(Great, now that song from The Sound of Music is in my head. Adieu, adieu, to you and you and you...)
There's been talk. Oh, there's been a whole lot of talk. Mostly we're going to leave that talk behind when we step in here, to this blog, to plan JAMS. But there has been one question asked quite often in the community meetings leading up to the creation of JAMS that is worthwhile for us to discuss at the outset.
What exactly does the "comprehensive" in "comprehensive middle school" mean?
Well, what do you think it means? Because the answer is: there is no agreed-upon definition. Discuss in the comments!
I've been very frustrated with the lack of definition around "comprehensive." When I wrote to the School Board and Staff about this, instead of defining the word "comprehensive," it just disappeared from the language of the Transition Plan document, with Jane Addams Middle School referred to as an "attendance middle school," not necessarily a comprehensive one. I suppose that the classification as an attendance school is better suited for an assignment-related document, such as the NSAP Transition Plan for 2013-14, but the term "comprehensive" could use a clear definition.
ReplyDeleteMost people think as a comprehensive middle school as providing a broader range of electives, courses, and extracurricular sports and other activities - than what is routinely found at K-8s, which typically have smaller middle school components.
In Seattle, the offerings at comprehensive middle schools tend to vary, pretty dramatically, depending upon the size of the school, because the amount of funding to pay for additional teachers and resources correlates with the number of students enrolled. For example, Eckstein, at 1300 kids, can offer the choice of three World Languages (Spanish, French, and Japanese), whereas McClure Middle School, with less than 500 students enrolled, apparently offers just Spanish (I came to that conclusion by looking at their faculty list online...if there is more than one language offered at McClure, feel free to correct me).
How "comprehensive" JAMS becomes will probably depend on its enrollment. I have heard 960 mentioned as the target enrollment for the school. Therefore, the funding allotted to JAMS should be in the same ballpark as Hamilton and Whitman, so I think we should expect about the same level of programming currently offered at those schools.
Comprehensive could also refer to the services provided, and would seem to mean that the needs of every child (i. e. advanced learners, ELL, special ed, general ed, etc...) are fully supported at a comprehensive middle school.
A comprehensive middle school would be focused entirely on the needs of the middle school student. The focus would not be split between the needs of elementary and middle school students, as in a K-8 program.
Thanks for setting up this blog, so we can share our ideas and perspectives.
-KM