Becoming an Accelerated Middle School: Initiating School Culture Change (original) (raw)

An ethnographic study was conducted of the first year of implementation of the Accelerated Schools Project in a pilot middle school. The interaction between intervention and the existing school culture is studied through multiple interviews with teachers, support staff, administrators, students, and parents as well as observation and review of relevant documents. The goals of the Accelerated Schools Project are to raise expectations for students in high-risk situations and to move decision making about curriculum, instruction, and organization of schools to the school level. Calhoun Middle School is an inner-city school in California with a largely Hispanic population. The Accelerated Schools philosophy and process were implemented in the school. The inquiry process of implementation and the five cadres established to study instruction, culture, student interaction, family involvement, and curriculum are reviewed. Primary changes observed in the first year were related to staff, administration, and school organization. Problems in the process, including the state fiscal crisis, are described; and factors that kept the effort alive are detailed. An epilogue sketches the second project year. (SLD)