REIMAGINING MIDDLE SCHOOL
Salem Public Schools | Salem, MA | Grades 6–8
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When Dr. Stephen Zrike was superintendent of Salem Public Schools, his office sat in the sixth-grade wing of Collins Middle School. He was in the middle of students' daily world, and it was impossible to ignore their disengagement with school. Zrike understood firsthand the particular challenges of this age, and he was convinced young people needed a different kind of learning experience. (Zrike now serves as Massachusetts Secretary of Education.) He wasn't alone. When Salem Public Schools surveyed its community, parents said they wanted different ways of learning for their kids, and only a third of students said they liked to be at school.
So in 2022, Salem's superintendent and mayor set out to build something new, starting small. WPS partnered with Salem PS leadership to co-design a Middle School Learning Pilot: a redesigned 8th-grade experience shaped directly by what students, families, and educators said they wanted. Forty-four students joined through an opt-in lottery, a cohort that fully reflected the diversity of this Title I district, testing a new model before asking the rest of the district to trust it.
That model blended personalized learning with authentic community connection. Studying civics, students didn't just read about it, they met with local leaders and designed voter education resources for students at Salem State University. In a design studio focused on Salem Harbor's ecology, students researched the harbor's environmental challenges and prototyped biomimetic robots inspired by deep-sea creatures, designed to help clean the water. Weekly learning immersions connected students to their community, and the shared experiences built strong relationships among students and teachers.
The results were strong enough that the pilot didn't stay a pilot. It grew from 44 students to 84, then to the district's full 8th grade cohort of 270 students across two schools. By fall 2026, Salem had merged Collins and Saltonstall into one reimagined middle school serving 753 students, with the model now shaping learning across grades 6 through 8.​​
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What changed, by WPS's measures of impact:
1 / Empowered Learners
Chronic absenteeism among participating students dropped 60% over three years, falling to under 12%. By 2025, 63% of students agreed that "most of the time, I love school" – double the national average – and they outperformed their peers on state tests.
2 / Engaged Communities
The shift reached far beyond students. 76% of parents said they'd recommend the program to another family, and 90% of teachers said the experience made them more likely to stay at Collins, a strong signal in a field where educator retention is a constant challenge.
3 / Boundless Futures
Participating students outperformed their peers on state assessments in both math and English language arts, showing that engagement and academic rigor grew together, not at each other's expense.
63%
76%
"I used to think school was structured and had to be done in a certain way," one student said. "But now I think it's more free for you to take into your hands and learn in many different ways."
– Salem 8th grader
What started with 40 students in one grade is now part of how Salem approaches middle school for every student. WPS continues to partner with Salem PS as the model expands, using the same approach that built it: listening, co-designing, and staying close to what students say about their own learning.