Middle school reform: Constructing an audit tool for practical purposes

Abstract

Outcomes of a national study funded by the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (Pendergast et al., 2005) investigating the practices, processes, strategies and structures that promote lifelong learning and the development of lifelong learners in the middle years of schooling have been previously published in this journal (Pendergast, 2006). The paper reported on the development of a three-phase model that can be used to guide the sequence in which schools undertaking middle schooling reform attend to particular core component changes. The model was developed from the extensive analysis of 25 innovative schools around the nation and provided a unique insight into the desirable sequences and time spent achieving reforms, along with typical pitfalls that lead to a regression in the reform process. The model has subsequently proven to be an invaluable guide for schools and education systems on the reform path. Importantly, the model confirms that schooling reform takes much more time than planners typically expect or allocate. It also confirms that there are predictable and identifiable inhibitors to achieving reform. Since the model has been in use, an audit tool has been developed to assist in determining the phase of reform, and to assist in the process of reforming the middle years, in the unique context of the individual school. This paper shares an example of the audit tool in use, and how it has benefitted the reported site to advance the middle years agendas at the local site.