Schools to Watch ® The National Forum established criteria that are the basis for the Schools to Watch Program ®. The program focuses on school improvement efforts characterized by a continuous trajectory toward success. ​ The Schools to Watch program has state directors in 18 states: Arizona | Arkansas | California | Colorado | Georgia | Illinois | Indiana | Kentucky | Michigan | New Jersey | New York | North Carolina | Ohio | Pennsylvania | South Carolina | Texas | Utah | Virginia ​ If your state is not listed above, please download the National Schools to Watch Application . ​ 2025 STW Applications You can download your state's application instructions through the links above (coming soon). Applications are normally due in the Fall, but you can contact your State Director for specific due dates for each state. Steps to becoming designated as a Schools to Watch® 1. Download your state's application instructions through the links above (coming soon). 2. Request access and complete the Schools to Watch Self-Study & Rating Rubric . 3. (Optional) Purchase the School Improvement Toolkit . As an alternative, you may contact your State Director . If your state does not currently have a State Director, please download the National Schools to Watch Application . If you are interested in becoming a State Director (or know someone who might be interested), please contact us . ​ Not quite ready to become a Schools to Watch®? Use the Schools to Watch Self-Study & Rating Rubric for school improvement. The rubric is available to share with your administration and faculty if you should want to use it as a school improvement tool without applying for recognition at this time. ​ The National Forum offers a School Improvement Toolkit to guide you through the Schools to Watch Self-Study & Rating Rubric and the STW application process. The cost of the toolkit is $50 and you can purchase a digital copy in our store . You can also join us in Washington, D.C., Jun e 20-22, 2024 for the National STW Conference , and learn about the process from those who have done it before! Advancing excellence in the middle grades Our Mission Apply Applications are normally due in the Fall, but you can contact your State Director for specific due dates for each state. ​ Applications for 2024 are coming soon! Celebrate All Schools to Watch are honored at the National STW Conference in June in Washington, D.C.

Alta Loma Junior High School Alta Loma School District San Bernardino Andrew Carter, Principal Enrollment: 641. Grade Levels: 7-8. School Characteristics and Replicable Practices Rotating schedule means students experience each class at different times of day Administrators greet students from open gates until school bell rings for rapport building PBIS tickets from staff to students can be used to earn items Students can request administrator appointments in-person or online Teachers alternate between assembly duty/team planning meetings during assemblies

Greenbrier Middle School 2016-2017 SCHOOL STATISTICS Designated in 2017 School Enrollment - 546 Grade Levels - 6-7 Free/ Reduced Lunch 39.19% English Learners 1.9% Demographics African American - 1.5% Asian - 0.8% White - 93.2% Filipino - 0% Hispanic - 3% Native American - 0.2% School Characteristics and Replicable Practices Academic Excellence “It is the mission of Greenbrier Middle School to empower students to be successful, productive leaders in society. We are devoted to an engaging and rigorous curriculum, to a safe and student-centered environment, and to innovative teaching and learning that is built on stakeholder collaboration to educate the whole child.” These are not just words to the staff at Greenbrier Middle School, instead they are what drives us each and every day to be the best for our students and their families. We hold high expectations for teaching and learning, which is evidenced by the following practices that take place at Greenbrier Middle School. Teachers have collaborated and developed YAGs (Year at a Glance) documents that identify both content and literacy standards, topics/themes, texts, resources, and student projects for all units of study throughout the year. Training has been provided for teachers on identifying power standards so that emphasis can be placed on skills that will help students across the curriculum. LDC (Literacy by Design) modules are used in Literacy classrooms, as well as content areas of social studies and science in order to develop student’s competencies in reading research, and writing skills. MDC (Math by Design) units are utilized in all math classes to supplement the CMP curriculum with pre and post assessments that drive daily instruction. Based on work done by the school’s Leadership Team, an intervention period called Fast Focus, takes place 4 days a week, targeting math, literacy, and science remediation based on student needs. Once a week this period is used as student club time, and the last week of the month it is used as a student data day. Both grade level and content level PLC’s use student data from common formative assessments to plan for re-teaching skills during a daily Fast Focus intervention time. In addition, quarterly meetings are held to review student data based on summative testing and teachers use a visual, interaction assessment wall to move students to quadrats as based on their achievement and growth patterns.’ As evidence of our “whatever it takes” district motto, Greenbrier Middle School has developed a no zero policy, with the expectation that all students will complete every assignment. Using the Power of ICU book study and accompanying database parents are notified at the beginning of the week if students have missing work from the prior week. Working lunches for students to complete their assignments are held beginning on Wednesdays and continue each day until Friday. On Friday, our No Fail Friday time kicks in and students are pulled from elective and athletic courses to complete any work that is still not complete. The use of technology in instruction is an expectation for all classrooms at GMS, to include tools such as Google classroom, Smart boards, Kid blogs, Apple TV’s, and many others. Teachers utilize over 10 Google Chromebook carts to ensure that students are learning how to participate in digital learning communities and develop their technology skills. Our EAST (Environmental and Spatial Technologies) classes are open to students in both 6th and 7th grade, who demonstrate an interest in using tehccn9ology to learn problem solving skills as well as participate in project based learning, to conclude projects focused on serving the overall community. Students are encouraged to keep their own data notebook throughout the year, where they are able to reflect on their own individual test scores including the NWEA MAP, ACT Aspire interims and classroom assessments, grades, and work samples. Students have a data day on the last Wednesday of each month where they work on developing a SMART goal A variety or courses are available to students to differentiate as based on student needs including Pre-AP in all core subjects, co-teaching for math and literacy, and Learning Strategies courses to further met student’s individual learning needs and provide remediation. Teachers work to use a variety of instructional methods with emphasis on cooperative learning and projects. Middle School OEP Awards 2014 Grade 7 Literacy-GMS #8 Overall in Arkansas 2014 Grade 7 Math Achievement-GMS #1 in Central Arkansas Region 2014 Top 5 Overall Middle Schools by Grade in Literacy Benchmark Achievement-GMS #2 2014 Top 3 Schools by Grade Level in Central Arkansas-Literacy Achievement-GMS #1 2015 Top 25 Schools in State based on the Science Benchmark Exam-GMS #4 2015 Top 5 Schools in the Central Region based on the Science Benchmark Exam-GMS #1 2016 Overall High Achieving ACT Aspire-GMS #6 2016 Overall High Achieving ACT Aspire Central Region-GMS #1 2016 Overall High Achieving in Math ACT Aspire 2016-GMS #8 2016 Overall High Achieving in Math ACT Aspire Central Region-GMS #2 2016 Overall High Achieving in Literacy ACT Aspire-GMS #8 2016 Overall High Achieving in Literacy ACT Aspire Central Region-#3 2016 Overall High Achieving in Science ACT Aspire-GMS #6 2016 Overall High Achieving in Science ACT Apsire Central Region-#1 Developmental Responsiveness Greenbrier Middle School evidences high performance in the realm of being sensitive to the unique developmental challenges of early adolescents. The environment of Greenbrier Middle School is personalized in many ways. Intellectual development is supported through strategic creation of Fast Focus groups so that students receive enrichment and/or remediation based on their current levels of learning. Through these groups, each student also creates a data notebook that identified their current progress in learning through many data sets, such as through student and family input in selection of elective courses. Every GMS student has an advocate via their Fast Focus teacher. Fast Focus is a period built into the school day that incorporates relationship building, teamwork, personal and academic growth, goal setting, and more. Each teacher also identifies “claimed kids” on our assessment wall who are in need of an additional adult advocate, and writes SMART goals on how to specifically build stronger and better relationships with those identified students Core teacher and student teams in 6th grade and math/literacy teacher and student teams in 7th grade are created for smaller communities with the goal of increasing and improving collaboration and communication to support students. Content teams with elective teacher members make up several professional learning communities throughout the school, who meet at least weekly on topics to improve teaching and learning. These PLCs created team identities based on individual strengths identified in Marcus Buckingham’s Stand Out Strengths assessment, then created charters in order to establish norms, responsibilities, and goals. The Student Intervention and multiple other teams and committees collaborate regularly to support students, families, and improvement. Staff members participate in training on how to handle student problems prevalent for this age group,, such as the book study of AMLE’s This We Believe and connecting each school initiative and program to one of the 16 characteristics. Ruby Payne’s poverty research and materials have provided additional support for staff members, while they also receive specific professional development on suicide prevention, identifying abuse or neglect, bullying, and more. Teachers are trained in the Response to Intervention model, SIT procedures, and a wide variety of instructional strategies in order to maximize support for academic problems. GMS offers many co-curricular activities such as the Clubnections described above, 7th grade athletics (basketball, football, volleyball, track, cross country), other clubs and student groups (books clubs, ACS, G4, student ambassadors, student council). Interests in the fine arts are also supported through many Clubnections (Drama, Art, Photography I, Photography II, Voices, Fashion with Attention to Details) as well as courses (art, band, general music, choir). Unique fitness and health opportunities exist through Clubnections such as Movin’ and Groovin’, Baton Twirling, Weight Lifting, and Lifetime Sports. The school wide fitness program increases interest of these students as well with morning courtyard fitness, brain break, Google Classroom for embedding physical activity across the curriculum, and stability balls. Through many of these groupings students are continually involved with other students with very similar interests and goals, and therefore increasing opportunities to practice effective social skills outside of the regular classroom setting with peers with whom they are comfortable. In addition to science labs taking place at least weekly, a Maker Space Classroom, Mobile Makerspaces, choice boards, Ignite 360, coding in business classes, student and teacher facilitated Digital Learning Day, and other opportunities outside of the classroom further develop interests of students with such focuses. A goal for the VIP program is for students to understand appropriate behavior, attire, and social skills for various settings, and therefore lessons on etiquette, hygiene, ordering from menus, use of formal table setting, etc, are embedded into bi weekly VIP sessions after school. Social Equity Greenbrier Middle School is socially equitable, democratic, and fair, and provides every student with highquality teachers, resources, learning opportunities, and supports. Positive options are continually open for all students. All faculty and administrators are committed to helping each student produce proficient work and master skills. Essential questions and student learning objectives communicate the learning expectations, rubrics are used across the content, students have opportunities to improve their work and re-take tests, and teachers focus on the quality of work even when turned in late because of our ICU program. Teachers specifically plan for differentiation for co-taught, regular, and pre advanced placements classes in order to help all ranges of learners reach proficiency. Other opportunities include before school Homework Club, lunch time and after school tutoring, Very Important Panther after school program, learning strategies courses for students to receive double blocks of math or literacy instruction as needed, pre advanced placement core courses, Clubnections, Destination Imagination, Quiz Bowl, Chess competitions. Protected time and teachers for accelerated, short term interventions for students with similar needs is provided through Fast Focus built into the master schedule. Math & literacy teachers facilitate small, fluid intervention groups while all other students participate in tier 1 instruction or enrichment activities with assigned teachers. All students participate in any of the services that support their learning, regardless of ethnicity, disability, language proficiency, or gifted status. Teachers include methods for differentiation for co-teaching, regular, and pre advanced placement classes in their lesson plans, including time, processes, learning products, student choices, level 2 co-teaching strategies, learning environment, etc. A wide variety of learning experiences include integrated Literacy Design Collaborative modules, science labs, interactive notebooks, extensive cooperative learning, field trips, service based learning projects, hands on activities, use of manipulatives and equipment, and a variety of digital and technology tools. Every GMS student is recognized throughout the school year with academic, PRIDE, and/or Clubnection awards at quarterly awards assemblies based on their strengths, growth, and/or achievement. Teachers also nominate students weekly who are noticed going above and beyond in PRIDE. Conversations and collaboration about students are results oriented with the 95/5 mindset (5% problem, 95% solution). Conversations about late, missing work are directed by four common questions used by all staff that are all focused on completing the work rather than irresponsibility or organization. GMS’ PRIDE matrix gives multiple positive examples of what each character word looks like in action rather than a list of “do not” rules, which is an asset in discussions about behavior and choices. Every student has an adult advocate through their Fast Focus teacher. While our assessment wall tracks achievement and growth with quantitative data, it also uniquely tracks qualitative data of relationships and connections with students. Students with minimal or no connections with adults at school are selected by each teacher as his/her “claimed kids,” and teachers write SMART goals on how to strengthen the relationships with those students. Greenbrier Middle School has well established norms, structures, and organizational arrangements to support and sustain its trajectory toward excellence. Staff members, students, parents, and community all shared input in the process of creating the GMS mission, vision, and core beliefs. Question stems regarding what the perfect school looks like, sounds like, and feels like to each shareholder group guided the creation while the leadership team crafted the statements. The GMS Vision, “To be the turning point in teaching, leading, and learning,” describes the mindset of constantly looking down the road to how we want to be described 10 years from now. GMS strives to be the most effective turning point for middle school age students as they transition from elementary to secondary school, from childhood to teenage years, while also be the leading trend setter and model school locally to nationally. The shared mission and vision is the foundation of our culture of distributed leadership, including student leadership via student council, ambassadors, Student Leadership Team, Clubnections, and academics. The Student Leadership Team was a leading force in communicating problem areas on campus in regards to behavior and developing the PRIDE matrix. Leadership is distributed to parents through Parent Advisory Council, PTO, and the abundance of parent input tools used. PAC has the specific goal to become more informed about aspects of GMS and tell our school story in the community, while also giving input and parent perspectives to the parent involvement facilitator. Evidence from its impact include when PAC shared confusion between Home Access Center, Google Classroom, and ICU, which led to a technology family night to teach parents the purpose and how to use each. Community members are included in leadership through our Smile Starters program, allowing for them to serve as door greeters at school, continue the morning with learning walks through classrooms, and debrief with administrators or lead teachers about current education topics, our school or district, and any other questions they may have. Community members also share leadership as they are connections to each Clubnection. A teacher leadership team represents each grade level and content/team, including elective teachers and special education, who studied Professional Learning Communities at Work, lead PLCs, developed initiatives such as Clubnection, Walk in My Shoes Night, etc. A branch of this team is the Arkansas Leadership Academy Team, which is participating in year 2 of Team Institute for its own leadership development and to develop school improvement goals. An evidence example is this team moving GMS from a weekly intervention period to a daily intervention period built into the master schedule (Fast Focus). “Be the Turning Point” and related arrow logos are posted on newsletters, communication tools, throughout the campus, on apparel, on social media. GMS continually collects, analyzes, reflects on, and uses data to make decisions, with data sets from pre/post Measures of Academic Progress assessment, ACT Aspire assessments, behavior data, SAI and other perception surveys, ICU, IXL intervention/enrichment, Edutyping, assessment wall, relationships/connections as qualitative data, Stand Out results, interest inventories, and more. This data is used to identify areas of growth and make improvements, such as tally marks used on student assessment wall photographs to communicate which teachers have a strong relationship with each at risk student. Teachers then “claimed” students who needed to be more connected with adults at school and wrote SMART goals to carry this out. MAP data analysis completed by all teachers helps them identify whether each of their course sections need more support in vocabulary acquisitions or informational text components. Other other data sets are used for the same purposes, to improve our school and student learning. By these constant cycles of action research taking place throughout the school, staff members continually strive to meet the mission and vision collaboratively created and determine which actions may or may not be meeting the expectation set out in core beliefs. The leadership team and family night committee facilitate Walk in My Shoes Family Night each May so that families of all entering 5th graders can tour the campus, meet and have conversations with staff members, receive important information about programs and courses, and ease the transition to secondary schools. Throughout the summer, families attend fluid, flexible registration days to better familiarize themselves with the campus, set up and practice lockers, complete paperwork, etc, and then are invited to a formal Parent Orientation to further communicate with teachers. Similar transition occurs through Career Action Planning conferences for exiting 7th graders going to GJHS. The district supports all of the above mentioned adult learning experiences and funds ALA Team Institute, the annual retreat, PBIS, EAST, and other specific professional learning experiences. Time is allowed to visit other classrooms and even other schools as requested to broaden networks and support continual improvement. District wide focuses on RTI, power standards, curriculum development, use of assessments, and PBIS maintain solid collaboration between GMS and the district, showing GMS as an integral part of our district and educational system. GMS’s extensive collaboration with the larger Greenbrier community and region is evidence through Clubnections and Smile Starters, while in the educational realm both teachers and administrators present GMS’ work from regional to national levels while also hosting several other schools on campus to learn from our programs, hence striving towards our vision “to be the turning point.” Organizational Support Our practice of shared leadership across the building helps ensure that we work every day to fulfill our mission statement and provide the best possible environment for student success. As a Professional Learning Community, we have embraced the belief that "all" means "all" and that learning cannot be optional for students. Content specific collaborative teams meet weekly to determine essential learning outcomes, create assessments for those outcomes, and analyze data to identify which students need additional time and support to reach proficiency, as well as which students are ready to extend their learning. As a leadership team, we are intentional about modeling for our staff the characteristics of continuous learning, experimentation, and reflection on a daily basis. We continually read about and expose ourselves to new ideas, then share with each other what we are learning. At Elmwood, we work hard to develop relationships with all the members of our larger educational system. We work very closely with our feeder schools to host events that invite families of future raiders into the building to begin learning about our culture.

Shoreline Middle School Live Oak School District Santa Cruz County Colleen Martin, Principal Enrollment: 450. Grade Levels: 7-8. School Characteristics and Replicable Practices Student-led parent conferences for all students Equitable report card shares standards-based academic progress, student work habits Awesome Time allows interactivity before state testing sessions begin Google slide-based morning announcements Restorative, reverse referrals: administrators go to classes with disruptive behavior

Oxford Preparatory Academy - South Orange County Oxford Prep SOC Orange County Kerry Velez, Principal Enrollment: 870. Grade Levels: TK-8. School Characteristics and Replicable Practices MTSS addresses students’ individual academic, behavioral, social-emotional needs Champion profile defines student skills/competencies to cultivate Parent ambassador program supports parent leadership, education, voice Weekly professional learning planning on data, assessment, pacing, vertical planning Data-informed, six-week intervention program support literacy and math skills

Animo Florence-Firestone Middle School Los Angeles Unified School District Los Angeles County Joshua Hartford, Principal Enrollment: 450. Grade Levels: 7-8. School Characteristics and Replicable Practices Mixed grade-level math intervention leveled by student need Advisory class facilitates academic mindset and social-emotional growth Double-literacy and Double-STEM schedule for all students Weekly PD and collaboration time without extending the work day Reverse referrals: Push-in support so that students stay in class

James Workman Middle School Palm Springs Unified School District Riverside County Victoria Chavez, Principal Enrollment: 1,040. Grade Levels: 6-8. School Characteristics and Replicable Practices School-wide PBIS Tiers II and III referral process Professional learning communities Panorama student groups Instructional rounds

Elmwood Middle School 2018-2019 SCHOOL STATISTICS Designated in 2019 Community Size - Suburban School Enrollment - 850 Grade Levels - 6-8 School Calendar - traditional Free & Reduced Lunch - 48% English Learners - 22% Students with Disabilities - 13% Demographics African American - 3% Asian - 2% Caucasian - 49% Filipino - 0% Hispanic - 43% Native American - 3% Pacific Islander - 2% Other - 0% Two or More - 0% School Characteristics and Replicable Practices Academic Excellence At Elmwood Middle School, all students are expected to meet high academic standards. Teachers spend time determining priority standards and coming to a collective agreement on the interpretation of the standard. Clear learning targets, clear expectations of proficiency, and targeted common formative assessments have been beneficial for collaboration among teachers when planning interventions for students who have not yet reached proficiency. Teachers make connections across the disciplines to reinforce important concepts and to assist students to think critically and apply what they have learned to solve real-world problems. Cooperative learning is visible in many classrooms as several teachers have been through the Kagan training Developmental Responsiveness We have divided all of our students into small advisories within their house teams, which meet daily for 30 minutes. This time of the day is used to provide our students with character education skills to aid in social development, house building skills, study and organizational skills, goal setting skills, as well as academic support and enrichment. Encore teachers make the curriculum varied with activities that provide enrichment in the fine arts, physical education, music, STEM learning, and computer literacy. The special education staff at Elmwood provides a continuum of services for the resource students and the self-contained students. Some student needs are met in the regular classroom using indirect services, where the regular education teachers provide instruction, using needs specific modifications, under the guidance of a special education teacher. To promote family and parental involvement at school, Elmwood offers a variety of programs and activities that foster the alliance between home and school. These include our Friday Fun Night, our Parent/Teacher Conferences, our Open House nights, our annual Career Day event, and our annual Field Day event. Social Equity At Elmwood, failure is not an option, and every student is expected to learn and produce proficient work. Teachers provide students multiple opportunities to display proficiency. Students have one to one access to Chromebooks in all of their core classes. They use Chromebooks to access supplemental resources, collaborate with classmates, and work through inquiry based learning and research. Through our partnership with our local public library, students are given ecard accounts that give them access to all of the public library's electronic resources. Students with disabilities are enrolled in classes that provide the least restrictive environment possible. Students in self-contained classes are enrolled in regular fine arts classes, such as choir and art, and PE classes. The media center has a world languages section with fiction and nonfiction books in Spanish and Marshallese. Spanish and Marshallese speakers make up the largest percentage of our ELL students. Each student at Elmwood is valued and respected. Students are placed in small advisory classes with a 1 to 18 teacher student ratio. They meet multiple times a week throughout the year and utilize that time for team building activities and developing rapport between teachers and students. Organizational Support Our practice of shared leadership across the building helps ensure that we work every day to fulfill our mission statement and provide the best possible environment for student success. As a Professional Learning Community, we have embraced the belief that "all" means "all" and that learning cannot be optional for students. Content specific collaborative teams meet weekly to determine essential learning outcomes, create assessments for those outcomes, and analyze data to identify which students need additional time and support to reach proficiency, as well as which students are ready to extend their learning. As a leadership team, we are intentional about modeling for our staff the characteristics of continuous learning, experimentation, and reflection on a daily basis. We continually read about and expose ourselves to new ideas, then share with each other what we are learning. At Elmwood, we work hard to develop relationships with all the members of our larger educational system. We work very closely with our feeder schools to host events that invite families of future raiders into the building to begin learning about our culture.

Ohio Arizona | Arkansas | California | Colorado | Georgia | Illinois | Indiana | Kentucky | Michigan | New Jersey | New York | North Carolina | Ohio | Pennsylvania | South Carolina | Texas | Utah | Virginia State Director Open Participating Organizations Ohio Department of Education 25 South Front Street, MS 602 Columbus, OH 43215 Phone: (614) 644-6325 Joined National STW Program in 2004 Schools to Watch Application 2025 application coming soon! Ohio Schools to Watch (Year Initially Designated) Beachwood Middle School (2008) Bellbrook Middle School (2009) Bridgetown Middle School (2006) Central Intermediate School (2014) Chagrin Falls Middle School (2016) Chase STEMM Academy (2019) Cloverleaf Middle School (2020) Crestwood Middle School (2016) George G. Dodge Intermediate School (2018) Goshen Middle School (2017) Kings Junior High School (2016) Mayfield Middle School (2016) Nagel Middle School (2013) Napoleon Central Elementary School (2013) Port Clinton Middle School (2016) R. B. Chamberlin Middle School (2020) Reading Middle School (2013) Teays Valley West Middle School (2009) Van Buren Middle School (2006) Van Wert Middle School (2006) Wadsworth Central Intermediate School (2010) School Profiles Coming Soon

Kolb Middle School Rialto Unified School District San Bernardino County Armando Urteaga, Principal Enrollment: 900. Grade Levels: 6-8. School Characteristics and Replicable Practices Grade-level common preps and minimum-day collaboration time School rebrand: improved appearance, new entry and exit, fine-tuned discipline MTSS/SEL/PBIS for students’ academic, behavioral, SEL needs Interactive monitor and innovative software for each classroom School-wide literacy: PQA, CER, CAASPP word of the month

Coalinga Middle School Coalinga-Huron Unified School District Fresno County Steven Martinez, Principal Enrollment: 697. Grade Levels: 6-8. School Characteristics and Replicable Practices Advisory period Spreadsheet to track grades/assignments Teachers who want to run lunch sessions Upkeep of the spreadsheet Constant communication with students and teachers

Palm Desert Charter Middle School Desert Sands Unified School District Riverside County Deborah Dolan, Principal Enrollment: 1,350. Grade Levels: 6-8. School Characteristics and Replicable Practices Tier 1 supports include guidance lessons and SEL integration in all courses Parent engagement through Latino literacy and counselor coffee programs Strong electives including one CTE pathway Novel study-based humanities program Incoming family induction process facilitates a smooth transition