Schools to Watch® is an initiative launched by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform in 1999.

The National Forum is an alliance of more than 60 educators, researchers, and officers of national associations and foundations dedicated to improving schools for young adolescents across the country.  The National Forum’s mission is to unite key stakeholders to speak with a common voice to leverage research, policy, leadership, and replicable model practices to drive middle grades reform.

In order to prepare students to be lifelong learners ready for college, career, and citizenship, the National Forum seeks to make every middle grades school academically excellent, responsive to the developmental needs and interests of young adolescents, and socially equitable.

Through the Schools to Watch® initiative, the National Forum identifies schools across the United States that are well on their way to meeting the Forum's criteria for high performance. Forum members believe that three things are true of high-performing middle-grades schools:

• They are academically excellent—these schools challenge all students to use their minds well.

• They are developmentally responsive—these schools are sensitive to the unique developmental challenges of early adolescence.

• They are socially equitable—these schools are democratic and fair, providing every student with high-quality teachers, resources, and supports.

To achieve this level of performance, high-performing schools establish norms, structures, and organizational arrangements to support and sustain their trajectory toward excellence. They have a sense of purpose that drives every facet of practice and decision-making.

STW State Program
Since 2002 all schools to watch are identified through the growing State Program. States appy to be recognized as a state STW, receive technical assistance to establish the state program and conduct the identification process. Each state program serves as a beacon to guide contemporary school improvement and middle-grades educational policy. Read more . . .

Common Threads
While each school faces different challenges related to its location, student demographics, levels of district support, and other factors, the Forum's site visitors observe some common themes across all schools:

• The schools know and articulate the academic outcomes they seek. In some cases, the outcomes are prescribed by the state or district; in others the faculty have adopted the outcomes recommended by their various disciplines.

• The schools are taking deliberate steps to help students achieve those outcomes by making strategic changes in curriculum, teaching, and school services.

• The schools have set benchmarks for implementing their strategies, and hold themselves accountable for specific results. We cannot stress too much the importance of data in the lives of these schools.

• Each school strategically concentrates its energies on important focus areas. As a result, the changes in each school are burrowing deeply into its culture.

• The schools have strong, visionary leaders who can articulate challenging goals, and motivate faculty and staff to reach those goals. 

STW Annual Conference
The Schools to Watch® program identifies and honors schools nationally so all might learn how to achieve academic success through best practices for all young adolescents. Sites selected as Schools to Watch exemplify the National Forum’s vision and serve as resources for other schools. In 2004 the first annual Schools to Watch Conference was held to honor, celebrate, and share the achievements of the first Schools to Watch. The event offers a powerful forum for sharing real-world success stories along with timely strategies and information about school cultures that raise student achievement to meet AYP and support positive student development.  Read more . . .