Sec. 2. Findings

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Congress finds the following: International comparisons indicate that students in the United States do not start out behind students of other nations in mathematics and science, but that they fall behind by the end of the middle grades. Just over one-third of 8th grade students in the United States, and only 3 percent of such students who are English language learners, can read with proficiency, according to the 2011 National Assessment on Educational Progress (NAEP). In mathematics, just over one-third of students in 8th grade show skills at the NAEP proficient level.

The percentage of 8th grade students scoring above the basic level was 10 points higher in 2011 than in 2000, but for 4th grade students, the percentage increased 18 points, almost double the increase for middle grades students. In 8th grade, the gaps between the average mathematics scores of white and black students and between white and Hispanic students were approximately as wide in 2011 as in 1990. Only 13 percent of 8th graders met all of the college readiness benchmarks on ACT’s EXPLORE assessment, a measure which ACT found displays a stronger relationship with college and career readiness than any other academic factor throughout secondary school.

Lack of basic skills at the end of middle grades has serious implications for students. Students who enter secondary school 2 or more years behind grade level in mathematics and literacy have only a 50 percent chance of progressing on time to the 10th grade; those not progressing are at significant risk of dropping out of secondary school. Middle grades students are hopeful about their future, with 93 percent believing that they will complete secondary school and 86 percent anticipating that they will attend an institution of higher education.

Sixth grade students who do not attend school regularly, who are subjected to frequent disciplinary actions, or who fail mathematics or English have less than a 15 percent chance of graduating secondary school on time and a 20 percent chance of graduating 1 year late. Without effective interventions and proper supports, these students are at risk of subsequent failure in secondary school, or of dropping out. Student transitions from elementary school to the middle grades and to secondary school are often complicated by poor curriculum alignment, inadequate counseling services, and unsatisfactory sharing of student performance and academic achievement data between grades.

Middle grades improvement strategies should be tailored based on a variety of performance indicators and data, so that educators can create and implement successful school improvement strategies to address the needs of the middle grades, and so that teachers can provide effective instruction and adequate assistance to meet the needs of at-risk students. To stem a dropout rate nearly twice that of students without disabilities, students with disabilities in the critical middle grades must receive appropriate academic accommodations and access to assistive technology, high-risk behaviors such as absenteeism and course failure must be monitored, and problem-solving skills with broad application must be taught.

Local educational agencies and State educational agencies often do not have the capacity to provide support for school improvement strategies. Successful models do exist for turning around low-performing middle grades, and Federal support should be provided to increase the capacity to apply promising practices based on evidence from successful schools.