Teacher-directed content, immovable subject divisions, and rigid scope and sequences perpetuate mismatch between middle school curricula and young adolescents' needs. Teachers at one Florida middle school are experimenting with Coalition of Essential Schools processes such as backward curriculum design and units of joy. Curriculum becomes an open…

To motivate students toward higher achievement and encourage mingling across racial and socioeconomic groups, a team of Florida seventh-grade teachers developed a plan featuring a rotating schedule, enrichment classes for all students, long time-blocks two days weekly, and heterogeneous cohesive groups. The program exposed all students to a…