In a world where academic rigor starts early and parents can catch themselves thinking semi-seriously about how preschool enrollment might affect eventual college applications, choosing a middle school can be an important step on your child’s path to intellectual fulfillment and future success.
Stress and anxiety over academics can be strenuous for both students and for their parents. When making a choice on the right type of middle school for your student, an independent school may be a good fit if you’re seeking an engaging environment to nurture their intellectual and emotional growth.
Middle School Provides an Opportunity for Students to Build and Cultivate Confidence
During middle school, children gain a greater awareness of themselves and their place in the world around them. They also start to experience many physical, cognitive, social and emotional changes, which can elevate their stress and frustration levels.
Research shows that during this time in a child’s life, they are far more likely to experience decreased confidence in their academic abilities.
According to research published in The Journal of Early Adolescence, these changes in self-confidence can affect students negatively even when their grades are generally unaffected. The students’ interpretation of specific grades might be far more negative than their teachers’ or parents’ interpretation of their abilities.
With this damaging self-talk in mind, subjecting students to ongoing standardized testing can have a damaging effect on their confidence and their desire to focus their efforts on learning.
At independent schools, teachers are able to focus on the students’ individual skills, rather than “teaching to the test.” That means students can showcase their knowledge confidently, rather than becoming discouraged when they don’t receive perfect marks on a test that may not accurately gauge their true knowledge of a subject.
Maker Spaces Boost Confidence Levels
At independent schools, creative approaches to learning allow students to apply their knowledge through integrated learning experiences. As an example, schools that offer maker spaces allow students to develop confidence in their own abilities, while exploring, learning and taking risks.
Makerspaces democratize learning and give everyone access to engage in a way that makes sense for them. At Hillbrook School’s makerspace, The Hub, students can experiment with hands-on technology and put STEAM principles to the test in a low-risk, easily-accessible environment.
In The Hub’s 3,000 square foot STEAM and creator-oriented space, students can work on projects that fit with their interests and learning levels. Options include:
- A digital music maker space
- A podcasting studio
- A digital photography lab
- A greenscreen area for video production
- A woodshop
- Laser cutters
- 3-D printers
- Whiteboard spaces for brainstorming and visualization
The Hub provides an inviting space and open educational resources that help students to explore and learn confidently.
School Cultures Should Incorporate Risk Taking
When schools are deeply focused on standardized testing, or when teachers are overwhelmed with a heavy class load and high student teacher ratios, it’s more likely that students will be rewarded for staying on the straight and narrow and for causing as little disruption as possible.
However, creativity and learning can be messy processes, and students may begin to disengage from the process if they’re rewarded only for filling in correct answers, not for developing higher reasoning skills.
At independent schools, classes are often purposely kept small, so teachers have time for meaningful engagement with students, and so students can do more exploratory work and fewer worksheets.
In this approach, risk taking is celebrated and rewarded, rather than treated as a distraction. In fact, part of the Hillbrook Way, the independent school’s set of guiding principles is “starting”: not waiting for a perfect situation, but instead jumping in, becoming comfortable with risk, and seeing failure as a stepping stone on the path to success.
Fostering (Social-Emotional) Connection is Vital for Middle School Students
Building and modeling healthy relationships can have a tremendous impact on students’ confidence and curiosity. The relationships formed at school can correlate with how much students look forward to participating in a rich educational experience.
Bullying can have a tremendous impact on a student’s desire to participate fully in their school and educational life. Statistics on bullying show that it’s more prevalent in the middle school years than in high school, as almost more than 40 percent of middle schoolers reported being bullied at some point in the past year.
While schools can’t completely eliminate bullying and peer pressure, independent schools have resources at their disposal to support emotional growth and empower students. Research shows that supportive actions from their peers has the greatest overall impact on students’ reactions to being bullied.
At Hillbrook, students participate in educational programs designed to foster empathy and an inclusive worldview. And, teachers and staff also receive training that helps them to support their students and to encourage empathetic words and actions as part of the school’s commitment to creating a joyful, inclusive learning community.
Flexibility is Key to Learning
One of the biggest advantages independent middle schools can offer is the ability to be flexible in their learning and discovery processes.
While many schools across the country are eliminating recess and keeping students lined up in neat and tidy rows, independent schools have the freedom to encourage their students to be physical, flexible and explore – all the while contributing to positive academic outcomes.
At Hillbrook, students have the ability to be physical through sports and dance programs on campus and to do hands-on outdoor science projects while exploring the campus creek’s ecosystem.
And, the school provides flexible classroom learning spaces, so students can work together, engage and think big when discussing projects and brainstorming. Flexible learning spaces can also lead to stronger academic success, with teachers at some schools reporting up to a 15 percent increase in outcomes when classes are allowed to function flexibly and collaboratively.
The most important thing your child can do as a middle school student is to stimulate their curiosity and cultivate a lifelong love of learning.
If you’re looking for a middle school where your child will have the opportunity to grow, learn and develop, look into what independent middle schools like Hillbrook have to offer. Take a virtual tour of the Hillbrook School campus or attend a virtual coffee session; you’ll hear firsthand from Hillbrook educators and have a chance to see their joy, creativity, curiosity and zest for learning for yourself.