I have two thoughts on this article:

A) The Gates Foundation has decided to focus on high schools because that's where kids are failing the most, now you have a push in middle school because THAT'S where kids are failing the most... HELLO! The SYSTEM is broken! WAY too many of our schools are broken in EVERY grade, starting in kindergarten all the way thru 12th grade. Kids are failing in high school and dropping out not only because too many high schools are lousy, but also because of 10 years of lousy schooling leading up to high school. It should be no surprise to anyone that students who enter 9th grade barely literate and having difficulty doing even basic math aren't likely to graduate. The same is true of middle school: when 58% of black and 54% of Latino 4th graders are ILLITERATE, no kidding the statistics for middle schools will look dreadful -- but a big reason for this is the awful K-4 education.

I think this focus on high school vs. middle school is a big distraction. The entire system needs to be reformed in 100 ways -- there is no 100% solution, but rather 100 1% solutions -- but the key elements are to set up measurement and accountability systems, then give principals control over their budget and staff, and then hold them accountable for progress/improvements. Below is an article I published two years ago with further thoughts on this...

Overall, my observation is that the most important elements of creating an effective organization, or turning around a broken one, are virtually identical, whether the organization is for-profit, non-profit, or governmental. All organizations ultimately depend on people, and in every case I’ve seen, it’s critical to empower them, give them the right strategies and tools to succeed, measure the results, and then hold them accountable, both by rewarding success and taking steps to address failure.

B) How can an article about failing middle schools and the search for solutions NOT mention KIPP, Amistad, Uncommon Schools or any other the handful of other programs that are achieving extraordinary success with the toughest middle schools students?! This article is needlessly hopeless, allowing a principal to say nonsense like this, unchallenged:

At Seth Low — also known as I.S. 96 — in the Bensonhurst neighborhood, Mr. Fein is skeptical of the rush for quick answers.

“Nobody’s ever come down and said, ‘This works,’ ” he said, speaking amid an office cluttered with John Lennon memorabilia, congratulatory plaques and student work like a glittery card reading “Mr. Fine, He So Fine.”

Mr. Fein worries about test scores because he has to; although some of his students take a special test to get in, his school is listed as failing under No Child Left Behind because it has narrowly missed performance targets for special education students, Hispanics and non-native English speakers. But scores are not exactly his priority.

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The Critical Years