Making the Most of the Middle - A Strategic Model for Middle School Afterschool Programs

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Pentious

Early adolescence brings rapid physical, cognitive, social, and emotional change, creating both opportunity and frustration for students and adults. To strengthen afterschool programming for middle school youth in Vermont, the Vermont Department of Education and the Nellie Mae Education Foundation built a new framework grounded in research on adolescent development and best practices. The model centers on five Rs—relationships, relevance, reinforcement, real-life projects, and rigor—to improve regular attendance and support positive youth outcomes.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time25 min

AccessFree to download

Snapshot: Middle School Afterschool in Vermont

The Attendance Challenge

making the most of the middle A Strategic Model for Middle School Afterschool Programs by Holly Morehouse Early adolescence is a time of transition, change, and growth. At no other time after gestation and early infancy are the human body and mind undergoing such rapid developmental changes. The bodies of young adolescents are physically and sexually maturing. Cognitive changes expand thinking abilities; social and emotional changes move adolescents towards greater independence. During early adolescence, youths’ very existence isabout transition; their skills and abilities, like their bodies and minds, are under development. However, what can be seen as an exciting period of growth and change can create frustration for both students and adults unless afterschool programs serving middle school youth are designed with the specific, unique characteristics of young adolescents in mind. In an effort to improve afterschool programming for middle school youth in Vermont, the Vermont Department of Education partnered with the Nellie Mae Education Foundation to identify best practices for middle school afterschool. The goals of this project were to increase regular attendance in Vermont’s middle school afterschool programs and to build stronger student outcomes for participating youth. Drawing from both the literature on adolescent development and the studies of best practices in afterschool programming, the project resulted in the development of a new framework for middle school afterschool programs based on five components, which we call the five Rs of program design: relationships, relevance, reinforcement, real-life projects, and rigor. The five Rs offer a strategic model for after- HOLLY MOREHOUSE, Ph. D., is the state coordinator for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers at the Vermont Department of Education. She has over 15 years’ experience in project management, community-based decision making, communication and collaboration processes, and leadership. Holly has worked with schools and communities throughout Vermont and with all levels of government. She has supported decisionmaking efforts in communities throughout the United States and in South America and Africa. Her research and publications include work on afterschool programs and school culture change, shared vision models for community-based decision making, and the spatial mapping of indicators for risk and vulnerability. school programs, a model that acknowledges and embraces the stages of transition and growth in early adolescence while building on the common strategies, characteristics, and practices of successful middle school afterschool programs in Vermont. Afterschool leaders can use these five components, each of which plays a role in increasing youth participation rates and supporting positive youth development outcomes, to inform the development and design of their middle school afterschool programs. Snapshot: Middle School Afterschool in Vermont The phrase middle school was first used by William Alexander, a professor of education, in a speech at Cornell University in the 1960s (as cited in David, 1998) . Alexander argued that schools serving young adolescents need to be more than an extension of elementary school or a preparation for high school. Alexander outlined a vision of schools designed to meet the specific needs of young adolescents with an emphasis on project-based learning; differentiated instruction; comprehensive health, physical education, and guidance programs; a team structure for teaching; and small heterogeneous homerooms where teachers know each student well. Alexander’s ideas formed the core of the middle school concept and continued to influence education reform for middle-level schools for the next four decades. Middle schools can start as early as fourth or fifth grade and continue up through eighth or sometimes ninth grade. According to the National Middle School Association (2008), in 2007, 28 states had

FAQs

How does Vermont’s program attendance compare across grade levels?

Vermont’s 21CCLC sites serve varying percentages of middle school students, ranging from 82% for fifth graders to 51% for eighth graders. The article also notes Vermont exceeds the national average in the share of programs serving grades 5–8.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Pentious