This article presents an interview with Melissa Shindel, assistant principal of Patuxent Valley Middle School in Jessup, Maryland, and 2009 NASSP/Virco National Assistant Principal of the Year. In this interview, Shindel shares her philosophy and experience.

When visitors step inside Pocomoke (MD) Middle School, they are immediately surrounded by a profound sense of pride and high expectations. Students are actively engaged in instruction, the classroom walls are covered with student work, and the halls are lined with pictures of students demonstrating success. Beanbag chairs await eager readers,…

Ernest Everett Just Middle School, located in Mitchellville, Maryland, has a student population that is almost homogenous. In fact, 98% of the students are Black. As a veteran principal, the author's greatest fear has been not being able to provide students with a broad spectrum of ethnic, cultural, and religious experiences--experiences that they…

Recently, Argyle Middle School in Montgomery County, Maryland faced the prospect of corrective action for failure to make adequate yearly progress (AYP) under the No Child Left Behind Act. The county's Office of School Performance designed the Strategic Monitoring/Intervention Process to help schools identify students' academic progress both…

A Maryland middle school helps students navigate passage to high school with 10 crossings: parent engagement, mentoring transitional opportunities program, a middle-school exit form, a special assembly, a closing ceremony, a unification process, departmental articulation, a roundtable involving middle- and high-school principals, and a high-school…

Attempting to invert the pyramid to improve student achievement and increase all students' chances for success is not a new endeavor. For decades, educators have strategized, formed think tanks, and developed school improvement teams to find better ways to improve the achievement of all students. Currently, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is…