The National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform (www.mgforum.org) is delighted to establish a relationship with the Hope Foundation (www.hopefoundation.org), and over the upcoming months we will collaborate to spread information about what is working in middle grades schools (grades 5-8) across this country. The Forum's signature program is Schools to Watch (www.schoolstowatch.org), now in 18 states across this country with more than 200 schools identified and serving as models.

The STW criteria are used to guide on-going school improvement efforts. A rigorous review process every three years keeps schools on an upward trajectory for overall student success. Each year, schools convene in DC for a conference that provides a powerful forum for sharing real-world success stories along with timely strategies and information about school cultures that raise students’ outcomes. Many commonalities across these schools are emerging and include:

• Dynamic, visionary principal and teacher leadership
• Challenging curriculum
• Active learning environments
• Test scores continually going up
• Data driven school cultures
• Places full of positive, happy, involved students
• Teams of teachers/students in small learning communities
• Long-term relationships to provide stability
• High levels of faculty commitment
• Attention to the non-cognitive goals of education as well as cognitive
• Extensive family/community involvement.

In the upcoming months, What's Working readers will learn about many of the state initiatives and the impact of STW at the local, state, and national level.

Deborah Kasak is Executive Director of the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform (www.mgforum.org) in Savoy, IL.