Attachment A
Middle Level
Problem-Based Learning Scenario
Thundering Herd Middle School
West Virginia Institute for
21st Century Leadership
Fall, 2008
Middle Level Problem-Based Learning Scenario
Thundering Herd Middle School
Community Demographic Profile1
Buffalo County, West Virginia, has been served by Thundering Herd Middle School (THMS) since
1985. The enrollment is 450 students in grades six through eight. There are 51 faculty and staff
members who serve at THMS. The total population of Buffalo County is 8,600. The only major
population center of Buffalo County is Blackwell with a population of 3,000. Blackwell is located
on the Black River and is the county seat of Buffalo County. Thundering Herd Middle School,
located in Blackwell, is the only middle school in the county.
The community's demographics have been greatly affected by the decline in employment
opportunities within river related industries such as chemical production and river transport.
Unemployment exceeded 10 percent throughout the 1990's. New job opportunities tend to be
in part-time and low-wage jobs. The current per capita household income for the Buffalo
County school district is $17,900, which is below the per capita household income for West
Virginia at $27,000. Limited job opportunity has contributed to a decline in population,
reflected in falling enrollment figures for THMS. Over the past five years, the school has lost
almost 10 percent of its enrollment. Local officials continue to seek ways to revitalize the
economy by attracting manufacturing and encouraging small businesses.
About 75% of THMS students attend the school for all three of their middle school years, with
about the same percentage attending Buffalo County schools through graduation. The
declining economic situation has had some impact on the stability of the student population.
The gender ratio is almost even at 47 percent male and 53 percent female. The ethnic mix
(with 99 percent white, and one percent Asian, Hispanic, African-American and Native
American), has been fairly consistent over recent years. About 19% of the students are in
special education. There are forty students in the BD program alone. For the most part, THMS
has had limited experience with mobile, transient, or non-English speaking students. Family
dynamics at THMS reflect national trends with increased numbers of students living in single
parent homes or with grandparents. A survey of Thundering Herd Middle School students
indicates that only 48% of students live with two parents. Students increasingly come to school
with social/emotional and physical needs that affect their academic performance. About 15
percent of the students have at least one parent that did not receive a high school diploma
while about 18 percent attended college for one or more years. Approximately, 68 percent of
students are eligible for free and/or reduced priced lunches.
1
This Problem Based Learning Case is built on a real school profile. However, all personnel profiles and situations
are fictitious and any resemblance or similarities to real people and situations is coincidental.
A growing number of students are considered "at-risk" of dropping out of school. Teachers are
frustrated with what they consider to be disrespect and lack of motivation by a growing
number of students. One eighth grade teacher commented, “When I threaten to cut their
grade for not doing their work, they just say, ‘so what.’ As social trends toward greater juvenile
violence and decreased respect for authority make their way into the school, discipline has
become a growing concern. Some teachers feel that their options for dealing with individual
students have been reduced by fear of misinterpretation of intent, fear of litigation, and lack of
respect in the community. Student behavior and discipline, although they involve a minority of
students, are increasingly troublesome.
For most THMS students, the school and its activities are one of the focal points of Buffalo
County community life. Most students love the school and have great school spirit. On Friday
Spirit Days, nearly all the kids and faculty dress in school shirts and jackets. Approximately 70
percent of students participate in at least one school sponsored sport, club, or other activity.
When the school was built twenty years ago, nearly 95 percent of students were involved in
school activities. Now, the change in the community economic situation and family dynamics
has impacted students’ ability to participate. Still when activities are part of the school day, kids
are enthusiastic and participate.
School Climate and Culture
As part of the strategic planning process, the faculty adopted a new mission statement in 2005.
The mission is, “The Mission of THMS is to create a supportive environment of high
expectations where the faculty takes the responsibility to prepare all students with the skills,
knowledge and attitudes of a life-long learner ready to participate in a rigorous high school
curriculum and accept the responsibilities of being a self-directed young adult.” During the
voting on the mission statement, it was clear that a significant group of faculty had strong
negative feelings about the specific wording, “the faculty takes the responsibility.” This group
of about fifteen teachers, primarily from the eighth grade, felt that more emphasis should be
placed on the responsibility of students and parents. They felt that too many kids weren’t
doing their work and their parents were not involved and/or supportive of the teachers. The
teachers were adamant that they were working hard and should not be held responsible for the
economic and social problems in the community. The principal, realizing that he had a majority
in favor of the mission, pushed ahead for the vote. On the Monday after the vote, the principal
got an anonymous letter basically saying, “You’ve got your head in the clouds.” and “You are
developing a generation of welfare slackers.” The principal, a former highly skilled high school
teacher, was very upset with the letter but decided not to make it an issue, hoping over time
things would get better. However, this key division of the faculty has continued to color group
decisions and the ability to work together. The faculty is split on nearly every suggested
innovation.
Educational Programming
General Information: Although THMS was built as a junior high school, it switched to the
middle school concept in 1995. The new principal at that time, a charismatic out-going former
teacher, led the reorganization with much support from the faculty. A series of visitations to
outstanding middle schools and attendance at the national Middle School Conference helped
the staff make the original transition. Since that time, most key faculty retired, and the
principal who led the transition moved to another county to take a central office position. The
current principal has been in the job for two years after an interim held the post for two years.
Most of the new eighth grade faculty came to the school within the last four years as transfers
from the high school. This group of former high school faculty is anti middle school and
supportive of the junior high model. They frequently comment in staff meetings that when
they were at the high school, they got too many kids from this school who “weren’t prepared.”
They believe that the middle school philosophy is ‘all they need is love.’ The majority of the
sixth grade teachers and some of the seventh grade teachers are supportive of the middle
school philosophy and tend to be offended by the criticisms. The sixth grade group tends to be
open to change and wants to reinstitute the Advisor/Advisee program that ended three years
ago with pressures of NCLB. The interdisciplinary team organization continues at the school
but may be eliminated if support does not emerge from the entire faculty. The drop in student
enrollment adds fuel to those in the school who want to end the interdisciplinary team
approach to scheduling.
a. Curriculum: The school schedule is built around basic skills with 80 minutes of
reading/language arts and mathematics daily. In addition students take 40 minutes of science
and social studies daily. On a rotating basis, the students also have art, music, health, P.E. and
tech ed. About 15 students at both the seventh and eighth grade levels take an on-line Spanish
course. Fifteen “hand-picked” eighth graders are enrolled in Algebra I. The overall approach to
planning curriculum is as divided as the staff. The sixth grade faculty has worked on unit
planning both within subject areas and across some disciplines. They use the WVCSO’s as the
basis for curriculum planning and have adopted an on-line unit and lesson planning format.
Two of the science units and one of the math units won a national award from a NEE, a national
engineering group that supports innovation in education. The eighth grade teachers use the
textbook as the source of curriculum planning. The seventh grade teams have several new
teachers who are open to change but are afraid to speak out. All teachers in the school code
their lesson plans with the CSO’s, a practice that continues from the previous principal.
Approximately five years ago, the former principal started a career guidance program that was
part of the school’s Advisor/Advisee Program. In A/A, eighth grade students completed their
transition plan and set goals for high school. Since Advisor/Advisee has been eliminated from
the curriculum, these tasks have been assigned to 8th grade staff. They do not think this is their
job. So, in reality, little is done to transition students to the high school. Basically, the kids are
bused to the high school for “move-up day.”
b. Instruction: Instruction in the school is a mixture of tradition and innovation. Most of the
sixth grade teachers use cooperative learning and differentiated instruction. One sixth grade
teacher serves on the state DI (Differentiated Instruction) Cadre and is a skilled presenter and
coach. All teachers in the sixth grade but one have attended summer sessions on technology
integration and regularly take their kids to the computer lab for projects. Most of the students
in the sixth grade have been involved in research projects like the social studies fair and the
science fair. Unfortunately, the number of participants in these two events diminishes each
year the students are at THMS.
c. School Effectiveness: The school has a very active School Improvement Council that meets
prior to the beginning of the year then monthly thereafter. The new principal has revitalized
the Council and has tried to help members take leadership for major improvement initiatives.
They have struggled with how to address the division in the staff but are willing to work
together to improve the school. The Council has one teacher from each grade level, two service
staff (an aide and the secretary), two parents and a community member. One of the parents is
new to the school having home schooled her child until sixth grade. She is concerned about
some of the discipline issues. The school Five-Year Strategic Plan has a goal on improved
instruction and a goal on improved discipline. During Faculty Senate meeting, the Council
reports to the staff. The Council has been concerned about the lack of school-wide
involvement in the implementation of the Plan. They would like to see greater involvement by
teams and more control over professional development.
d. Student Support: Even though the school is small, the assistant principal recently wrote a
grant with the sheriff’s office that allowed the school to get an officer daily for a half day. The
officer is well-liked and is trying to work with staff, parents and students to improve student
behavior. He sees great inconsistency in the way students are treated personally and in the
discipline processes in the classroom. The school has a School Assistance Team chaired by the
assistant principal that meets on a regular basis. However, the recommendations from the SAT
are usually not followed by the eighth grade teams. They believe the kids are being coddled by
some of the SAT suggestions. Other student support systems in the school include the sixth
grade teams’ work in special education. They have implemented an inclusion model for special
education students and use a three-tiered approach. They also have a sophisticated regrouping process to help students who have not mastered concepts and a community
mentoring program for students having personal difficulties. They are seeing great results.
These teachers have also developed their own sixth grade orientation/transition program with
the two elementary feeder schools. The sixth grade team has been asked to present at the
state middle school conference on their innovations. Mr. T, the former principal, has asked
them to come to his county to do a staff development. It should be noted that the school
counselor and the librarian have both provided considerable support to the 6 th grade teachers.
Educational Results
THMS has not met AYP for the last two years. It is the only school in the county that has not
made AYP the current year. The school has been out of compliance in the low SES subgroup
and the Special Education subgroup at the seventh and eighth grades for both
reading/language arts and in mathematics. The school has also not met accountability
standards in attendance. The attendance is 88 percent with the lowest attendance at the 8 th
grade level. The school scores on the Writing Assessment are above average largely due to the
collaboration between the sixth and seventh grade language arts teachers and the emphasis on
writing in the sixth grade. Each year, the principal meets with Teams to go over WESTEST and
Writing Assessment results. He asks the team leaders to come up with a plan for addressing
weaknesses. The sixth grade team has done an excellent job with their plan. ACT Explore has
not been used in the school to diagnose student strengths and weaknesses.
Faculty and Staff Profile
There are 51 faculty and staff members who serve at THMS. There are 33 classroom teachers,
one counselor, one librarian, two aides, one autism mentor, one head cook, four cooks, one
secretary, three custodians, and a new assistant principal. One-half of the faculty has 20 to 28
years of experience, with nine having 28 plus years of experience. Eight faculty members have 5
to 9 years of experience. Nine faculty members have zero to five years of experience, four of
those nine faculty members have less than three years of experience.
The following dossiers are profiles of key personnel who serve at THMS:

Mr. A. is your new assistant principal. He comes from a long standing well-to-do family
of Buffalo County. Mr. A. taught for six years before entering an on-line administration
program for school leaders. He finished his on-line work and received his certification
and made application for any open administrative position in the county. The school
board and superintendent decided that Mr. A. was the strongest applicant for the
assistant principal’s position at THMS. Mr. A. also applied for the principal job at
THMS when it came open; he was passed over by the Board in favor of the new
principal. He appears to be a team-player but at times seems to undermine some of
the decisions of the principal.

Mr. B. just earned his doctorate in school leadership and would like to have a
leadership role in Buffalo County. He has been teaching sixth grade for seven years and
is very popular with staff, students and their parents. Mr. B. uses a variety of
technology applications with his students, takes them on creative field trips and is
working with the community to upgrade the technology lab. Mr. B. teaches a science
methods class as an adjunct professor for a state university.

Miss C. is a newly hired energetic teacher in her second year of service at THMS. She
graduated from a highly acclaimed five year teacher preparation program with a
Masters degree. She has middle school certification in mathematics and science. Miss
C. has extensive knowledge about instructional design and technology. She has
designed award winning web pages for local businesses and is currently enrolled in an
educational doctorate program for instructional design and technology.

Mrs. D. is in her tenth year of service as a physical education teacher and coach. She
came to the middle school from the high school. Mrs. D. is the president of the Buffalo
County Teachers Association and has been very outspoken when it comes to
protecting teachers rights. Mrs. D. is married to a prominent attorney in Buffalo
County who many believe has political ambitions. Mrs. D. has clashed many times in
the past with school board members and central office administration. She is a skilled
and well-liked teacher and is supportive of many of the concerns of the eighth grade
teachers.

Mrs. E. has been teaching for 26 years and is revered by all of her students and the
entire community. She never seeks the spotlight but many seek her advice on multiple
issues. If Mrs. E. lends her support to any school initiative, people tend to rally around
her and make things happen. Mrs. E. has lived in Buffalo County all of her life. She is a
member of the sixth grade team and teaches reading/language arts.

Mr. F. is an eighth grade math teacher who came to THMS from the high school. He is
not happy at the school and misses teaching upper level courses. The only class he
likes to teach is his one section of Algebra I. This class in made up of a small “hand
picked” group of students. He is known to be an excellent mathematician.

Mrs. G is an instructional aide assigned to the eighth grade special education staff.
She has been in the school since its opening in 1985. She has great rapport with staff
and students and is conscientious about her work. The principal counts on her for
advice about community and school issues. She will take on any job assigned to her.
Mr. F likes Mrs. G since she often stops to talk to him and brings him homemade
baked goods.
School Organization/Professional Development
As a result of the move from the junior high to middle school philosophy a decade ago, the
school continues to be organized into interdisciplinary teams at each grade level. Each teacher
has a sixty minute planning period daily. Within this time, all teams are expected to set a
schedule for interdisciplinary meetings for 60 minutes a week. The sixth grade team chooses to
meet twice weekly for 45 minutes. The seventh grade teams meet on Friday for the full hour.
The eighth grade team meets once a week but usually adjourns after 20 minutes or so.
Since the central office is small, most of the professional development is organized at the
school level. Dr. Winters, the Superintendent, has encouraged principals to do book studies,
on-line professional development and other methods to build learning communities. He has
also encouraged the schools to use the Instructional Support days for school improvement.
THMS has been given a grant of $15,000 to support professional development. It can be used
for stipends, materials or consultants.
School Board and Central Administration Relations
The Buffalo County school board is a diverse five member board. Dr. Winters is the Buffalo
County Superintendent, having just received a three-year contract. He recently finished his
doctorate in leadership studies. Dr. Winters served as a Director of Special Education in a
neighboring county where he received high praise from all constituencies. Dr. Winters was
hired on a 4:1 vote of the school board. The president of the school board, Mrs. Carl, is a life
time resident of Buffalo County and her grandfather owned and operated the first mill on the
Black River. There have been three superintendents in the past six years in Buffalo County
before Dr. Winters and each fell out of favor with Mrs. Carl prior to their departure. Mrs. Carl is
a proponent of technology and professional development. She believes technology will level
the playing field for students by giving them access to resources and bringing in more AP and
college courses.
Dr. Winters has a very good rapport with West Virginia Department of Education. He is active
in state and national organizations. Dr. Winters is a strong proponent of quality and equity,
data-based decision making and the movement toward 21st century teaching and learning. He
has made it clear to his principals that he dislikes strong arm tactics and wants to build a culture
of trust among all of the educational constituencies. Working with Mrs. Carl, Dr. Winters hopes
to make the county a model 21st century county.