- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - News Room > Special
Reports > Archive Mid Learning Years Preliminary Recommendations
of the Middle Learning Years Task Force National and state
testing data reveal a disturbing trend of stagnating middle
school performance. Maryland School Performance Assessment
Program data illustrates the lack of growth in eighth-grade
student performance as compared to third- and fifth-grade
student performance. Results from the Third International Math
and Science Study (TIMMS) show that while U.S. fourth-grade
students scored above the international average for five of the
six topics measured, eighth-graders scored below average. Co-
author of the TIMMS report William Schmidt alludes to middle
schools as an educational “wasteland.” State Superintendent of
Schools Nancy S. Grasmick charged the Middle Learning Years Task
Force with the investigation and elimination of this declining
performance phenomena. The task force members comprise an
impressive body of extensive practical ex