One thing Sandy Bushelman likes about Wyoming Middle School is the close relationship teachers have with parents and students.
Her daughter, Samantha, likes it that teachers don't overload them with homework.
That's because teachers there collaborate on lesson plans and homework assignments. They teach in blocks of time and show students how different subjects relate to one another.
No one falls through the cracks here, said Principal Brandon Cordes, whose school reopens today.
Wyoming is an advocate of the middle school concept, which follows these tenets and has been adopted by more than 10,000 schools nationally, including 497 others in Ohio.
Its principal focus is to help children with the transition from elementary school to the rigors of junior high and high school, mixing academics and nurturing.
School districts are embracing the philosophy and forsaking the old junior high concept of schools that operate as ''mini,'' or ''watered-down'' high schools. That is evidenced by new middle school construction and curriculum development in districts such as Oak Hills and Forest Hills, and the success of established programs in Wyoming, Mason and Mount Healthy.
''When a group of teachers all educate the same child and work together as a team, there's not likely to be fall-through-the-cracks children,'' said Patricia Brenneman, superintendent at Oak Hills, where construction of a middle school will be completed in 1999.
Educators think the transition from elementary to middle grades is a sensitive time for children, because they sometimes have difficulty adjusting to new schools and changing expectations. Positive early school experiences are critical to their academic, social and emotional development, said Lynn Wallich, assistant executive director of the National Middle School Association.
That's why some are baffled when schools that once embraced the concept are now moving away from it. Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) is a local example. Its decision suits parents' requests and works best to remedy problems, said Kathleen Ware, director of quality improvement.
This year, CPS will open five west-side schools as kindergarten-
through-eighth-grade programs, joining 11 others.
Officials and parents want to reduce suspensions, expulsions and dropouts, and improve attendance. They believe keeping children together longer will help accomplish that goal.
''Middle schools in Cincinnati Public (Schools) are seventh and eighth grades, while most places are sixth, seventh and eighth, or fifth through eighth grades,'' Mrs. Ware said. ''Parents were asking why their kids couldn't stay in a school longer.''
Some parents were also concerned that academics might take a back seat to other programs.
''We began testing K-8 schools five years ago, and in the first two years, we saw a significant decrease in suspensions and expulsions and increased attendance in K-8 schools than in middle schools,'' Mrs. Ware said.
Middle school advocates aren't so sure that abandoning the concept helps this age group.
''It was never designed to undermine academic achievement,'' Ms. Wallich said. ''Academic achievement is very important at this time, but so is the student's development. It provides an understanding of what these kids are going through and helps them with these dramatic growth spurts and other changes in their lives.''
Seventh- and eighth-grade teachers at Oak Hills' two junior high schools already follow many of the middle school tenets.
Bill Boughton, a geography teacher at Delhi Junior High, said the switch has created connections among teachers and students.
''You go from looking into a vacuum of just your subject, to looking at all subjects with this student-centered approach,'' said Mr. Boughton, a team-teaching facilitator at the school. ''A united front makes a lot of sense. The kids can grasp ideas better, and they feel like they're part of something better.
''All of these kinds of things where the students are teamed together, simply did not happen before, because we were all in our own little worlds teaching our own things,'' he said.
Established programs at Wyoming and Mason middle schools have found success with cooperation from teachers, students and parents, said Scott Inskeep, principal at Mason Middle School.
That is essential, Wyoming's Mr. Cordes said. Schools must do more than simply change the name of a building to ''middle school.'' Wyoming students get additional lessons in several state-recognized programs, from community service to resolving peer conflicts.
''You've got to meet the needs of kids and show them how it all relates to the real world,'' he said.
Administrators in the crowded Forest Hills Local Schools are studying similar programs for a new curriculum being developed to fit a new middle school scheduled to open in two years, said Connie Lippowitsch, curriculum director.
One benefit is the ability to design programs that fit school needs, plus the increased interaction with teachers and other staff, said Bob Farrell, Forest Hills assistant superintendent.
''There are significant adults ... that they need more contact with,'' he said. ''We can do that. You can create situations that work best for your children.''
