This study of parent-teacher communications was in response to an administrative inquiry regarding the status of home-school interactions at a suburban Florida middle school. The Parent Communication Survey (PCS) was developed to assess parents' concerns relative to parent-teacher communication (what parents wanted to hear, how they wished to be…

Results from an ethnographic study reveal the meanings and social actions of teachers and administrators that were used to support a teachers' theory of empowerment. This practitioner's model offers a definition, principles, and behaviors that reflect teacher empowerment as it occurs in the school. Implications of this model for building…

This paper examines the relationships among administrative support, interdisciplinary team functioning, classroom practices, and student outcomes. It is premised on the need to move beyond examinations of the team process and explore the effects of processes on student learning. The report is based on a systemic research project that studied 60…

A collaborative study was conducted to investigate students perceptions of their learning environments in elementary and middle school and to suggest interventions that would aid the school district in creating developmentally appropriate practices at the secondary level as the students experience the transition into middle school. Data were…

Early efforts to reform middle-level education were characterized by the adoption of a set of programs, often those espoused by national advocacy groups. Too often such efforts were driven by changes in student population and adopted without broad participation by teachers, parents, and other community members. This paper relates the story of a…

The distinction between formal education and museums and science centers has become less obvious over time as museums meet more needs of schools. This study examines two different cultures in the form of the school/museum partnership. The objective of the study was to identify the points at which two institutions, schools and museums, could merge…

Findings from a project that utilized student input in the restructuring of school practices are presented in this paper. The 6-month doctoral project was implemented in an urban middle school. Methodology was based on solicitation of student input about classroom practices and data collection of school and departmental issues, which resulted in…

This study explored parents' beliefs and practices regarding participation in the schools, investigating why they chose to become involved and the types of involvement that were meaningful to them. Researchers mailed surveys to parents of middle school children from two schools in Nassau County, New York, that differed in size, ethnic population,…

This paper focuses on how school practitioners respond to middle-school reform when it is approached from a research-based, theoretical framework. Using a goal-theory framework, a school-university collaboration at a middle school in a small midwestern town sought to move the school culture toward a task-oriented learning environment. Evaluation…

This paper reports on a school district's efforts to work collaboratively with parents, teachers, principals, and community representatives as they confronted concerns about their middle-level program. It recommends strategies for strengthening and refining a program that was undergoing severe strains as the district gathered data about program…

First steps toward engaging in collaborative action research in the mathematics classroom are vital in establishing quality research projects designed and implemented jointly by classroom teachers and university faculty. This brief paper describes the initial phases of a collaborative research project centered around the incorporation of problem…

This paper presents findings of a study that examined how school participants in two schools in a Florida city coped with conflict, with a focus on developing a cooperative school climate. Constructivism, which states that learning is the making-sense of experiences in a social environment, provides the theoretical framework. From this…

This paper presents a synthesis of several studies that support the hypothesis that properly scaffolded design problems lead to the types of convergent thinking and knowledge integration that have been difficult to achieve in the Computer Supported Intentional Learning Environment (CSILE) system. The focus is on a middle school science unit on…

The Puget Sound Professional Development Center (PSPDC) was established in 1989 as a partnership between the University of Washington and four middle schools. PSPDC has created collaborative and substantial teacher leadership roles. In performing the role of teacher leader coordinator (TLC), teachers: (1) were fully participating members of the…

The Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) program was implemented in a partnership between the University of Tennessee (UT) and two rural East Tennessee school systems. The study addressed the residual impact of UT GEAR UP on middle school teachers and schools that were left behind as the cohort progressed to…