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Best Practices
Middle school education, along with new understandings about the development of early adolescents, is becoming a major focus of educational research. Billings is both a consumer and contributor to the body of knowledge on the best practices in middle school education.
Components of Exemplary Middle Schools - National Middle School Association
Within a few years, young adolescents undergo rapid physical growth, changes in moral reasoning, the onset of abstract thinking, and introduction to a range of social pressures, including sex, drugs, and violence. Exemplary middle level programs foster appropriate programs, policies, and practices that foster the development of these tasks in positive ways.
Interdisciplinary Teaming - National Middle School Association
A review of research on interdisciplinary teaming defines it as "two or more teachers from different subject areas and the group of students they commonly instruct." Interdisciplinary teams in larger schools are more able to plan, coordinate, and evaluate curriculum and instruction across academic areas, cultivate meaningful and regular communication with families, and provide a collaborative and supportive work group. At Billings, the size of the school provides, in essence, interdisciplinary teams both at grade level and across the school.
Advisory Programs - National Middle School Association
An advisory program is where an adult and a small group of students have an opportunity to interact in order to provide a caring environment for academic guidance and support, everyday administrative details, recognition, and activities to promote citizenship. This review of research details findings that support the power of advisory programs.
Sports Done Right - University of Maine
The Sports Done Right program is a statewide iniative in Maine that re-defined sports with the perspective that sports are a means to developing a well-rounded, healthy student. This report defines the philosophy of the program with a chapter on Middle Level Sports: Matching the Program to the Needs of the Young Adolescent, emphasizing elements such as; exploration rather than specialization , strengthening of fundamental skills in a variety of activities, teamwork and sportsmanship, meaningful relationships, and resiliency, responsibility and accountability.
