Message+from+Teaching+and+Learning

Acknowledgements

The Campaign for Middle School Success is a collaboration of dozens of people across the Department of Education and New York City who passionately believe that our school leaders must and can create a system of great middle schools that prepare our children for success in high school and beyond.

After receiving our charge from the Chancellor, generous funding from the General Electric Foundation, and encouragement and support from the City Council and the Mayor’s Office, DOE leadership and staff, university and community partners, representatives of the UFT, CSA and elected officials, and principals and teachers embarked upon a journey of research, visits, focus groups and just plain conversations. We wish to acknowledge and express our appreciation for the contributions of all those who completed the first leg of the journey with us. As we said, there were many, including our Senior Policy Committee, The Fund for Public Schools, and our Campaign for Middle School Success Exploratory and Action Planning Team Leaders and members. We are also grateful for the groundbreaking work of the City Council Middle School Task Force, and the guidance from the Middle School Initiative Advisory and the Citywide Advisory Committees. Most importantly we appreciate the contributions of our principals and their staff who opened their doors, shared their practices, participated in focus groups, spoke thoughtfully and honestly about their successes and their challenges and maintained high expectations for their students, their school communities and themselves. Their experiences and successes have informed the findings in this Blueprint and will continue to shape the next leg of the journey. This is the first installment of the Blueprint; it will continue to evolve as we learn from the research and innovation taking place in our schools. We look forward to learning from and with them. For every child, Marcia V. Lyles, Ed.D.  Deputy Chancellor   Teaching and Learning Sabrina Hope King, Ed.D.  Chief Academic Officer and Project Lead   Teaching and Learning Joanna Lack  Project Lead  Teaching and Learning