Click the Icon to Go Back to the Framework	Theme
	Recognition, Intervention, & Adjustments
	School Level
	Apply resources to intervene to remove barriers to learning

In higher-performing schools, special and regular education and AIS (Academic Support Services) are tightly connected. In middle school, emotional and social well being are seen to be intertwined with academic performance. At the middle level, therefore, it is more likely for schools to provide formal and informal mentoring and support.

In higher-performing middle schools, academic teams first seek to remove barriers to learning through differentiated instruction and/or in consultation with specialists such as social workers and guidance counselors, who serve on "student support groups" along with teachers.

In addition to AIS, teachers notify the principal who then schedules a meeting with, for example, the school psychologist, head of curriculum, resource specialist, speech specialist, present and previous teachers, and sometimes parents, concerning struggling students’ needs. This "child study team" then recommends interventions, identifies the intensity of services, and exit criteria for high, medium, and low intensity levels of support. The team meets regularly throughout the school year and when a team meets the next year they review what has been done and carry forward students’ portfolios.

Schools not only honor academic achievement, but also recognize effort and character. The focus is on developing good citizens who show caring for others and their community in addition to high academic performance.

Queensbury Middle School, Queensbury Union Free School District (NY) uses parent and student pledge forms for participation in an after school tutorial.

Vernon-Verona-Sherrill Middle School, Sherrill City School District (NY) uses a form to outline the mutual responsibilities of teacher, student, and parent.

At Vernon-Verona-Sherrill Middle School, Sherrill City School District (NY), parents seeking weekly reports begin the process with this form.