The Cooperative Learning Project Staff at Cleveland State University studied implementation effects of training and support teams on cooperative learning at nine middle schools. Findings showed that administrators should be trained with teachers and must shape an appropriate environment, recognize the importance of support teams, provide necessary…

When transitional programs are left to chance, there is no guarantee that such programs will be effective. This article describes two articulation teams' efforts to meet the needs of students entering and leaving a Baltimore, Maryland, middle school. The two-tiered program helped relieve students' anxieties, introduced them to teachers and staff,…

Although lip service is frequently given to coordinated skill development in many schools, the reality resembles a mosaic patchwork of ill-defined, discrete skills taught separately by different teachers. Bucks County (Pennsylvania) Public Schools' Integrated Skill Development Project for intermediate grades is designed to promote a shared school…

As school systems face more budget cuts, elaborate field trips are being axed. A Virginia middle school experimented with an overnight lockout in the school gym. Since seventh graders were already grouped into four heterogeneous teams for a pilot instructional program, these groups were maintained during the "gymboree." Each student wore…

A New Jersey middle school has balanced its academic and social/emotional development programs by adding Prime Time, a daily time block allowing students a chance to participate in various school and community activities and thereby experience support, success, and recognition. Teachers have time for planning and participating in school-based…

During 3-year period, Arizona junior high school's site-based team developed and implemented 10-step process for becoming middle school. They assessed the school and community, researched school reform, built a team, developed a mission statement, set goals and empowered staff members, established teaching teams, trained staff members and parents,…

According to two recent surveys, middle-level administrators' essential job skills include an ability to understand developing adolescents' characteristics and needs, develop and communicate a vital, responsive school philosophy, promote shared decision making, guide creation of an interdisciplinary team organization, develop a continuous school…

Educators at a Connecticut middle school are creating programs to help students develop more positive self-images within a safe, supportive learning environment. Schoolwide restructuring efforts led to teams of professionals concerned with school learning climate, team teaching, monitoring of pupil progress, staff development, at-risk students,…

Educators at Laurel (Delaware) Central Middle School discovered that school-based governance is hard to implement. Before assuming decision-making responsibilities, teachers must possess the necessary dedication, leadership skills, and determination to see a task completed. Interdisciplinary teacher teams, a changing principal role, and realistic…

A spirit of collegiality and productivity flourishes at a Glendale, Arizona, middle school. Staff focus on integrating academic, exploratory, and thematic learning to develop students' cooperative learning and thinking skills. Curriculum connections happen by raising awareness about integrated/interdisciplinary curricula, visiting other schools,…