1. What is the Maryland's Tomorrow Middle School Program?

In 1993, the Maryland's Tomorrow statewide dropout prevention program, which has been operating in high schools since 1988, expanded to middle school level.

The purpose of the middle school program is to improve the attendance, promotion rate, and behavior of at-risk students in grades six through eight so that they may succeed in high school, make wise career choices, and continue their education and training.

2. How is this Middle School program structured?

The Maryland's Tomorrow Middle School Program has two models:

• The Choice Middle School Program is administered through the University
  of Maryland Baltimore County in partnership with specific Maryland school
  systems and the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE). The
  Choice program will serve a total of 445 students in FY '98.
  

  LOCATIONS
  BALTIMORE COUNTY	Deep Creek Middle School (73) Stemmers Run Middle School (72)
  CECIL COUNTY	Cherry Hill Middle School (20) North East Middle School (50)
  PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY	Bradbury Heights Elementary School (25) Benjamin Stoddert Middle School (75) Drew Freeman Middle School (30)
  WASHINGTON COUNTY	E. Russell Hicks Middle School (35) Springfield Middle School (35)
  MONTGOMERY COUNTY	Gaithersburg Middle School (10) Muncaster Alternative School (10) Montgomery Village Middle School (10)

• The Local School System-Sponsored Dropout Prevention Programs were designed by staff at each middle school in response to a request for proposals issued by MSDE. These programs currently serve a total of 467 students in FY '98.
  

3. What do the different models offer to students?

Operating different models gives local school systems a choice of approaches and gives the program administrators an opportunity to determine which strategies are most effective for students. Because ideas and information are shared among staff from all models, a variety of strategies can be tried out and adapted.

In the Choice Middle schools model, a team of caseworkers provides daily attendance monitoring, after school homework sessions, tutoring, home visits, support to parents on parenting skills and crisis situations. Students begin the program in the sixth grade and continue until their transition until the ninth grade. The Montgomery County Choice program differs from other Choice programs in that it offers only intensive outreach and case management services for youth who are at-risk of serious outburst or who have been suspended for serious offenses.

The local school system sponsored models were designed with guidance from school improvement teams. The programs include services such as after school tutoring and computer assisted instruction, daily help with homework, a student- operated cookie business, jobs in the school community, weekly service learning at a Head Start Center, as well as wellness activities, rewards and incentives, and family, business and community involvement. Each middle schools is a feeder school to a Maryland's Tomorrow high school.

4. How are students selected for the program?

Students in grades six through eight must show evidence of one of the following to be eligible for the programs: low achievement on standardized tests, prior grade retention, poor attendance, or a GPA of less than 2.0.

5. How are programs funded?

The Maryland's Tomorrow Middle School program are funded by the Maryland State Department of Education through state aid available under the Maryland's Tomorrow dropout prevention funding umbrella. In FY '97, $1,987,662 in state aid was allocated to Maryland's Tomorrow middle school initiatives.