Six NJ middle schools designated Schools to Watch for academic excellence and more

Marsha A. Stoltz, NorthJersey.com
·2 min read
1

Four North Jersey middle schools are among six in the state to receive National Schools to Watch recognition for 2024, announced by the New Jersey Association for Middle Level Education.

The recognized schools will be acknowledged at the association's state conference at Brookdale College on March 13 and again in June at the National Forum's Schools to Watch Conference in Washington, D.C.

The 2024 schools are:

  • Franklin Lakes: Franklin Avenue Middle School (new designation).

  • Wyckoff: Dwight D. Eisenhower Middle School (redesignation II; first designated in 2016).

  • Wayne: George Washington Middle School (redesignation I; first designated in 2020).

  • Butler: Richard Butler Middle School (new designation).

  • Clark: Carl H. Kumpf Middle School.

  • Basking Ridge: William Annin Middle School.

Richard Butler Middle School in Butler
Richard Butler Middle School in Butler

These bring up the number of Schools to Watch in the state to 14.

Schools apply for the designation and are evaluated in four categories: academic excellence, developmental responsiveness, social equity, and organizational structures and processes. Schools that meet the National Forum’s criteria are selected for a site visit by a team of middle-level educators from around the state.

Dwight D. Eisenhower Middle School in Wyckoff
Dwight D. Eisenhower Middle School in Wyckoff

Schools must also collaborate with other middle-level schools as mentors and open their schools for other professionals to visit to see their practices. Schools are recognized for three years and at the end must demonstrate progress on specific goals to be redesignated.

More: Can Passaic's plan to create more affordable housing units work for other NJ towns?

George Washington Middle School in Wayne
George Washington Middle School in Wayne

The program was launched in 1999 by the National Forum Advancing Excellence in the Middle Grades, an alliance of educators, researchers, national associations and education foundations dedicated to improving middle-grades education for young adolescents. New Jersey became part of the forum in 2007 in partnership with the state Education Department.

For more information on the Schools to Watch program, contact co-directors Rick Delmonaco and Aimee Toth at schoolstowatch@njamle.org or visit njschoolstowatch.org.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Six NJ middle schools designated Schools to Watch. See the list