Whenever I mention I taught middle school, the reactions are predictable: either a wide-eyed “Wow, you’re so brave!” or a grim “Middle school? That was the worst time of my life.” While it’s true that these years can be challenging for many students, I discovered something special during my time as a teacher. There’s a unique joy in witnessing who middle school students are becoming—caught between the fun of childhood and the journey into young adulthood.

One of the most effective ways to provide intervention for secondary students is through a school-wide WIN (What I Need)period. WIN is a scheduled but flexible time block where teachers provide targeted support and enrichment to students based on their individual needs. WIN time should be planned to include both intervention and enrichment.

When launching a school-wide or district-wide initiative like WIN time, several legitimate concerns arise:

• How do we schedule the time with all the competing priorities?
• What should teachers do with the time?
• How do we ensure dynamic groups allow students to move in and out as needed?
• How do we support teachers in effectively implementing interventions? 

“Literacy is the foundation of all learning. When students struggle with reading, they struggle with everything else in school,” Dr. Katherine McKnight 

According to data from the American Enterprise Institute and EdWeek Research Center, school districts across the country are reporting sharp and consistent increases in chronic absenteeism and behavior problems, both of which are negatively impacting academic achievement. While many districts believe these problems are a result of the pandemic, the fact remains these are serious problems that require real-time interventions to get students back on track.

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In my decade in the classroom, I worked with several co-teachers. Some were special education teachers, some para-educators, ELL teachers, and even gifted and talented teachers. Each year, the co-teaching relationship worked differently. And yes, some were more successful than others. But when we had planning time and appropriate facilitation, co-teaching benefited not only the students who required extra support but all the students in my classes.

A critical part of education is helping students build the life skills and resiliency they need to complete high school and successfully transition to adult life. Branching Minds partners with The Jed Foundation (JED) to bring practical resources to high school classrooms that are informed by direct research with high school students about what they need as they graduate. These areas include:

A well-functioning Early Warning System (EWS) plays a crucial role in helping schools identify and support students at risk of school failure. By tracking key indicators such as attendance, behavior, and course performance, EWS enables schools to intervene early and prevent students from falling through the cracks. But how can schools maximize the impact of EWS to ensure student success?

In our podcast conversation, Sarah Frazelle, Senior Researcher and MTSS Trainer at AIR, shared valuable insights into the best practices for using an Early Warning System to drive equitable outcomes for all students.

“Early warning indicator systems are about that threshold that we're going to intervene at early. It is the actionable piece to have more equitable student outcomes as well. It’s not just the kids that are on our hearts and minds that we're supporting. It's also those kids who are really quiet. They show up all the time, but maybe they're not getting good grades, you know. So we really are trying to figure out why students are struggling.”

- Sarah Frazelle, Senior Researcher and MTSS Trainer at AIR

Branching Minds is excited to partner with The Jed Foundation (JED) to bring essential resources to high school classrooms through the Branching Minds Support Library. Informed by direct research with high school students about what they need as they graduate, these new support cards offer concrete tips, tools, and resources on a comprehensive range of topics geared toward helping students manage the transition out of high school. Carefully curated and evidence-based, these resources provide teachers and students with accessible and actionable advice to aid in this critical — and often difficult — transition. 

As a professional development consultant for Branching Minds, I work with teachers and administrators from all over the country. I frequently get asked how progress monitoring should look at the middle school and high school levels.

One of the most challenging parts of my work as a High School Administrator was coaching my teachers and staff on the importance of making decisions based on assessment data. During my initial one-on-one meetings with my teachers and staff, I would ask them, “What assessment data are you using to drive your decision-making and instruction to meet the needs of your students? Most times, I would get a blank stare, or as my nephew says, I would hear crickets. Other times I would receive a response like this: “I did not need a test to tell me; I just know my students.”