CLARK — Carl H. Kumpf is one of six middle-grade schools in New Jersey that have been recognized as New Jersey Schools To Watch (NJSTW) as part of a recognition program developed by The National Forum Advancing Excellence in the Middle Grades. The NJSTW program is sponsored by the New Jersey Association for Middle Level Education (NJAMLE).

The New Jersey Schools To Watch leadership team met and selected the following New Jersey schools for recognition and for having met the National Forum STW criteria: Richard Butler Middle School, Butler, N.J. (Newly Designated); Franklin Avenue Middle School, Franklin Lakes, N.J. (Newly Designated); Carl H. Kumpf Middle School, Clark, N.J. (Redesignation III — first designated 2014); Dwight D. Eisenhower Middle School, Wyckoff, N.J. (Redesignation II — first designated 2016); William Annin Middle School, Basking Ridge, N.J. (Redesignation II — first designated 2016); and George Washington Middle School, Wayne, N.J. (Redesignation I — first designated 2020).

New Jersey Schools To Watch now has 14 schools throughout the state that have been recognized and are active members in the STW process. The recognized schools will be acknowledged at the New Jersey Association of Middle Level Education State Conference at Brookdale College on Wednesday, March 13, 2024, and honored nationally at The National Forum’s Schools To Watch Conference in Washington, D.C., June 20 to 22, 2024.

The National Forum is an alliance of educators, researchers, national associations and education foundations dedicated to improving middle-grades education for young adolescents. Launched by the National Forum in 1999, the Schools To Watch program began as a national program to identify exceptional middle-grades schools across the country. New Jersey became part of the forum in 2007 under the direction of Gail Hilliard Nelson, Ed.D., and a partnership with the New Jersey Department of Education and NJAMLE.

New Jersey Schools To Watch state leaders select each school based on four categories that are evaluated: Academic Excellence, Developmental Responsiveness, Social Equity and Organizational Structures and Processes. Schools that apply must complete a written application which includes a selfrubric to identify strengths and weakness while looking for potential areas for improvement.

Applications are reviewed by the selection committee and schools that appear to meet the National Forum’s and NJSTW’s criteria are selected for a site visit by a team of middlelevel educators and stakeholders from around the state. The site visit team observes classrooms and school activities, and interviews parents, students, teachers and administrators to ensure the school is meeting the required criteria.

Schools are recognized for a threeyear period and at the end of three years must demonstrate progress on specific goals in order to be re-designated. Additionally, schools must collaborate with other middle-level schools as mentors and to open their schools for other professionals to visit and see the practices that make these schools a School To Watch. All schools must show evidence of continued growth to be re-designated.

The Schools To Watch process is an in-depth evaluation tool to help middle-level educators evaluate their schools and seek ways to improve. Outstanding middle-level schools are encouraged to apply and become a part of New Jersey Schools To Watch.

To find out more about New Jersey Schools To Watch and the application process, The National Forum Advancing Excellence in the Middle Grades, and New Jersey Association for Middle Level Education, see the links below or contact New Jersey Schools To Watch State Co-directors Rick Delmonaco andAimee Toth at schoolstowatch@njamle.org.

New Jersey Schools To Watch: https://www.njschoolstowatch.org/ home.

National Forum Advancing Excellence in the Middle Grades: https:/ /www.middlegradesforum.org/.

New Jersey Association for Middle Level Education: https:// njamle.org/.