(Dover, DE.) Terry Whittaker, Ed.D., a member of the Delaware State Board of Education, is working with a national panel of education leaders that will shortly issue a set of recommendations on middle grade reforms to better prepare students for high school success. The proposals will be the result of a year-long task force created by the National Association of State Boards of Education to study the often overlooked early secondary years and the impact such timely assistance can have on high school graduation rates.

 The group of select state education officials from around the country convened for the final time this past weekend in Washington, DC to meet with middle school leaders and other education reform experts as they put the finishing touches on their national recommendations for ways in which states can improve student achievement and public engagement in these early secondary school grades.

 “The academic foundation upon which a high school diploma is built is the middle school. The supports and assistance necessary for a student’s successful transition from elementary to high school have gotten little to no attention in national discussions about high school reforms. And yet, early interventions are key to many of the graduation and dropout challenges we are all trying to solve. The reforms will be an important contribution to student achievement and school improvement strategies in every state,” said Brenda Welburn, NASBE Executive Director.

The task force will issue its comprehensive report in October 2008 at the NASBE National Conference in Washington, DC. The state policy recommendations will also be distributed to all governors, state superintendents, other state and local education policymakers, national education groups, Congress, and federal officials.

NASBE, www.nasbe.org, represents America’s state and territorial boards of education. Our principal objectives are to strengthen state leadership in education policymaking; advocate equality of access to educational opportunity; promote excellence in the education of all students; and assure responsive lay governance of education.