Studies show a big difference between the achievement scores of the highest and lowest-performing students at the middle school level.  To close the gaps, Berkeley Middle in Moncks Corner is one of 88 schools in South Carolina, and more than 200 in the U.S., embarking on a new program called Making Middle Grades Work.  It is an initiative designed by the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) to help states, districts and schools better prepare all students for success in high school and beyond.

In 2000, SREB conducted a grade assessment of 5000 eighth graders.  It showed a significant gap in achievement scores of the top-performing 25 percent of students and the lowest-performing 25 percent of students.

The achievement disparity existed in all subjects (reading, math and science) and was true for both white and black students.

Curriculum specialist Rhoda Boyd can attest to the academic gaps at Berkeley Middle.

"We have gaps with academic growth, particularly our male students.

Female students tend to do better than our male students," she said.

Along with gender achievement gaps, there are also student achievement gaps in the categories of socio-economics and ethnicity.

The purpose of Making Middle Grades Work is to help schools, such as Berkeley Middle, close achievement gaps with its comprehensive improvement framework.

"We have wealthy children in this school and we have the poorest of the poor. And so, the gaps are very wide," Boyd commented.

The reason for focusing on the middle grades is "In the 6th grade, it's such a transition socially, emotionally, workload, academically that it overwhelms them, many of them," said Berkeley Middle’s 6th Grade Reading Teacher, Pam Bateman.

Bateman said, even though Making Middle Grades Work has only been in full effect at the school for a year, she is already seeing positive results in her classroom.

"We actually just finished our MAPS testing and I just finished comparing my fall to winter scores. I have seen the biggest growth in the children who were functioning the lowest when they came in," she said.

One part of the program focuses on the importance of streamlining academic standards and practices.

At Berkeley Middle, teachers in each subject are now working together to plan their lessons and pace their curriculum as a team.

"We've put so much emphasis on how we teach.

This program is not dealing with how a teacher teaches. It is did they learn it? That is the key element of Making Middle Grades Matter. One of the components is that every child matters," Boyd said.

South Carolina is one of 16 states participating in this middle grades initiative. For more information, visit the Southern Regional Education Board website www.sreb.org.