Recently promulgated national education goals and school restructuring ideas overlook middle-school-aged children's unique needs and circumstances. Schools should foster the development of world-class people, not superemployees. Focus should be on developmental tasks and diverse opportunities for self-exploration, competency development,…

In a recent survey of outstanding school administrators, 70 middle-school administrators acknowledged the importance of student well-being, staff collegiality, higher expectations, innovative attitudes, school climate, risk-taking, professional activities, values, and institutional mission. The ability to facilitate others' growth and create a…

Buoyed by the success of an informal, unexpected "pilot study" using sign language and Spanish and a challenge from a university colleague, a Florida middle-school teacher expanded the use of second languages in her classes. An ensuing study involving 115 eighth graders showed a positive change in students' attitudes toward foreign…

Describes a partnership involving North Carolina middle school and Weck Industry, a surgical instrument manufacturing company. Steering committee generated ideas to improve curriculum, student services, and teacher services. Several curriculum-related recommendations have been carried out the first year, including a speakers' bureau, facility…

A model focuses on three levels of observable behaviors that are essential for teachers to demonstrate in small-group learning situations: (1) teacher and student questioning; (2) teacher and student interaction; and (3) teacher monitoring. Five figures are provided for recording observations. (18 references) (MLF)

Concept of cooperative literacy implies an obligation of educators to increase all students' literacy and numeracy skills. Adapting cooperative learning as both a classroom management and a learning strategy helps manifest this responsibility across the curriculum. Two self-monitoring strategies are the Team Tally Sheet (to help students manage…

Parent-teacher conferences are often mutually unsatisfactory. If some improvement in the child's behavior or performance is expected, teachers need to identify problems, set reasonable goals, develop a course of action, and provide some means of followup. (MLF)

Middle school transition brings with it considerable change for those involved. Using corporate and industrial management theories and practices presents a rationale for wholesale and comprehensive educational change. (six references) (MLF)

To help understand the needs of individual students, a teacher conducted extensive interviews with her reading class. Comments from three interviews indicate a favorable response to nontraditional reading; a need and desire to explore reading and to use the experience to meet their own needs; and a desire for flexibility. (MLF)

Although students in rural and small schools have certain advantages over urban students, middle-level students in Nebraska and other rural areas tend to be forgotten students that get all the leftovers, including shared staff, facilities, and schedules. Educators involved in the MARS Project and the Nebraska Middle Level Academy have made several…

The language-related attitudes and beliefs that young students bring into the classroom carry serious implications for their successful second-language acquisition and intercultural communication. This article illustrates the predominance of student misconceptions and cultural stereotypes in one setting. Students' expectations and their beliefs…

Presents findings from the 1993 NASSP study concerning the prevalence of 10 essential middle-school elements (identified by a 1982/1992 National Middle School Association study) in middle schools across the United States. Although middle-level education has come of age and developed a unique identity, most schools must work harder to incorporate…

Dissimilar learners, although not candidates for special-education services, have difficulty adapting to the typical middle-school environment. The Intervention with Dissimilar Learners model adapts middle-school programs to meet student needs and achieve positive regard, teacher empowerment, and teacher as advisor objectives. The goal is building…

Involvement in community service can benefit middle-school students by helping them feel valued, teaching responsibility, and improving teacher-student relations. A rural Pennsylvania middle school evaluated community-service opportunities and then employed StarServe, a resource kit encouraging students to develop their own service projects.…

Teams are incompatible with the scientific management philosophy underlying traditional curricular and organizational theory. This article examines J. R. Hackman's book "Groups That Work (and Those That Don't): Creating Conditions for Effective Teamwork" (1990), as it illuminates the experience of teaching on a middle school…