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Congratulations to Corbett Middle School, which received a rating of "exceptional" on its 2007 Oregon report card. This special salute recognizes the middle school - indeed the entire school district and its board - for its achievement.
Corbett School District, in northwest Oregon, moved from losing nearly four percent of its students to out-of-district transfers eight years ago to hosting nearly 20 percent of its students on in-district transfers. The district serves about 700 students, grades K-12, in three schools on one campus. CMS employs four teachers. Over 90 percent of the students at Corbett middle school from 2004-2006, now take advanced placement courses at Corbett High School. Corbett School District board and administration believe the student performance at the high school begins with its focus on excellence in the middle school.
"We are very pleased to have been recognized as an exceptional middle school, and also to have that designation reinforced when CMS was recently named Oregon's only School to Watch, which is a national program that recognizes implementation of `best practice' at the middle school level," said Superintendent Bob Dunton. "Key to our success is a staff of teachers who understand the importance of building great relationships with students as the means to invite their participation in a community of scholars. Every day (literally) begins with singing together as a way of creating focus and transitioning from home to school. Our academic expectations are extremely high, but students experience a level of support that allows them to make extraordinary efforts without the fear of falling short."
A sampling of contributors to the school's success:
- Students must complete The Cardinal (school mascot) Three to move to 9th grade: publish writing in a public forum, deliver a high-quality speech to the student body and complete a service-learning project.
- Parents receive narrative report cards about student progress relative to school expectations in each subject.
- Students benefit from challenging and engaging activities, including lectures, demonstrations, cooperative learning, and cross-discipline projects, including visits to a nearby environmental science lab developed by CMS and the Bureau of Land Management and overnight field trips. Each classroom has 10 wireless laptops for research, writing, and project development.
- Teachers are in contact with students five hours a day for two years. They know what each student has and has not learned; they offer an after-school homework lab two days a week and open classrooms a half hour before and after school. Teachers often enlist aunts, uncles and grandparents as well as parents.
- Life at CMS is organized around the themes of wonder, choice and community. Teachers continually adapt curriculum, instruction, assessment and scheduling to meet their students' diverse and changing needs. Teachers meet together every day; they are organizationally nimble and can modify a plan during lunch hour, if need be.
- The school's reward system values diversity, civility, service and democratic citizenship; there is no honor roll. CMS avoids the use of rewards and punishments.
- CMS students are expected to be safe, kind and productive. Teachers and the principal contact parents immediately if there are concerns regarding behavior. The school's suspension rate approaches zero; most issues are resolved at the classroom level.
- CMS is a culture in which learning, experimentation and reflection are the norm.
CMS has received three John Pence awards from the Oregon Middle Level Association, selection of one of its teachers as the Oregon Small Schools Teacher of the Year and selection of its principal as the Oregon High School Principal of the Year.
More about Corbett Middle School's
Success (46k  )
Contact:
Bob Dunton, Corbett SD superintendent, 503-695-3261, x224.
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