This report describes the flexible scheduling practices of Kennedy Middle School in Aiken, South Carolina and its Interdisciplinary Middle School Program for Advisement, Counseling, and Teaming (IMPACT). The school is organized into 2 sixth-grade, 2 seventh-grade, and 2 eighth-grade teams, each of which contains 6 teachers and 90 to 150 students.…

Claims that service learning can help middle-school counselors enhance students' self-esteem. Discusses service learning's increasing popularity and its purposes. Describes one such program's initiation in South Carolina which provides tutoring, working with the elderly, and helping the poor. Examines student perceptions of the program and the…

Service learning can help students learn specific skills and concepts, particularly in social studies. The article examines characteristics of good middle school service learning projects, explains how to begin a project, discusses the benefits of service learning, presents an example of service learning in Wren Middle School, Piedmont (South…

Three studies determined if the Summer Step reading program (a residential camping program implemented on the campus of Camp Baskervill Episcopal Outreach of Pawleys Island, South Carolina, using a personalized, contextualized reading approach) was effective, if children's self-esteem was enhanced by participation in the program, and if the…

In a culture glorifying thinness and beauty, most females (especially adolescents) carry some risk of developing eating disorders. A recent survey of 280 South Carolina middle school students disclosed significant female/male differences. About 70% of the girls felt fat; many used various weight-loss techniques, including dieting, fasting,…

About 250 of the Beaufort County, South Carolina school district's 1,200 sixth graders at three middle schools have participated in the School-Book Laptop Project since 1996. Followup studies through seventh grade show that laptops enhanced academic gains among students who traditionally have not succeeded in school. Laptop users consistently…

Problem-based learning (PBL) uses adult-learning theory to structure the instructional process around presentation of a problem. Learning events emulate real-life situations as closely as possible. This paper describes how two middle schools and one high school implemented a structured staff-development approach aimed at teaching teachers how to…

Describes a South Carolina middle school's efforts to improve student behavior and decrease suspension rates by using a focus-group approach with underachieving seventh graders with behavior problems. Students participated in daily focus-group experiences in which they learned strategies for changing their behavior and improving study skills.…

Uses space problems of a 15-year-old South Carolina middle school to illustrate the importance of a proper facility-design process. Planning principles such as change of space function, flexibility, accommodation of technology, structural quality, adequate supervision, and proper maintenance should be revisited. Time is a good test of design and…

Designed for middle school through high school students, this unit contains eight lesson plans that focus on South Carolina state law. The state lessons correspond to lessons in the volume, "Antidote: Civic Responsibility. Drug Avoidance Lessons for Middle School & High School Students." Developed to be presented by educators, law…

This guide shares information about the South Carolina Curriculum Standards with parents. The standards outline state requirements for children's learning, and what students across the state should be able to do in certain subjects. The guide lists seven key reasons for parents to be aware of the new curriculum standards, and then presents a…