Educators and policymakers have debated in recent years how best to improve academic performance in the middle grades. In the absence of outcomes-based research about what works, school districts have reshuffled grade configurations, bolstered their focus on "academic rigor," and worked to ensure that students are engaged in school as…

Examined are the global issues of population growth, world hunger, air quality and atmosphere, and water resources in 10 middle school science textbooks. Less than two percent of text pages were devoted to these issues and no significant differences were found between textbook series. (Author/YP)

This study reports the instructional effects of issue investigation and action training on the environmental behavior of middle school students. Discussed are the methodology including training and modules, the design of the study, instruments used, scoring protocols, and analysis of results. (Author/CW)

This document analyzes data obtained from "Education in the Middle Grades," a national survey of practices and trends using a representative sample of principals in public schools that contain grade 7, to examine the use and effects of practices that many educators believe are especially responsive to the needs of early adolescents. Practices…

When students make the transition from elementary school to junior high school, they experience abrupt organizational changes in their school environment. The hypothesis that social comparison processes mediate the relation between ability grouping practices in mathematics and students' achievement expectancies was tested in a longitudinal sample…