The Case for Reimagining Middle School—And Why Core Instruction Must Come First
This article is part of the series, “Designing Middle Schools for a New Generation: What Central Office Leaders Need to Know,” which 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 five posts, we share actionable, research-backed, system-level strategies school and district leaders can implement, strengthening core instruction, broadening opportunities for students, and using time and resources more strategically to boost learning and engagement over the long term.
The Case for Reimagining Middle School
Young adolescents need a learning environment tailored to their unique developmental stage—this was the premise on which middle schools first emerged in the 1960s, and that is still true today. For the last half-century, middle school has offered a developmentally responsive bridge between childhood and adolescence, designed to build engagement, belonging, and discovery through interdisciplinary teaming, advisories, and exploratory learning.
But the needs of students—and the demands on middle schools—have changed. Students today navigate adolescence in an era of social media, constant digital connection, and heightened mental health needs. Middle schoolers are more dissatisfied and disengaged with school than their elementary and high school peers, and many middle schoolers now feel more isolated and less connected to peers and teachers than ever before.
Meanwhile, middle schools confront stalled post-pandemic recovery, heightened mental health needs, persistent achievement gaps, declining enrollment, tighter budgets, and rising expectations. As a recent study about post-pandemic enrollment trends highlighted, public school enrollment declines are almost entirely concentrated in grades 5-8, where enrollment is down 8% (compared to 2% across K-12), which suggests families are particularly dissatisfied with existing middle school options. Simply put, middle schools today face the challenge of addressing greater student needs with a narrower set of tools and resources.
What is required now is the next turn of the wheel: an updated model of middle school that leverages the strengths of the original design while evolving it to meet the realities of a new era and a new generation of students.
In our work with over 100 middle schools across the nation, we’ve helped central office and school leaders tackle this challenge. Across districts of all demographics and settings, a set of best practices for middle school design is helping move the needle on engagement and achievement, the first of which is that core instruction must be core to the schedule to raise student achievement.
Why Core Instruction Must Be Core to Middle School Design
In the traditional middle school model, students often get less time in math and literacy than they did in elementary school—and less than they will again in high school. As schools add advisory, flex blocks, homeroom, social-emotional learning blocks, and transition time, many students end up with 40–45-minute class periods that simply don’t provide enough time for deep learning.
This leads to three related challenges:
Not enough time during each period: Short periods make it difficult for core teachers to go into enough depth into their content in any given period and engage students in deeper learning. Often, math teachers are asked to squeeze a high-quality curriculum that calls for 60 minutes a day into just 45 minutes. It is impossible to do well, of course, leaving teachers rushing and students without adequate time and instruction to master the subject matter.
Not enough time annually: Short periods also result in fewer hours of instruction per subject annually. For example, a student who receives 60 minutes of math instruction daily in 5th grade suddenly only receives 45 minutes of instruction daily once they jump to 6th grade. This seemingly small 15-minute difference results in the equivalent of 45 fewer days of instruction between the two grade levels!
A frantic school day: Having many short periods in a schedule also results in a high number of transitions (sometimes as many as nine or ten in a day), which leads to a hectic school day for students and teachers alike. This often makes it harder to settle and engage students, further cutting back on available instructional minutes.
Raising middle school achievement doesn’t begin with a trendy schedule or a fancy new block rotation—it starts with protecting instructional time. Making core instruction the non-negotiable center is the bedrock of designing middle school to better support a new generation of students.
Making Core Instruction Core to Middle School Design
So what does making core instruction core to middle school design look like? Middle schools that consistently post learning gains commit to ensuring students receive at least 150 hours per core subject annually—the equivalent of 50 minutes per day for 180 days per year.
When I share this with central office leaders, their first reaction is often, “How can our schools add more minutes? We’re out of time in the day, and we don’t have resources to spare.” The good news is, this is achievable without extending the school day or hiring more staff.
Strategies to protect time on core successfully implemented by schools we have worked with include:
Limiting the total number of periods per day in the schedule
Reducing non-instructional time, like transition time, homeroom, or lunch
Running longer core periods than non-core periods
Don’t Forget About Planning Time
Another impactful lever district and school leaders can adjust is how common planning time gets used. In the traditional middle school model, planning and collaboration time for grade-level teachers is often focused on student behaviors, classroom routines, and school culture—issues only adjacent to delivering high-quality core instruction. Far fewer middle schools prioritize daily, content-specific planning time for teachers to collaborate with their core content peers and discuss curriculum, lesson plans, and ways to maximize the impact of Tier 1 instruction. Embedding frequent, content-specific planning time for math, ELA, science, and social studies teams can help teachers supercharge instruction and move the needle on student achievement.
Fulfilling the Promise of Middle School for a New Generation
Middle schools have always carried the promise of being uniquely responsive to the needs of early adolescents. Designing middle schools to ensure students receive the time they need for rigorous, well-planned core instruction is the most foundational step toward fulfilling that promise for a new generation.
This article is part of the series, “Designing Middle Schools for a New Generation: What Central Office Leaders Need to Know,” which 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.
Check out the other posts in the series here:
Why Many Middle Schoolers Aren’t Catching Up—And What Actually Works
Strengthening Middle School Culture by Reducing Unstructured Time
Elevating Engagement Through Voice, Choice, and Authentic Opportunities
Making Middle Schools More Sustainable Through Flexible Staffing and Teaming
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.