The main office at Tefft Middle School is decorated with pictures, student art and a reminder of their roots. Looking around, you quickly get a feel for the culture of this school. A picture of the entire staff hangs in a prominent place on the wall. On the picture is the following “Moving all students forward… Whatever it takes…Together…”
This seems to be the mantra at Tefft. The school is set up as a true middle school with teams made up of teachers in different content areas working with the same group of students. These smaller communities within the school provide students the support they need as they make the transition from elementary school to high school.
There are six “houses of learning” or teams. To find out more, please click here. Each area is decorated. Entering the “House of Zeus” through the golden construction paper gates with tag board lightening bolts coming down from the ceiling is quite an experience!
The students attend their classes in the area or “house” of the second floor. Two houses are 7th grade, two are 8th, one is a 7/8 split team and the last is the split 7/8 grade gifted team. The teachers in each team share concerns and ideas for working with their students and they really get to know them.
Another wall in the main office displays student art, portraits with the words “One Student at a Time” below them. In many innovative ways they are making sure each of their students have the best opportunities possible to be successful. The bar is set high at Tefft. The students are expected to do their best work, anything less is not acceptable and students who try to test this find themselves redoing their work. This may be difficult at first, but students learn to take pride in what they do and know that people believe they are capable of more and willing to help them try. For more information on student support, click here.
Students also interact with their data on a regular basis. Each student tracks his/her ISAT, MAP and school assessments in a booklet. Often teachers are aware of student data and use it to guide their instruction. In this school the students also know where they stand and use the data to set their own, individual goals every quarter. These goals are reviewed and any new data is added to the booklet every quarter. Students reflect on their last quarter and adjust goals. These booklets are used for parent-teacher conferences that are led by the student. They share their successes with their parents and with input from their teacher, the group helps determine what can be done to improve the student’s chances for success. At the last parent conferences this school of 800 had 1,000 parents attend to learn more about their child, with their child! Click here to view the Tefft site and T3 journals.
One student at a time… the individual attention and hard work has paid off at Tefft. The school has been named an Illinois Honor School by the Illinois State Board of Education.
Student Support
While expectations are high, students are provided multiple opportunities to seek help when necessary. Before school students have access to computers during a.m. school. Programs such as Skills Tutor, Reading Plus and Lexia are provided so students have the opportunity to practice their skills. A teacher is there to help with homework if they have problems or questions.
Students behind in their reading skills have an extra period of reading skill work in the computer lab during their day. This is not a time for fooling around - at Tefft students are very aware of their reading level (see conference information) and they use this time to go about the important work of improving. A teacher from their team is available to help students when needed.
P.M. school is also offered with teachers on hand to help.
Parent teacher student conferences
The way Tefft hosts their parent-teacher conferences has been recognized nationally. Click here for Tefft information on Student Led Conferences. Students not only attend the conference, they prepare for and lead them. This hands on approach provides the students with a clear idea of how they are doing and provides the opportunity to work with their parents and teachers on improving their work.
While at Tefft students will be responsible for charting their academic progress based on assessments, vocabulary tests, ISAT, MAP and in 8th grade EXPLORE tests. The belief is that students should be involved with their test data. While teachers have always been aware of how their students do on assessment tests and use it to guide their teaching, students are not always given the opportunity to fully understand what the data means. Since the data is a measure of their learning, at Tefft students are informed what their scores mean.
Each quarter time is allotted during the school day to allow students to fill out their Tefft Target Time notebook. Click here to view T3 data journal. All information is input by the student. The 7th grade sections consist of: ISAT scores, MAP scores, Math targets (a list of math skills for each quarter that students reflect on and mark where they believe they are), Reading targets, Target and vocabulary tests, Writing scores, Goal setting (a guided reflection on what they have done and plan to do), Parent dialogue (a response section for parents regarding what they are most proud of and how they will support their child after the conference).
Students seem to respond well to being responsible for tracking their progress and explaining what is or is not working. Since the information is not shared with anyone besides their parents and teachers students are not threatened and have the ability to see on each page what is working and what they have to change. Looking at their child’s book at the conference provides parents with a clear picture of their child’s academic development.
At the last parent teacher conferences this school of 800 students had 1,000 adults attend conferences! Apparently this is an idea everyone approves of.
Staff
The staff at Tefft works together to meet the needs of their diverse student population. There are approximately 60 certified educators at Tefft. Over 85% have a Master’s Degree in their content area. Tefft also boasts two National Board Certified teachers, the highest certification a teacher can achieve.
The staff believes in an awareness of current research on what works with students and strives to implement ideas that represent best practices and will help the students in their school. This is evident in their commitment to academic vocabulary as a way to improve student understanding in each content area. They also have been leaders in student led parent-teacher conferences. In fact they were recognized in a New York Times article this year for their effort.
The teachers support students through before and after school opportunities for students to attend homework help sessions. They also encourage students to write and provide vehicles for their work to be shared. The school newsletter has an update from each of the Houses written by students. Click here to view houses. They also write a literary magazine twice a year. Interviews with teachers, movie reviews, short stories and more make up this interesting publication titled, Tefft Zine. Link to Zine
This faculty is very involved and it seems to be paying off in benefits for their students.
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School Profiles : Middle Schools : Tefft
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