Middle school is a time of transition for students and parents. But through all the challenges, great teachers and staff can truly make difference during these tween years.

In this week's issue of the Washington Post Magazine, Jay Mathews shares readers' picks for best Washington area middle schools.

Jay Mathews covers schools for The Post.

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Jay Mathews: Hi. Sorry I am late. And I have no good excuse, like a tree fallen on my car or something. I always look forward to these exchanges, from which I learn more than you do. I will get started right away.

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Austin, Tex: Not sure if you have started, but I have enjoyed the middle school articles recently in the Post. Comment on this. The middle school idea is very new but already seems to be displaced by accountability issues and the problem of just being in the middle between the nurturing elementary and the more content driven high school. Is there hope for the middle school as a place for early adolescents to explore learning? How will the Gates and Dell drives to change high school influence this?

Jay Mathews: I think there is widespread agreement that the middle school idea as envisioned by its creators, a place for early adolescents to explore their world without much pressure, is on its way out. There will continue to be middle schools that refuse to see themselves as prep schools for our increasingly challenging high schools, but most of them will be private, or in communities with high incomes where preparation for high school and college began when most of those children were still sleeping in cribs. I liked the middle school idea for such people, and hope they manage to preserve it, but when it was applied to the inner city neighborhoods where kids really need schools to teach them, it went horribly wrong. Low-income kids sat in middle school classes not doing much of anything at all, and they did not deserve to be treated like that.

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Washington, DC: I remember my middle school years as a particular kind of hell. It was 1979 and I had gone to a public school with a serious hippy attitude with hippy teachers who refused to let any fighting go on and everyone got together to build things. We entered Jr High with kids who had no such education and we were instantly beaten up with no emotional recourse. I mean the toughest kids in my 6th grade class were getting pummeled by these kids with no understanding of how to make it stop. I remember one 8th grader giving me a black eye, getting a stern talking to while he stared at me in the room, then the next week giving me another black eye, getting suspended for a day, then giving a friend of mine a black eye on the bus and denying it, no punishment because the bus driver didn't see it, etc virtually the entire year. I think the most shocking thing for me was asking teachers questions after class, something I did with my hippy elementary school teachers, and being told that I needed to figure out the material for myself. That "you aren't a kid anymore" challenge is very difficult to navigate for an 11 yr old.

Jay Mathews: That is a very bad example, but stuff like that has been happening in many middle schools. They have been designed to keep kids happy, or at least from hurting each other, and in many cases have failed to do either. The most successful middle schools these days, in terms of achievement, are smaller---no more than 300 or 400 students---and very focused on both character education and content. And you can see in our list of great middle schools many that have teachers willing to spend extra time with kids who need them. Email me at mathewsj@washpost.com sometime and fill me in on which junior high that was.

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Washington, D.C.: Mr Matthews,

I continue to see your efforts to "rank" the "best" schools as useless. Maybe you coud devote some time to researching what makes low performing schools show significant improvements. Focusing on the smart kids only allows people to dismiss the not so bright students and ignore their education. The majority of DCPS schools are a disaster, but you dont seem to care. As a local education reporter you should be on the frontlines of the state of DC schools!

Jay Mathews: Notice that this list of middle schools in our Sunday magazine this week is not ranked at all. If you read the introduction, you will see this is intended as the opposite of the ranking we do each year of public high schools. Those ranks are based on precise data that show how well each high school is doing in Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or Cambridge test participation. The list of middle schools in yesterday's magazine is not based on numbers at all, but the subjective views of parents, students, teachers and others whom we asked to nominate great middle school based on qualities that cannot be strictly measured.

Those ranked lists you have concerns about are, I think, a very useful way to show which DC schools ARE doing a good job, and each year I write a story for the DC Extra section of the Post that points out those DC high schools that do well on our list despite having lots of low income students. Schools like Bell Multicultural, Cardozo and Wilson show what can be done if schools focus on achievement for all students. Our new list of middle schools also has information on that important matter. Check out the KIPP schools on that list. I have written ten times as much about KIPP as any other reporter in the country, because I think those schools point the way to fixing what is wrong with DC schools and most other big city schools. Notice that the KIPP DC: KEY Academy has the highest test scores in the city, despite having 72 percent of its students from low income homes. How did that happen? In the list yesterday we tell you in a very short format, but if you google my name and KIPP, you will learn a great deal more.

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Reston VA: It is unfortunate that the "best of" schools articles still exist. Especially since the story is based on comments received by parents. These articles do a great disservice to the many students and teachers at all the schools throughout our region. My rising 7th grader read the article and wanted to know if that meant her middle school, Langston Hughes Middle School, was not a good school! Instead of focusing on the "best" schools, how about showcasing creative programs within schools around our region? How many great programs, teachers and administrators have been overlooked in this article? A lot, I am sure!

Jay Mathews: Good point. Although I hope you read to your smart son the intro to the list, which says it is not comprehensive, and making clear there are many more good middle schools out there than the ones we listed.

There are many ways to write about schools. Your suggestion about showcasing creative programs is a good one. We do that all the time. But our list of 30 great high schools in the magazine two years ago was a big success, drawing attention from many readers and giving hitherto unknown schools a chance to shine. Judging from the comments I have been getting, I think this list is serving the same purpose.

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Southern Maryland: One of the aspects I like about our daughter's school (K-8) is that the school requires the older students to become role models for the youngest students. Serving as lunch monitors, prayer partners, wait staff at school dinners, etc., allows older students to take on responsibility and to step it up as the oldest students. Being the oldest has privileges and responsibilities.

Jay Mathews: That is a very interesting observation. We found parents at a few of the K-8 schools we profiled, particularly Capitol Hill Day School and Green Acres school, saying the same thing. Those two private schools are notable, however, not just because they are K-8 but because they are very small. If we could design small public K-8s like that, I think they would do very well. They are in a way a throwback to the little red school house of prairie legend.

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Southern Maryland: I briefly skimmed a Post article about a consultant who teaches school teachers about students in poverty. The article raised questions about the usefulness of the consultant. Looking at what KIPP does and does well do you see No Va., MD and DC school systems ready to embrace what works so well? If not what is holding them back from becoming KIPP schools.

Jay Mathews: That fine story by my colleague Ian Shapira did not mention KIPP, but there are significant differences between what KIPP does and what that consultant does. KIPP does not spread stereotypes about low-income kids. It does not give advice to teachers on how to get better. Instead it starts schools, mostly middle schools, hires great principals and teachers and recruits low-income students for them to teach. And its teachers spend a great deal of time talking to the parents of their students, dealing not with stereotypes but with real people who live in the inner city.

I agree with you that public schools throughout this area can learn a great deal from KIPP, but unless we have the political will to do so, it will be hard for most of those schools to adopt the key parts of the KIPP model for helping raise the achievement of low-income kids---expanding the time for instruction by about 60 percent, and giving principals the power to hire the best teachers they can find, and fire them (sometimes very quickly if they fail to come around) and replace them with someone who will not cause their students to lose a whole year of good instruction. DC is thinking about moving in that direction, sort of, but it is going to be very difficult to do so, given the fact that it will require everyone involved to be much more serious about student achievement, and much less serious about their places in the political universe, than they have been in the past.

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Reston, Va: Hope it's not to late for this one! Do you know if the kids from Fox Mill Estates will still be attending Rachel Carson once that area is rezoned to attend South Lakes HS? The entired debate seems to be centered on which HS these kids will attend, but the middle school situation is actually just as important to me.

Jay Mathews: If I knew the answer to such good questions, key to the plans of every parent in that area, i could make huge fees as a private consultant and soothsayer. Sadly, I lack the mentalist gifts for such work.

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Virginia: I work at an elementary school, and I've actually had students tell me they are afraid to go to middle school-because of the raging hormones, budding gang pressures and, for some of the disabled kids, increased academic pressure and less support.

Jay Mathews: That is very sad, and shows why we need to focus much more of our efforts on making middle schools more than places to be afraid of, or disappointed in.

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Arlington, VA: Okay, so Gunston, Kenmore and Swanson made your list from Arlington. What was wrong with Jefferson and Williamsburg?

Jay Mathews: As we tried to indicate in the intro, absolutely nothing that I know of. This was a subjective exercise with no set parameters for what we were looking for. We placed several notices in the Post, and on our website, that we wanted readers to nominate their favorite middle schools. We got a lot of emails about some schools I know to be good, but fewer emails about other schools that I also know to be good. The idea here was to let readers, not Jay Mathews, have a say, so that is what you have in the mag yesterday. I think it is a refreshing change from having me tell you which schools are the best, although I plan to keep doing that as long as the Post lets me.

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Landover, Md: As a parent of a student in Prince George's County (where it sometimes seems that parental involvement is non-existent), I am eager to know how Mr. Stephen Wallis (the principal of Harper's Choice Middle School) was able to increase staff morale, business partnerships and PTA membership. How do you get the staff, business community and parents involved?

Jay Mathews: I know a bit about what he did, and much more about what other great principals did to make such things happen. The secret is exactly what you suspected: lots of hard work. Some educators take their jobs very seriously and are focused on them all the time. The results from such effort are almost always obvious. But why don't you google his school, get his email address, and ask him?

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Vienna, Va: Hi Jay, Both our local middle schools, Kilmer and Thoreau, are on your list. Kilmer is our GT center, but Thoreau has a lot of honors classes. And kids from both schools will go to the same high school. My question is how are the two different? It doesn't seem as obvious as GT vs. standard at the elementary level. What does a kid get by going GT for middle school?

Jay Mathews: That is a very tricky question that would take a book-sized tome to answer adequately. GT programs in Fairfax include only students who test very well. They have their uses, but if you look at what happens to such kids in college and later in life, as I have, there are no significant differences from what happens to hard-working students who do not go to GT centers. Those two middle schools in my mind are very similar, mostly because their parent bodies are so similar---middle class people who put great emphasis on learning and are willing to pay for one of the best public school systems in the country.

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Seattle: Want to echo back two of the comments previous: One, I was a contemporary of the "nightmare" junior-high person, and fully concur that the level of freedom given kids at the time, coupled with their inability to handle it, led to a complete Lord of the Flies environment at my 800-student California jr. high.

Secondly, my kids are at a k-8 parochial school in which the 6-7-8 kids are expected to nurture and lead the young'uns, and that seems to make them more empathetic to each other as well.

Jay Mathews: Let's hear if for that K-8 model, as long as the school is small enough for those cross grade relationships to blossom.

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reston, again: It's me, with the question about Fox Mill and Rachel Carson again. Does that mean they haven't decided which middle school these kids will attend once the HS is switched? I haven't been able to find any information on this at all... I don't even know if they are thinking of switching the middle schools.

Jay Mathews: The poor officials that have to make these decisions are continually chasing moving targets. Your best sources on what is known---and that may not be very much--are the PTA presidents of the schools involved. Call the schools and they can give you those names and numbers.

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Silver Spring, Md.: No one but Jay Mathews in the mainstream press would see the merits in a school such as Silver Spring International Middle School -- and for that recognition, I say thank you. Both of my teen-agers previous attended this middle school, and my wife and I have not regretted the decision, despite a few tough years for this school. My daughter now attends a selective liberal arts college, and I am sure the foundation for her education started at SSI and an even more diverse elementary school, Oak View. Thanks, Jay, for looking beyond the easy measures of standardized test scores for other quality indicators.

Jay Mathews: Let me repeat. This is not my list. I am not nearly that smart. But I was pleased that we got so many great messages from people who knew that school, and how much better it was than its tarnished reputation, based on one teacher's bad decision in mishandling a standardized test six years ago. There have always been great educators at that school, and I am delighted they are finally getting some credit for their hard work.

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Austin, Tex: I work at a middle school and we have had to do many things to stay relevant. One is that we have school wide IB (Middle Years Program of the International Baccalaureate) and are now toying with same-sex classes in core subjects. We have to stay on top of testing, and have done so, as we are old hands at this in Texas. The most interesting development is the K-8 template, which has the best of the elementary nurturing side, but still has room for the edcuational demands of the high school. I do wonder about your previous comment: are we just preparing working class kids for work or are we in the business of educating kids to be all the can be? I know which the way Gates money drives the educational-industrial complex.

Jay Mathews: Fortunately, all the latest data show that preparing kids for work or for all they can be, by which I assume you mean college, is the same thing. The reading, writing, math and presentation skills you need to get a good job right out of high school are the same skills you need to get into and succeed in college. I think it is time to stop thinking like sorters and instead be just educators helping all kids develop the academic muscles that everybody needs.

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Arlington, Va.: Can you please justify your persistence in creating these sorts of lists of "good" schools? It creates the impression -- no matter how many caveats you bury in the text -- that all the other schools in the area do not measure up. Now area middle schools will be pushing parents to lobby for their school so they can be on the precious list next time around. This is a tremendous waste of already limited resources. If there's a solid, legitimate reason besides the are-you-on-or-off attention a special list creates, I'd like to hear it.

Jay Mathews: That lobbying won't do much good. This is a one-time list, as our 30 great high schools list two years ago was, that we are not going to repeat. So you can't game it. But we will continue to run the Challenge Index ranked list of high schools every year, because it is impossible to game that list without greatly improving your school. It measures how many college level tests a school gives each year. I know of no case of a high school that has increased its number of college level tests significantly and has not reported great benefits to the schools, its students, its parents and its teachers. If you know of such a school that has been hurt by increasing its number of AP, IB or Cambridge tests, let me know.

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Silver Spring, MD: Given the focus on high-stakes tests, is tracking the likely path for schools to provide adequate challenge for the highest achievers while preparing lower-achieving students to meet standards? or is there another model other than the magnets?

Jay Mathews: Tracking works fine for high achieving students. It works very poorly for average students, who almost never get much of a challenge in courses designed to hit the middle of the bell curve. We are moving---slowly, I admit---toward a model of creating a challenging curriculum for all students, and providing extra time, encouragement and teaching for those students who need it to get up to that level---and celebrating those instances in which a low achieving student improves substantially, even if he or she doesn't reach the top of the mark.

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Washington, DC: When I went to school in DC, "middle school" was known as "junior high," which encompassed grades 7-9. Why are the 'burbs different?

Jay Mathews: The big cities have been switching to the middle school model too. Simplified, 7-9 grade jr highs have become 6-8 grade middle schools. (Sometimes 5-8, sometimes 7-8). 10-12 grade senior high schools have become 9-12 grade high schools, so that the 9th grade year could be plugged into the college prep system, which needs that extra year to get kids up to college level. I have seen no data that any of these changes in grade configuration have affected student achievement much, but we all like to rearrange the furniture occasionally, and educators are no different.

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Montgomery County, Md: Mr. Matthews-

First, as a mother, who lived thru the SSIMS "cheating scandal", let me assure you that the scandal was not the "cheating" but was the way in which a very dedicated and very special principal was summarily fired from her position at the middle school. The school and my son, now a senior at MBHS, have never recovered.

Second, since most child development experts, including teachers at SSIMS, agree that children do not have the developmental capacity to learn algebra and geometry in middle school, why do you use this math criteria?

Thank you.

Jay Mathews: Well, i certainly agree with you on the injustice of transferring that great principal, whom I have interviewed and been most impressed with.

And then, just to be contrary, I have to disagree with your assessment of what you say most developmental experts say. I think you are wrong. If you send me data to mathewsj@washpost.com that proves you right, I will write a big story about it. I have spent a lot of time with the very best developmental experts I know, middle school math teachers, and they say there are far more students ready for algebra than we are willing to prepare to take that course in middle school. It is about teaching, not magical assessments of who is "ready." based on little or no data. Note, for instance, the KIPP schools, that start algebra in 7th grade with kids who in their regular DC middle schools would be left to twiddle their thumbs until high school. They complete algebra in 8th grade, and have had great success.

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Falls Church, Va: One school I hoped to see on your list that didn't make it is Longfellow Intermediate. Longfellow was a great school when I was there (20 years ago). It sent many kids to the first class of TJHSS&T and there was (still is, I think) the best math teacher I've ever had (including up through graduate level math courses).

Jay Mathews: It is still a great school, employing the legendary math teacher Vern Williams. I just didn't get enough emails from that community.

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Chantilly VA: Jay: Offhand can you tell me anything about Mercer Middle School in southern Loudoun County? I realized it's just a couple years old, but it's where my kids will be going in a few years.

Jay Mathews: I know nothing about it, but email me at mathewsj@washpost.com and i will check it out for you.

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Questions in Camelot: Jay -- What a great column. What are your thoughts about Luther Jackson Middle School in Fairfax County. Many of my neighbors are skeptical whose oldest are still in elementary school are skeptical and talk about trying to pupil-place their children in Frost. Others seem content. FCPS is creating a middle school GT center there next year. What's the scoop on this school?

Jay Mathews: It is, like all other Fairfax County schools with lots of low income and minority kids, a very well-run school with great teachers. I cannot think of a better place for a GT center, and applaud the county's decision to put one there.

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Silver Spring, MD: Jay,

I enjoyed your article on this issue. Your article mentioned a bunch of middle schools who said they were doing good work, but I know for a fact that one school on your list, Silver Spring International, has had many problems over the past few years. For example, they have had major turnover with respect to their principal and as with other schools, they have a big overpopulation issue. Why are middle schools the weak link in many school districts? What factors impact the quality of education most in schools? Is it income levels? And what can be done to improve them so that the students get what they should out of a good middle school education?

Jay Mathews: As you saw above, that bad reputation for that school was an incorrect rap which it did not deserve. As for the rest of your good question, schools' reputations tend to reflect how many low income students they have. If they have a lot, they have mediocre reputations, even if they have great teachers like many of the low income schools on our new list do. One lesson I hope people will take away from this list is to NEVER listen to neighbors about a local school unless they have kids at that school at that very moment. Everybody else is likely to be ignorant, and making judgments based purely on income and, sadly, race. Good schools are the result of good teaching, and you can often find that in unexpected places.

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Alexandria, VA: I couldn't help noticing, despite the upbeat introduction, that many of the supposedly positive stories were crushingly depressing. We are supposed to be cheered to learn, for instance, that a school administrator helped a child open his locker? This is what passes for inspirational? This transcends our expectations? And a parent was so moved by this she actually wrote a letter about it that is so grim it makes want to cry.

Other "positive" tales from the front were equally disturbing. Rewarding children with bikes and iPods for earning "top grades" (as they apparently do at Woodbridge Middle School) is clearly a well-intended incentives program, but sends messages that turn my stomach. Don't we hope above all that our children grow up understanding that knowledge is a prize and a currency in itself? And that grades are not the equivalent of knowledge? Doesn't this type of lottery/reward system encourage any rational child to avoid challenges, and instead to go for the "easy A" (or the easier course selection) every time?

Further, as the parent of a 4th grader (currently attending a Montessori school) in Alexandria, I was disappointed to discover how few options my child will have for middle school. I came away with the following message: unless I manage to come up with $20K-plus in tuition, or move to another district, I can look forward to sending my daughter to a middle school where "re-creating a 1920's speakeasy" and making sandwiches for homeless people qualify as Social Studies projects.

Years ago, someone coined a phrase for the President regarding public education; "The soft bigotry of low expectations." Is it just me, or did this phrase bang around your skull as you covered this story?

Jay Mathews: I apologize for not providing you a fuller portrait of these many fine schools. I was limited by two factors: very little space to discuss each school, and facts that parents and teachers and kids thought were interesting, but are just snapshots at best. I have three written books about three high schools so far, and am working on a book about two middle schools, and even then I don't have enough space. We hope you will use this article just to help you start exploring on your own. Spend some time in that speakeasy school, for instance, and you will find one of the best public middle schools anywhere.

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Fairfax, Va: Jay,

A couple of schools in Fairfax county (Lake Braddock and Robinson that I know of) use a secondary school approach where the school has middle and high school grades combined. What are the plusses and minuses of this approach?

Jay Mathews: Those configuration produce VERY large schools, which usually is bad. Only Fairfax County could make it work, and in those two cases they have, just by hiring great, smart educators, and keeping the standards very high.

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Fairfax, Va: What do you have against schools in Fairfax County? In your article you said over and over that the students come from affluent families. You didn't say this about any other school where the kids come from affluent families. Fairfax has good schools because of the teachers. Give Fairfax schools a break.

Jay Mathews: See my response above, written before I read yours. I suspect you haven't read me very much. I have called Fairfax County for years the best large school district in America, and it still is that.

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Washington DC: It wasn't on your list this year (I think because it doesn't yet cover all of the middle school years), but I'm interested in your impressions of the new Washington Latin school. My kids are still young, but I'm definitely watching it for the future. Can you shed any light on its development?

Jay Mathews: I have friends at the Post who have their kids there. It sounds intriguing. We will be looking at it eventually.

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TG in Washington, DC: Hello.

I was so happy to see the picks for the best middle schools in the area. However, there were just a few schools in the district. My husband and I are exploring better schools for our 9-year-old daughter. We have attended a few open houses for schools and are now considering HYDEDC. Has this school received high ratings (outside the HYDE community)? Would you happen to have any other suggestions for students entering the 4th grade (not quite middle school) within WARD 6-8?

Thanks so much!

Jay Mathews: Hyde is based on a very good model, and the Hyde parents I have spoken to are very happy with it. You have to visit, speak to the principal, and see the quality of the lessons, particularly the percent of kids who complete algebra by 8th grade. Notice that our list yesterday also gave good marks to Stuart-Hobson, a regular DC public school in that area. The best middle schools in those wards are the KIPP schools, also on our list. You might take a look at them, although they try to cater just to low-income parents who have great difficulty finding good alternatives in their neighborhoods.

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Bowie, Md:

Another great middle school which you did not list: Holy Trinity Episcopal Day School in Glendale Md. My two children went there and received great educations.

Jay Mathews: Very happy to hear it.

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Washington, DC: Please talk more about why you chose to include two schools on your "best of" list that have very, very low percentages of Algebra I completers (the gauge you use for academic success).

Did you feel pressure to include a school or two from P.G. county so people wouldn't accuse you of being racially biased? That's what it seems like.

If I were a parent looking for a school, I would in no way consider those "good" schools, and I would not want my children there.

Can you elaborate? Thanks!

Jay Mathews: A very good question. I left them in because they were in districts where the overall percentage of 8th graders completing algebra was also low. Getting algebra programs up to speed requires help from district staff, and if a district's policy does not encourage such efforts, it seemed wrong to penalize the great principals and teachers at these schools that were getting such good reviews for other factors. In PG, the new superintendent is clearly focused on getting those algebra percentages up, but he has just been here a year.

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Washington, DC: Are you going to come up with a challenge index for middle schools? I think it's necessary.

Jay Mathews: The only viable measure i have for such a list is the percentage of 8th graders completing algebra. It seems narrower than the Challenge Index criteria, but it is important and useful, and I may do that someday.

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Washington, DC: Can you explain to me how an elementary, middle school, or high school student could benefit from attending an economically diverse school vs. a school that has a low percentage of kids accepting free lunches. Also, how is this in turn a weakness for schools/students in rich areas?

Jay Mathews: If the diverse school has good teachers and high standards, if it opens AP and IB courses to all students who want to work hard (something that most US high schools in affluent neighborhoods still dont do), if it coaxes as many students as possible to complete algebra by the end of 8th grade (again a no-no in many affluent communities), then it is a better learning environment than many schools with very affluent clientele. There is nothing wrong with attending a school with very few low income students. Those are the kinds of schools my children have always attended, but if you are in a neighborhood you like with a school that has lots of low income students, you should check it out carefully before you flee to McLean. Many many middle class parents have found great schools in such neighborhoods and found their children emerged not only well educated, but with a clearer view of the world, and the many kinds of people in it.

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