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Julian Middle School outlines logic model, early gains in belonging and engagement
Summary
Julianstaffers presented a school improvement logic model and early survey gains in student belonging and engagement as part of a broader middle school redesign effort.
Julian Middle Schoolleaders presented the schoolimprovement logic model and the first-phase findings of a middle-school redesign team at the District 97 board meeting Jan. 14.
Principal presenters said rebuilding a sense of community was a top priority when the new leadership team took over last spring. The logic model team described adult-practice changes (restorative approaches, reframing behavior as communication, and consistent expectations) and said those shifts were intended to create the conditions for learning.
Early survey results presented to the board showed movement on sense of belonging and engagement: a spring-to-fall increase from 34% to 42% of students responding favorably on the district—aculty dministered Panorama survey for belonging; engagement rose from 19% to 23% favorable, with targeted improvements among multilingual students and other focal cohorts. Staff described targeted data dives and small-group instruction adjustments intended to achieve a 5% per-grade growth target in math (45% growth target over baseline) and other incremental literacy goals.
The school described layered professional learning structures: whole-staff logic model presentations, grade-level "super teams," department meetings and MTSS-facilitated data dives. Administrators said the work aims to change tier-1 instruction and to build distributed leadership: teacher leaders and MTSS staff run data dives and professional learning sessions for colleagues.
Julian staff also previewed the district esign team—or middle-school schedule redesign. They described a collaborative process that began in October, moved from surveys to focus groups with students, staff and families in December, and will bring draft schedule components to the board in February. Staff said priorities from data included daily core instructional time, expanded elective and choice opportunities, purposeful advisory/soar time for social-emotional learning, and more consistent programming across the two district middle schools.
Ending: Julian staff said they would return in April with an update and that the schedule redesign team aims to finalize components for 2025-26 planning while continuing to collect community feedback.
