(2/10/99)

Big changes are headed for Utah's junior highs and middle schools. This difficult age group has been the focus of a half-year state study. Today, the results suggest an overhaul to better help these students learn. Nadine Wimmer reports.

Dr. Gary Carlston, Deputy Director for Education says, "These kids can achieve. They are not a lost age group."

If you walk into a junior high, under some of these new recommendations, these schools are going to look a lot different.

The biggest change will be classes with fewer students. In one art class we visited there were 33 students.

New funding aims to cut not just one, not two, but three students from every class. Teacher Sutton Morgan says, "Three students would definitely make a difference in my class, because I am spread thin as it is."

The changes will also come in how we train teachers to work in middle schools.

You'll also see a difference in a lot of the students. The halls will still be rowdy, but students who have serious behavior problems will be seperated from other students. "And we're not just talking about a trip to the principal's office. They're looking for real solutions to get kids away from others so they don't disrupt the school."

Now to help see that they don't get to that point, there will be changes to the junior high counseling office. One counselor is responsible for 450 students. They want to lower the ratio.

Another place where you'll see change is in report cards. Under this plan, A's, B's, and C's aren't enough to determiine whether you get to go on to high school. Students will have to pass a competency test.

The Governor and his task force will now try to get these and other measures adopted into the schools.