Custer Baker Intermediate School was named a School of Distinction by the Association for Middle-Level Education.
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Custer Baker Intermediate School was recognized as a “school of distinction” by a national organization.
CBIS was the only school in Indiana to be honored as a School of Distinction by the Association for Middle-Level Education. Schools are selected as AMLE Schools of Distinction annually after a rigorous review process. CBIS and 16 other schools in states such as Georgia, Texas, Virginia, Hawaii, and Tennessee were honored.
The goal of the program is to foster a network of schools that can learn from and support each other, according to AMLE’s website. Any school that educates students between the ages of 10-15 is eligible to apply to become a school of distinction. The process of becoming a school of distinction begins with schools completing an assignment dubbed the Successful Middle School Assessment.
CBIS administrators decided to apply for the AMLE award after a conference a few years ago, said Cheryl Moran, principal. As a result of the conference, administrators decided to do a staff survey to see where they were meeting the needs of middle school learners, she said.
The application process was lengthy, including interviews with stakeholders, students and staff and submitting data on test scores, improvement rates and discipline.
The survey prompted CBIS to do a book study with AMLE to look at strengths and weaknesses and ways to improve them. Through their school improvement plan, they have been tackling improvements over the last couple of years, Moran said.
Career education and its importance to initiate it in sixth grade was one big improvement that Custer Baker has worked on in the last few years she said. They have been working on giving kids a global understanding and narrowing down real-world responsibilities, Moran said.
Meeting one-on-one with students has been another big push for Custer Baker. With 760 kids in one building, it can be easy to lose touch with some students, Moran said.
School leaders don’t want any students to fall through the cracks, so they initiated team time as part of their school improvement plan. Students are assigned a team or individual who checks in on them periodically. They hold an academic check day where staff checks in with a student academically, she said. Team time helps provide accountability and a personal touch to student’s academics, she said.
“By the time they move on past us, they’ll still be a middle-level learner. We’re hoping that it becomes more of an intrinsic motivation,” Moran said.
Now, Custer Baker’s goal is to keep working on career education and advisory and start working on building a more inclusive culture.
The award symbolizes the hard work teachers and administrators put in at CBIS to do what’s best for the kids, Moran said.
“The award is great, but I think it’s the work that we’ve put into it and the work that we’ll continue to do to make sure we’re meeting the needs of the kids that matters,” Moran said.
