MIDDLE SCHOOL MOMENT Community Screening Guide A Special FRONTLINE Resource for the Dropout Nation Community Engagement Campaign Middle School Moment Community Screening Guide Table Of Contents FRONTLINE’s Dropout Nation Community Engagement Campaign.....1 Introduction to Middle School Moment ................................................ 2 Using the Middle School Moment Film for Outreach ........................2 Preparing for a Screening The Value of Partnerships .....................................................3 Partners to Include ..............................................................3 Strategies for Facilitators .....................................................3 Recommended Screening Format ..........................................4 What Is the “Dropout Crisis”? (Optional Handouts) The National Context ...........................................................5 The State and Local Context ................................................6 What Do You Know About Middle Schoolers? ........................7 Discussion Questions: Middle School Moment .................................... 8 Moving Forward: Taking Action What Can We Do? (Optional Handout) ........................................... 9 Models for Action (Optional Handout) .....................................................10 Resources for Learning More .......................................................12 Appendix A: Mentor: The National Mentoring Partnership Fact Sheet ...............13 Credits Middle School Moment Discussion Guide was developed by Sandy St. Louis, project manager for FRONTLINE’s Dropout Nation community engagement campaign. The guide was written by Anne O’Brien, Deputy Director for Learning First Alliance. Advisers on this guide include Jean E. Rhodes, Ph.D., National Mentoring Partnership Professor, University of Massachusetts, Boston; S. Kwesi Rollins, Director of Leadership Programs, Institute for Educational Leadership; Amy Shaw, Senior Vice President of Community Engagement, Nine Network of Public Media; and Karen Zill, educational consultant. Middle School Moment is a FRONTLINE production with Left/Right Docs. The producer and director is Mary Robertson. The writer is Frank Koughan. FRONTLINE is produced by WGBH Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. The deputy executive producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath. The executive producer of FRONTLINE is David Fanning. © 2012 WGBH Educational Foundation ii Middle School Moment Community Screening Guide FRONTLINE’s Dropout Nation Community Engagement Campaign ropping out of high school has devastating conse- series of groundbreaking documentaries with community Dquences, not only for students and schools but for engagement activities and resources aimed at identifying communities and our country. While the national gradua- opportunities for adults to get involved in helping students tion rate has improved in recent years, one in four students graduate from high school. still do not finish on time. Every year, hundreds of thousands Ending the high school dropout crisis is not only a of teenagers in the United States quit high school without priority for public media. It’s a growing national movement diplomas—an epidemic so out of control that nobody knows that involves many groups—parents, faith-based institutions, the exact number. What is clear is that massive dropout schools, businesses, political leaders and community organi- rates cripple individual career prospects and cloud the zations among them. To encourage community conversations country’s future. on this issue, FRONTLINE has created a specially edited PBS’s acclaimed documentary series FRONTLINE DVD titled Middle School Moment with an accompanying is taking on the dropout issue. We are joining forces with discussion guide designed to help facilitate community the Corporation for Public Broadcasting on American screenings. The goal of such screenings is to spur audiences Graduate: Let’s Make It Happen, a nationwide public to action and to make them aware that a strong support media initiative to help local communities across the system for students during the middle grades will have a United States address the dropout crisis. FRONTLINE’s positive impact on high school graduation rates. Dropout Nation community campaign combines a AMERICA N GRA DUATE C ITIES • Alabama Alabama Public Television • Indianapolis, IN WFYI • Rio Piedras, PR WMTJ • Amarillo, TX KACV • Jackson, MS Mississippi Public Broadcasting • Rochester, NY WXXI • Atlanta, GA Georgia Public Broadcasting • Jacksonville, FL WJCT • Sacramento, CA KVIE Public Television • Atlanta, GA Jazz 91.9 FM (WCLK-FM) • Las Vegas, NV Vegas PBS (KLVX) • San Antonio, TX Texas PBS (KLRN) • Baton Rouge, LA Louisiana Public • Lincoln, NE Nebraska Educational • San Francisco, CA KQED (KTEH, KQET, KQEI) Broadcasting Telecommunications (NET) • Shreveport, LA KDAQ-FM Red River Radio • Binghamton, NY WSKG • Mancos, CO KSJD-FM • Springfield, MA WGBY • Chapel Hill, NC North Carolina Public Radio • Miami, FL South Florida (WLRN) • Southern California KOCE/KLCS/KVCR • Charlotte, NC WTVI • Milwaukee,WI Milwaukee Public Television • St. Paul, MN Twin Cities Public Television • Chicago, IL WTTW • Minneapolis, MN KMOJ-FM • St. Louis, MO Nine Network of Public • Cincinnati, OH CET • Moline, IL WQPT Media (KETC) • Columbia, SC SCETV • Montgomery, AL WVAS-FM • Syracuse, NY WCNY • Columbus, OH WOSU Public Media • Nashville, TN Nashville Public Television • Tacoma, WA KBTC • Conway, AR AETN • New Mexico KNME • Tallahassee, FL WFSU • Cookeville, TN WCTE • New Orleans, LA WYES • Tampa, FL WUSF/WEDU • Daytona Beach, FL WDSC • New York WNET • Toledo, OH WGTE • Denver, CO KUVO-FM • Norfolk/Hampton, VA WHRO • Troy, NY WMHT • Denver, CO Colorado Public Television (KBDI) • Owings Mills, MD Maryland Public Television • Washington, DC WETA/WHUT-TV/WAMU • Detroit, MI Detroit Public Television (DPTV) • Philadelphia, PA WHYY • Whitesburg, KY WMMT-FM • Fayetteville, NC WFSS-FM • Phoenix, AZ Radio Campesina Network • Winston-Salem, NC WFDD-FM • Fresno, CA Valley PBS (KVPT) • Reno, NV KNPB • Grand Rapids, MI WGVU • Research Triangle Park, NC UNC-TV 1 Middle School Moment Community Screening Guide Introduction to Middle School Moment marina Cabrera, a student at Middle School 244 in O the Bronx, was struggling. With difficulties at home ranging from eviction to the death of her estranged father, her school life began to suffer. She didn’t know it, but she was starting down a path traveled by millions of students each year: the path to dropping out. Her principal, Dolores Peterson, noticed that something was wrong. While Omarina was performing well in her classes, she had amassed a few absences and had begun to Middle School 244 Principal Dolores Peterson meets with Catherine Miller, one of her teachers. withdraw. In some schools, this might have gone unobserved, but the school administrators at M.S. 244 have come up with reflect on how circumstances influence behavior and choices, a novel way to identify and react to changes in their students’ and on the impact that a robust support system has on a behavior—changes that at first glance may seem minor. child’s life chances. Middle School Moment explores a growing body of evidence that suggests that the make-or-break moment Using the Middle School for high school dropouts may actually be in middle school. While educators have long recognized the importance of the Moment Film for Outreach middle grades—and the vulnerability of students in them— his guide is intended to aid in the facilitation of middle schools have frequently been overlooked in conver- community screenings of Middle School Moment. sations about the dropout crisis. But that is changing, and T It is provided to help audiences understand the dropout middle schools are taking center stage as an important key crisis and consider how they, as individuals and as a to improving high school graduation rates. community, might take action. Use this film and Robert Balfanz is a leading education researcher at discussion guide to: Johns Hopkins University who has been studying the population of children who drop out of high school. He has Raise community awareness about: found that a key moment when kids start down the wrong • The national dropout crisis path is in middle school. According to his research, if a • The dropout issue in your community sixth-grade student in a high-poverty environment attends • The importance of the middle grades and school less than 80 percent of the time, fails math or English, the vulnerability of students in them or receives an unsatisfactory behavior grade in a core course, then—absent effective intervention—there is a 75 percent Increase community engagement in: chance that he or she will drop out of high school. • Supporting local schools Balfanz and others believe that these indicators offer • Supporting local youth a sign of hope. Once students demonstrating these traits Mentoring and volunteerism are identified, they can be targeted for intervention. And • in Middle School Moment, viewers see what that looks like, as M.S. 244 puts Balfanz’s research into action. Middle School Moment sparks discussions about the challenges that youth face both in and out of school and about how communities, institutions and individuals can better meet their needs. It allows viewers the opportunity to 2 Middle School Moment Community Screening Guide Establish Ground Rules Preparing for a Screening: Make clear how people should indicate when they want a The Value of Partnerships