There's a reason most of the successful public schools in Dallas and Texas serve elementary school students or high schoolers. Campuses at those levels have received most of the attention of reformers.
Plus, they don't deal with the unique physical, emotional and intellectual challenges that middle schoolers face. Researcher Angela Saleh nailed it when she wrote in a recent WilliamsInstitute briefing paper that "only as infants do children change more quickly than they do in adolescence."
Fortunately, the dilemma has become a raging discussion around the country. The latest to join it are Sens. Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Barack Obama of Illinois. The Democrats introduced legislation last week to grant $1 billion a year to states to reach struggling middle schoolers.
We applaud their proposal and hope Texas Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn support it. But we also offer some caution. The feds must target this funding in efforts that show results. Otherwise, the money could go down a rat hole.
The Bush administration has been showing how to do invest wisely with a new reading program for middle schoolers. Striving Readers handed out about $150 million in grants last year to districts that use scientific research to develop better reading instruction.
There's no reason the Reed-Obama proposal couldn't build upon the administration's Striving Readers initiative or the reading screening program that the Texas Legislature established for struggling middle schoolers. There should be a precondition that the money go to states that have a clear, proven strategy.
In Dallas, middle schools like Irma Rangel have succeeded because they have broken the mold. The all-girl public school ranks among Dallas' highest-performing, despite residing in one of the city's toughest areas. This is the type of practice the Reed-Obama proposal should duplicate.
The senators are clearly onto something. Too many students get lost in those difficult adolescent years. It's now a matter of finding the best strategies to help them navigate the transition from elementary school to high school.