Although reports calling for middle level schooling reform first appeared in the mid-1970s, change has been slow to come. In Turning Points: Preparing American Youth for the 21st Century (1989), the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development outlined eight essential elements of middle level education. Drawing from the Carnegie Council's…

Teaching today should be more student oriented if students are to learn to inquire, think, and learn autonomously. (CK)

Synthesizes research on reasoning development and studies of teaching in order to present an approach to teaching guided thinking. (SRT)

The tensions that accompany growing up are distressing enough for middle school youngsters, without adding unwarranted pressure for grades. University Middle School faculty considered these factors when they developed the system of student evaluation described in this article. (Author/RK)

Kerr and Zigmond (1986) found that 67 percent of all high school teachers surveyed viewed organizational skills as crucial for student success in school. How can teachers get their students to agree? One way is to teach organizational skills just as they would teach writing or computation skills. Explain and demonstrate what students are to do,…

Authors feel that television is a potent force in the educational process but a sense of discrimination must be developed within the student-viewer. (Authors)

Discusses how to use homework as an effective teaching method and offers creative sample assignments. (SRT)

Argues that the purpose of daily homework is either to prepare the student for the next lesson or to practice concepts and skills learned in the previous lesson. Suggests that teachers' homework policies must reflect one of these purposes. (SRT)

The author cites numerous studies and literary works to support her contention that peer tutoring is a valuable means of helping both the tutor and tutee academically, personally, and interpersonally. (KC)

Attention being focused upon the teacher as a professional held increasingly accountable for a student's academic achievement has suggested that the traditional approach to instruction may need to be modified to ensure each student's success. One approach that has been demonstrated effective is peer tutoring. (Author/RK)

Argues that student performance on standardized tests should not be the basis for educational reform and presents suggestions for expanding the criteria by which school success is judged. (SRT)

One of the most subtle but viciously effective cultural mechanisms for harming children in the United States is the persistent confusion between norms and standards. Investigates what can be done to prevent unrealistic and invidious labeling of children during their most vulberable years if their growth curve in achievement or some other factor…

Describes the Peninsula Academies program developed by the Sequoia (California) Union High School District and 27 local high technology companies to help educationally disadvantaged students break the pattern of low academic achievement, lack of skills, and chronic unemployment. (FL)

Discusses the causes of insomnia, its detection, and various types of treatment. (SRT)