This sourcebook of over 100 Texas middle-school programs was developed to help educators implement intermediate-grade education concepts and practices in their schools. The volume is a companion publication to "Spotlight on the Middle: Report of the Texas Task Force on Middle School Education." The introduction mentions two offices in…

A process called focused holistic scoring has been developed for use in the Texas Assessment of Basic Skills to assess student performance on writing samples. This process is "holistic" because it evaluates a total piece of writing, and it is "focused" because it evaluates the writing in terms of two specific objectives…

This guide was developed to provide local district administrators, counselors, and teachers in Texas information to implement a high-quality business education program. It contains 10 sections that cover the following the following topics: (1) purpose of business education; (2) general information (crosswalk of courses, types of courses, honors…

Service-learning is a teaching strategy used by Texas middle schools that combines classroom learning with community activities and where both students and teachers plan activities and projects that meet a well defined school or community need. These activities strengthen academic learning by addressing learning objectives, allowing students to…

This report envisions Texas schools using one another as resources and the campus planning process as a vehicle for implementing research-based concepts and practices in the middle grades. Since Texas' restructuring effort will not succeed without commitment to staff development from all levels of the education community, the need for teacher and…