It’s never been a better time to be in middle school in Durham Public Schools.
Eight of the district’s 11 middle schools exceeded expected growth for the 2024-25 school year, according to the N.C. Performance and Growth Report, which is based on end-of-grade and end-of-course tests. The remaining three schools met their expected growth goals.
“The future of DPS middle schools is bright, and we are just getting started,” said Dr. Kecia Rogers, Assistant Superintendent of Middle Schools. “We believe the best is yet to come for DPS middle schools.”
New academic programs. Upgrades for athletics. Enriched offerings in the arts. All this and more stem from teachers and administrators working together to build on the success that middle schools have been experiencing.
“Our middle schools are proving that when vision, leadership, and investment come together, real transformation happens,” Rogers said. “With every school meeting or exceeding growth, historic gains in academics, schools moving up in performance grades, and reductions in suspensions, our middle grades are stronger than ever.”
“Our progress has been fueled by an intentional district investment in the middle grades, strong principal leadership, and a strategic leadership framework,” Rogers said. “It’s about building cultures of excellence where students are known, physically and emotionally safe, connected with others, challenged, and celebrated.”
BIG CHANGES ACROSS MIDDLE SCHOOLS
Here is a brief look at what’s happening and what is in store for Durham Public Schools middle schools:
MAGNET PROGRAMS
Magnet programs have expanded in middle schools in DPS.
This year, Brogden Middle School started the first Dual Language Immersion (DLI) program for middle schools. Students will learn via both English and Spanish instruction to achieve bilingual and biliteracy proficiency.
In addition, DPS received an $11.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education last year that is being used in part to expand the middle school Montessori program to Lucas Middle School and to strengthen programming at The School for Creative Studies, which reverted to middle school grades from a 6-12 format this year.
“One focus [at Lucas] is going to be on outdoor learning,” said Dr. Kengie Bass, Director of Magnet and Choice Programs. “The school has hired outdoor learning specialists, and they will be utilizing all of the grounds. Students will be learning about the environmental side of things – land use, conservation, and pollution.”
The School for Creative Studies will revise its magnet program to focus on innovative learning through creativity, and it will have expanded performing arts options. The school now features a Modern Band option that includes instruction in musical genres such as rock, pop, Latin, R&B, jazz, and rap. The school has also introduced expanded athletics offerings this year.
CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION
Career exploration should start in middle school, and Career and Technical Education (CTE) Director Darian Harris and his team have taken steps to ensure that it does.
Each DPS middle school now features a Paxton/Patterson College and Career Ready Lab, where students can learn about 10 different career pathways through learning modules. These modules offer hands-on activities for learning about various career areas and developing skills. For example, in one module, students learn how to build and fly paper drones.
“CTE is for all students. The idea behind it is you’re temporarily trying on a career identity,” Harris said. “We don’t know what the future holds, but we know that the skills students are developing now are going to be useful in whatever they decide to do with their futures.”
CTE is also working to develop signature events for every grade level. At the Acceler8 event each October, all DPS eighth graders spend a day at the Durham County Memorial Stadium meeting representatives from businesses and organizations spanning dozens of career areas. Other events are being developed to explore additional pathways and skills.
ADVANCED ACADEMICS
Offering more opportunities for advanced coursework at the middle school level prepares students for future success.
“Every middle school now has an Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted (AIG) program specialist,” said Laura Parrott, Director of Advanced Academics. “Part of their responsibilities [includes] providing ongoing professional development to teachers, how to help them meet the needs of advanced students, and working directly with advanced learners, advocating for them to receive appropriate services. Part of their role is ensuring that there is a total school comprehensive program to develop academic talent in all students.”
In addition, the number of high school classes offered at middle schools has increased, including environmental science, Math 1, Math 2, and English 1.
More eighth graders are also taking advantage of the Credit by Demonstrated Mastery offering, which allows them to demonstrate subject knowledge by taking an exam and demonstrating mastery through artifacts to receive credit for certain high school courses.
ARTSMiddle school is a crucial time for students to explore the arts in their various forms to help discover what is most fulfilling to them both as learners and as individuals.
“I’m a firm believer that there is an artist in every young person and every adult,” said Arts Director Les Turner. “In our middle schools, we have a big push for young people making sure that they find out who they are through the arts.”
This is happening in quite a few ways:
Vertical alignment: Middle school band, chorus, theater, dance, and orchestra teachers visit elementary schools to talk to fifth graders about their program offerings and what might be good fits for them. In addition, many elementary school classes visit middle schools throughout the year to attend concerts and get a feel for what they like.
Middle school students have flexibility in taking arts classes as electives and are not locked into one discipline.
“They could take half a year of chorus and say, ‘I might not be a chorus person,’” said Turner. “We encourage that middle school setting to kind of figure out who you are.”
All DPS middle schools now feature band, chorus, and visual arts.
“Middle school students and student athletes truly, truly matter,” said DPS Athletics Director David Hackney. “They are the young men and women who are going to be feeding into our high schools, and they’re going to be our next set of stars and next set of scholarship winners.”
That is why Hackney and his coaches and athletes are excited about upgrades to athletics facilities and grounds. With the recent reintroduction of athletics to the School for Creative Studies, there are now 11 middle schools competing.
“We’re currently working on upgrading all their outdoor facilities,” said Hackney, adding that new scoreboards have been added, and track resurfacing is under way. Plans are in the works for such upgrades at many other middle schools.
Dick’s Sporting Goods recently donated $20,000 to help purchase uniforms for middle schools. In addition, online ticket sales now exist for middle school sporting events, helping to improve efficiency and safety at events.