This paper analyzes data from the Pennsylvania Educational Quality Assessment (EQA) and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to provide a description of grouping, staffing, and scheduling practices that currently exist in elementary, middle, and high schools. The practices are found to follow a continuum from elementary through high school that proceeds from an early emphasis on "pupil orientation" to a later emphasis on "subject-matter" orientation. These emphases drive decisions about the scheduling, staffing, and grouping practices that foster the particular learning environments and activities that define a school's instructional program. The paper specifically examines the implications of these practices for middle schools. Survey data are displayed in graphs and tables and 29 references are included. (Author/JD)