Help Pick Our Best Middle Schools

Help me, please. I have promised The Washington Post Magazine that I will find many great middle schools around the D.C. area. I also want to identify a few in other parts of the country. But I have developed a reputation as a middle school hater, and I don't know if people will trust me enough to send me information about their favorites.

I offended middle school admirers when I botched an attempt at exaggerating for emphasis, in a 2005 column on how to pick a school for your child. I offered 10 tips. This was No. 8:

"There are no good middle schools. It is an itchy age, pre-adolescence. You will discover that no one will have many nice things to say about whatever middle school you pick, even the one full of millionaires' kids. Children that age are just too difficult to teach."

In the next few sentences I suggested a way to find good middle schools, which I thought would make clear that the first sentence was just a tease. But several people sent me cranky e-mails. I apologize, once again, for my clumsy writing, and beg for your assistance.

Middle schools are a hot topic. Both the New York Post and the New York Times have launched a series on the subject. Much has been written about them in other places, as well.

Last year, the national focus was on high schools. Bill Gates declared them a disaster area. The Bush administration and the National Governors Association announced ambitious plans to fix them.

But many educators realized that our high schools can't get much better if our middle schools don't improve. (And our middle schools need better elementary schools, and our elementary schools need better pre-schools, and our preschools need better parenting of babies and toddlers. But this project is about middle schools.) I am writing a book about the Knowledge Is Power Program, which has produced some of the best-performing inner-city middle schools in the country. I have reported on some data -- principally first-year algebra completion rates -- that I think help identify the most productive middle schools in suburbs as well as cities.

But I have learned that readers know of schools with wonderful qualities that cannot be reduced to numbers but ought to be emulated. Two years ago, I asked readers to tell me about the best Washington area high schools. The resulting piece in the magazine, "30 Great High Schools" [April 3, 2005], showed that these subjective, personal assessments tell us things we can't learn in ranked lists such as The Washington Post's annual Challenge Index, which measures high school quality based on student participation in college-level tests.

So please tell me what you know. I am looking for both public and private middle schools, of every size, shape and emphasis. I am most interested in those located in Maryland, Virginia and the District, but if you know of a middle school elsewhere in the country with spectacular results or very unusual methods, I would like to hear about it for a future online column.

By middle school, I mean any school that focuses on the grades just before high school. That means I will also be looking at junior high schools -- any school that includes seventh and eighth grades.

E-mail me or write to me (see details below). Nominate as many schools as you like; the more the better.

In the 2005 magazine article, I identified 10 public schools, 10 private schools and 10 schools, public and private, in the D.C. area that were particularly good at supporting minorities and students with special needs. I may or may not organize the middle school article the same way. It will depend on what you tell me. I will be quoting your thoughts, not mine, so don't nominate a school if you aren't also sending your comments about it.

I am hoping to hear from students, educators and parents of middle school students who have stories of smart administrators, caring teachers and challenging programs.

How does the school handle early-adolescent hormones? What do they do about testing? What about music, the arts and extracurricular activities? Anecdotes are very welcome. I also will be asking school administrators for data on the schools I select. The list will be just a sampling, as the high school list was, of the many fine schools available in this area.

You will be reading much this year about what policymakers want to do to make middle schools better, but I think we might learn just as much from what you have seen in middle schools that are already great. Historically, American schools have improved by following good examples, so please give me some that we can use.

Please include your name, e-mail or postal address and telephone number when writing to Extra Credit, 526 King St., Suite 515, Alexandria, Va. 22314. Or e-mailmathewsj@washpost.com.