, public middle grades schools in Texas that are constantly “on the move” toward higher achievement for all students. Schools must satisfy the following minimum eligibility requirements to apply to be a Texas Schools to Watch®:
- Contain at least one of the following grade levels within the school: grades 6, 7 or 8.
- Meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) requirements as defined by the federal government based on most recent data
How is Texas Schools to Watch® different than other recognition programs?
The Texas Schools to Watch® program is designed especially for the middle grades. It is both a recognition and a capacity building program. Designations are earned based on achievement across the areas of academic excellence, developmental responsiveness, social equity and school organization. The designation is associated with a number of benefits.
When are applications due?
Application materials are due the middle of October; see the application and the Texas Middle School Association (TMSA) webpage for exact date.
Why should our school apply to be a Texas School to Watch?
The foundation of the program (and application process) is the Self-Study tool containing the National Schools to Watch criteria. Texas Schools to Watch® and the National Forum believe that youth in the middle grades are capable of learning and achieving at high levels. To that end, the National Forum identified a set of selection criteria to describe high-performing schools that serve students in the middle-grades.
To begin the application process, a school must convene a school learning community to investigate their achievement in the areas of academic excellence, developmental responsiveness, social equity and school organization using the Self-Study. The insights revealed through the use of this tool are powerful and rewarding.
What if we begin the application process and realize we are not ready to be a Texas School to Watch? Should we submit our application?
From the moment you begin working with the Self-Study tool, you are increasing your school’s capacity for self-improvement. Even if you are not ready to be designated a School to Watch you can receive valuable feedback on your school’s application.
In the event your application is of great interest to the readers, you may receive a site visit from middle grades experts that will provide you with additional feedback.
Even schools that receive the designation begin a process of school improvement with the support of Texas Schools to Watch®. At every stage, a school designated as a School to Watch is building capacity to increase student achievement.
On the other hand, after studying the results of the Self-Study, you may decide to wait a year or so to apply.
What process is used to determine if a school is designated a Texas School to Watch?
The National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform crafted a vision that describes the characteristics of high-performing middle grades schools. With this vision as a basis, National Forum members then developed a set of rigorous criteria that could be used to identify such high performing schools. These became known as the Schools to Watch criteria.
The STW criteria themselves are important, since they represent a set of rigorous, research-based indicators against which schools can measure their own performance and set improvement benchmarks. In addition, they serve as the basis for identifying exemplars at the state level.
Using a rubric fashioned after the national STW criteria, the Texas Schools to Watch Leadership Team members evaluate applications for “potential” to serve as designees. It is important to note that schools do not compete with each other for designations, but rather they compete with the rigorous criteria used to identify high performing schools. If your application is of great interest to the readers, you will be selected for a site visitation. A group from the Texas Schools to Watch Leadership Team will spend a day in your school further evaluating your application and your potential to serve as a high-performing, growth-oriented middle grades school that will demonstrate what all middle grades schools are capable of achieving.
Leadership Team members include diverse, talented, experienced professionals working in the areas of middle and high school improvement, adolescent literacy, special education, English as a Second Language, equity and diversity, college-access, citizenship education, middle grades teacher education, urban reform, secondary school policy and more. Members work in various capacities (middle school teacher, middle school principal, university professor, etc.).
What if we apply and are not designated as a Texas School to Watch?
There are many ways you can participate in Texas Schools to Watch® regardless of whether or not you receive the designation. You may participate in the Schools to Watch program by:
- Attending Schools to Watch information and/or professional development sessions;
- Visiting a Texas School to Watch; and
- Participating in the National Schools to Watch Conference.
Texas Schools to Watch® strongly encourages you to reapply next year. Nationwide, it is not unusual for a School to Watch to have applied to the program more than once before receiving the designation.
As Texas Schools to Watch® is both a recognition and capacity building program, our hope is that you continue to find the Self-Study/application process and overall programming instructional and inspiring.
If we are designated as a Texas School to Watch, what is our role in middle grades reform? What are our responsibilities?
If you are designated as a Texas School to Watch, you agree to participate in all aspects of the program including, but not limited to:
- Guide, advise and mentor staff from other middle grades schools as needed
- Help select Texas Schools to Watch® schools in future selection cycles
- Present professional development sessions on their school programs at state and national conferences
- Provide information on academic performance and improvement efforts each year
A designee recognizes that being a Texas School to Watch® demands increased attention to high, dynamic and sustained performance. A designee welcomes the opportunity to share their knowledge and experience with others and works as a mentor to accelerate middle grades reform in Texas.
What benefits are associated with being designated a Texas School to Watch?
While being selected as a Texas School to Watch provides others with a representative model of how effective middle grades schools work, it also provides the receiving school an opportunity for new reflection, professional development and consultation, and Texas Schools to Watch® community involvement via the state and national network of Schools to Watch.
Selected schools shall:
- Be recognized at the community, state and national levels as leaders in middle-grades education
- Receive complimentary team registration at the Texas Middle School Association’s (TMSA) Annual Conference for six staff members (first year of selection)
- Benefit from TMSA’s professional development opportunities and networking through complimentary Institutional Membership (first year of selection)
- Receive coaching toward continued success
- Enjoy even stronger staff morale and dedication
Once designated an Texas School to Watch, does a building automatically maintain their status in the future?
A Texas School to Watch must continue to meet minimum eligibility requirements each year with the exception of AYP or Value-Added in years two and three; failure to meet AYP or Value-Added requirements for three consecutive years will most certainly result in loss of Texas Schools to Watch® designation.
At the end of the third year, a school must re-designate. To be re-designated, a school must again complete the Self-Study and report (written) the results, plus host a Texas Schools to Watch® re-visit.
What if I still have questions?
Please direct all questions/inquiries to The Texas Middle School Association.