By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer

If you think of middle school students as hormonally charged, slightly crazy social butterflies who can't stay off the phone or concentrate on homework, Anthony Jackson wants to talk to you.

Jackson, the vice president of strategic development and communications at the Galef Institute and one of the country's most recognized experts on the middle school grades, says it's those kinds of perceptions that have led to low expectations — and low results — for middle school students.

Nationally, only one-third of eighth-grade students can read and write with proficiency. One-fourth of all eighth-graders are proficient in math.

But research shows that the brain continues to develop through puberty. Jackson said the low achievement during continued brain development means that middle school students aren't being served as well as they should be.

"My real passion in life is around equity, making sure that low-income and minority students do well in school," he said. "Many of those low-income or minority students get left behind in middle school."

Middle school educators from across the state gathered last week to hear Jackson speak at a free conference at Punahou School. They shared teaching methods, stories from the school front and discussed ways to keep from "losing students," a phenomenon that seems to happen most often between elementary and high school.

Jackson said a major problem in the middle grades happens when children who have previously been taught together suddenly get split into "regular" or "honors" classes. And if students aren't labeled as honors students, it's unlikely they will ever be able to break through into an honors class in high school.

"People's capacity to learn is not set in the early grades," Jackson said.

Yet middle school students, their curriculum and their needs have traditionally been overlooked in American education and research. Most colleges concentrate on preparing teachers for either the elementary grades or high school students. Few federal education grants have focused on the middle grades.

But that is changing.

Of the 25 million children who will be tested under the No Child Left Behind Act, 14 million are in middle school. And the University of Hawai'i-Manoa offers a middle school certification program for teachers.

Punahou School hosted the conference, "Middle Level School Improvement: Urgent and Possible," and brought Jackson to speak in part because of the new middle school it is building.

Paul Deering, the UH associate professor who developed the middle school certification program, said some teachers have a special love for this most difficult of ages. "The exact opposites apply to this age," Deering said. "They're sweet, they're vicious. They're brilliant, they're brain-dead." But Deering said middle school students are capable of high academic achievement and mastering difficult coursework when it's given to them.

Jackson said more federal and local resources should be devoted to professional development for middle school teachers.

Still, the image of the crazed middle schooler carries a lot of weight. Even with teachers who work with them every day.

As one middle school teacher said to peals of laughter at the conference, "That's the most uncomfortable time of your life outside of menopause."

Reach Jennifer Hiller at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.