New Middle School Program Gets Ahead of Access Barriers 

Even though 83% of students want to obtain a 4-year degree, many of them— especially underrepresented students— face access barriers to advanced courses like AP, IB, AICE, and Dual Enrollment. Whether they are emotional, social, or academic, middle school represents a crucial window of opportunity for districts to get ahead of them in supporting more students.  

Raising awareness of and access to academic pathways helps middle school students establish goals, ease the transition to high school, and set trajectories for improved college and career outcomes.

The middle school opportunity 

EOS launches the Middle School Program, Fall 2024

For over a decade Equal Opportunity Schools (EOS) has worked with district and high school leaders to enhance student belonging and increase enrollment in advanced coursework to improve college and career readiness. 

EOS’ proven partnership model, proprietary tools, and strategies have been carefully adapted for middle school leaders to visualize student voice, identify Trusted Adults, and guide outreach that dissolves barriers. Some of the key resources of this program include: 

• Centralized reporting on enrollment, academic performance, and student voice
• Student Insight Cards that visualize real student voice and desires
• Staff feedback that identifies opportunities to dissolve barriers
• Trusted Adults named by students to review academic pathways together
• Trusted Adult training and outreach tracking to accelerate student engagement and boost rigorous course enrollment 

Several middle schools have started on this work already to increase enrollment in academic pathways like Pre-AP, Honors, and Algebra 1. As the year progresses, their districts will be able to track their impact on improved college and career readiness across middle school and high school.  

Learn more about the EOS Middle School Program

 

_{“High School Is Too Late to Start the Career Conversation,” American Student Assistance. <https://www.asa.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Efficacy-And-Innovation-In-Middle-School-Career-Exploration-Proven-Models-For-Student-Success.pdf>}

_{Benner, Meg and Scott Sargrad. “Report: Creating Strong Building Blocks for Every Student,” Center for American Progress. 8/5/2020. <https://www.americanprogress.org/article/creating-strong-building-blocks-every-student/>}

_{U.S. DOE as cited by Sparks, Sara D. “4 Questions to Boost Algebra Gains for Middle Schoolers,” EducationWeek. 5/17/2024. <https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/4-questions-to-boost-algebra-gains-for-middle-schoolers/2024/05>}