Middle School Aspire Network

“Every year, over 1.2 million students drop out of high school in the United States alone. That’s a student every 26 seconds, or 7,000 a day.” – Partnering for Education Reform. U.S. Department of Education (2015) 

While data suggests improvement since 2015, we are still faced with the fact that nearly 7,000 students in San Diego fail to graduate on time each year. A leading cause of this is students entering high school are unprepared to engage in school successfully. 

Research indicates that strong student engagement during middle school dramatically increases student success in high school. However, student engagement during middle school isn’t where it needs to be to equip all students for success beyond middle school. Schools and districts need to find ways to improve student engagement in the educational process. The San Diego County Office of Education offers schools and districts an approach to address this need. There is no one better positioned to engage in solving this critical issue than those closest to middle school students, the middle school staff.

The Middle School Aspire Network is a space where teachers, staff, administrators, and district LEA leaders engage in the improvement process to ensure that a wider system of support is in place to remove barriers and increase opportunities and access for all students to develop the skills and dispositions for success both in their middle school years and beyond.

The network’s goal is to increase the number of students who have GPA of 2.75 or greater and pass their English language arts and math courses to ensure students are on track for success, paying close attention to historically underserved student groups. We do this by intentionally focusing on building systems that nurture students’ sense of belonging, and increasing teachers’ capacity to create conditions that increase student academic performance.
The Middle School Aspire Network utilizes the SDCOE Equity Blueprint, SDCOE Socially Conscious Leadership Framework, and the curb-cut concept to address the needs of historically marginalized student groups in support of the SDCOE North Star goal.
 

The Middle School Aspire Network Experience 

Participants will have a unique interactive experience to gain knowledge and practical change ideas and strategies for fostering student voice, agency, and developmental relationships in order to empower them for success in high school, college and beyond. Participants’ two-year commitment to the network includes:

• Four full-day convenings throughout the school year 
• Access to a data dashboard that provides real-time data to understand and improve student investment in their school experience
• Tools for measuring student impact
• Access and use of research-based approaches and practices to shift your practice in ways that 
• Support from an experienced improvement coach

School and District Commitments 

School Team Composition:  

• Assembles an Aspire school team (including 
• Site leadership
• Counselor(s), 
• Teachers)
• Other non-classroom staff 

District Roles:  

• Commits to actively supporting the schools’ work so that the district can ultimately develop a lasting district improvement strategy that can be leveraged beyond the initial Middle School Aspire schools.  
• Supports school with requisite data necessary for the work
• Ongoing dedication of staff time and a commitment from district leaders to support the school’s efforts (e.g., provide necessary funding to support educators' time commitments)
• Maintains open communication and check-ins with school leaders to learn about challenges or barriers, and commits to taking actions to remove these barriers (e.g., such as competing priorities/initiatives) 
   

Results

• Changes in weak and strong belonging per student survey results.

• For focal students who received interventions, we saw a decrease in the percentage of students reporting weak sense of belonging by 35.8%, and a 11.36% increase in students reporting strong sense of belonging at school. 

For participation in Aspire Cohort 3 in the fall of 2027, complete the Middle School Aspire Network Interest Form. 

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“As we engage in the Aspire work, we are being more thoughtful and intentional about creating conditions in classrooms where students feel a sense of belonging…. In every single classroom. We’ve really focused this year in trying to create conditions that allow students to feel that they are connected to the curriculum, connected to the other students, connected to their teachers, and connected to our school as a whole.” 

– Steve Mills, principal, Twin Peaks Middle School, Poway Unified School District 

See more in this Twin Peaks Middle School video:

To learn more, please contact:

    
Chris Vickers
Executive Leadership Coach

Greg Magno
Executive Leadership Coach