This series shares what central office leaders need to know to build on the strengths of the traditional middle school model to rethink how schools can better support a new generation of young adolescents. Across seven articles, we share actionable, research-backed, system-level strategies school and district leaders can implement to strengthen core instruction, broaden opportunities for students, and use time and resources more strategically to boost learning and engagement over the long term.
Districts widely recognize that student engagement in the middle school years matters deeply. Disengagement during this period can contribute to absenteeism, behavior challenges, and weaker academic outcomes.
At the same time, creating more engaging experiences for students is not always easy. Middle schools are constrained by factors such as long-standing staffing models, jam-packed schedules, and downstream expectations from high school. Yet these years are also a formative time when students are developing their interests, identities, and sense of what they are good at, and beginning to seek greater independence and autonomy.
One of the most powerful opportunities schools have to tap into those interests is already built into the middle school day: exploratory and elective programming. Most middle schools offer courses such as art, music, physical education, technology, and world language. These are valuable subjects, but in many schools, students have limited opportunities to influence what is offered, choose among different options, or pursue interests beyond the traditional exploratory curriculum.
By giving students greater voice in shaping these opportunities, expanding meaningful choice, and creating opportunities to pursue their passions and challenge themselves, middle schools can create experiences that feel more relevant, motivating, and rewarding. And in many cases, they can do so with the time, staff, and resources they already have.
Start by Asking Students What Interests Them
If the goal is to create experiences that reflect student interests, start by asking students.
Many exploratory programs have changed relatively little over time, even as students' interests and the world around them have changed. Schools can refresh those offerings by introducing new subjects, updating familiar courses, or creating classes that draw on both student and teacher interests.
That might mean Podcasting 101, Fantasy Sports Math, robotics, digital design, cooking, entrepreneurship, or dozens of other possibilities.
One practical approach is to first survey students about broad areas of interest, then develop a feasible set of potential courses and ask students to rank their preferences. This approach provides useful data while keeping decisions grounded in what is feasible—and it signals to students that their perspectives are valued, even when not every idea can be pursued.
Teachers can be an equally valuable source of ideas. A science teacher who loves astronomy, an English teacher interested in podcasting, or a math teacher who follows fantasy sports may offer a compelling elective without requiring the school to add staff.
Turn Student Voice Into Meaningful Choice
Listening to students can help schools create offerings that better reflect their interests. The next step is giving students opportunities to choose among them.
That does not require unlimited choice. Schools can provide meaningful agency while still ensuring that students experience subjects and disciplines they consider important.
Bounded choice is one approach. A school might require students to take art, music, and physical education, for example, while offering several options within some or all of those areas.
Scaled choice is another. Sixth graders might rotate through a common set of exploratory experiences before gaining greater choice in seventh and eighth grades.
Schools can also create more variety by reconsidering how long courses run. A full-year exploratory course occupies one slot in a student's schedule for the entire year. Semester, trimester, or quarter-long courses can allow students to experience more subjects using the same amount of time (and make it easier to move students into or out of academic intervention, if needed).
Many schools can expand choice without adding staff or extending the school day. Aligning electives with teacher interests and expertise, phasing in new offerings gradually, and adjusting course duration or frequency can all create additional opportunities within existing resources.
Give Students Something Meaningful to Work Toward
Giving students more say in what they learn can help spark interest but sustaining that engagement also depends on what students are asked to do once they enter the classroom.
Research suggests that deeply engaging experiences tend to include several elements: a meaningful problem or challenge, an audience or some form of accountability, and enough time for students to dig into the work. In practice, that might mean a podcasting elective becomes more meaningful when students produce something others will actually hear. An entrepreneurship course can culminate in students pitching an idea. A robotics course can ask students to solve a real design problem or prepare for a competition.
These experiences allow students to pursue something that interests them while creating, solving, performing, investigating, or accomplishing something meaningful.
Make Room for Students Who Want Greater Academic Challenge
Student interests and passions extend into core academic subjects as well. For some students, engagement comes from having an opportunity to move faster, go deeper, or take on more challenging work.
Honors and accelerated courses can provide those opportunities, but schools need to think carefully about how students gain access to them. Teacher recommendations, rigid prerequisites, and scheduling structures can all unintentionally limit participation.
Schools that are most equitably and successfully offering these opportunities establish clear and transparent criteria, reduce reliance on teacher recommendations, and create multiple opportunities for students to enter advanced coursework. Students who want the challenge can also be given an opportunity to try an advanced course, with a reasonable window to move to another course if it proves not to be the right fit.
Another approach is to use assessment results to identify students who are ready for advanced coursework and automatically enroll them, while allowing students or families to opt out.
The school schedule also matters. Cross-team or “rainbow” sections can bring students from different teams together for an advanced course without creating a fixed honors cohort that travels together throughout the day.
Why This Matters, and What Central Office Leaders Can Do
Exploratory education has long been an important part of the middle school experience. These years give students an opportunity to discover new interests, develop emerging strengths, and begin figuring out who they are and who they might become.
Central office leaders can help schools build on that tradition by creating the conditions for greater student voice, choice, and challenge. That may mean encouraging schools to take a fresh look at exploratory offerings, supporting scheduling approaches that create more choice without sacrificing core instructional priorities, and establishing districtwide approaches to honors and acceleration that expand access while maintaining appropriate academic expectations.
Importantly, many of these changes do not require additional staff or a longer school day. By reconsidering course offerings, schedules, and how existing staff expertise is used, districts can create richer opportunities for students to pursue their interests within existing resources.
When students have opportunities to explore what interests them, make meaningful choices, and take on work that challenges and excites them, school becomes a place where they can discover both what they care about and what they are capable of.
Other posts in this series:
PART I - Why It’s Time to Rethink the Traditional Middle School Model
PART II - Shift #1: Raise Achievement by Making Core Instruction Core to the Schedule
PART III - Shift #2: Make High-Quality Intervention a Non-Negotiable Part of the School Day
PART V - Shift #4: Boost Student Emotional Well-Being by Limiting Unstructured Time and Increasing Staff-Student Connections
PART VI - Shift #5: Operate Middle Schools More Cost-Effectively by Rethinking Teaming and Staffing
PART VII - Tools and Next Steps for Designing Middle Schools for a New Generation
About the Author
David James is a former teacher and middle school administrator who serves as an advisor to school and district leaders. He and his team have helped more than 100 middle schools across the nation better serve a new generation of students and educators. He is co-author of the book, It's Time for Strategic Scheduling: How to Design Smarter K-12 Schedules That Are Great for Students, Staff, and the Budget. He also leads the Secondary Scheduling Academy, an accelerated hands-on training program for school and district leadership teams to enhance capacity for strategic scheduling, build buy-in for changes, and design effective, best practice-aligned schedules that are better for students, teachers, and the budget.