A 1988 Johns Hopkins University survey of 1,753 principals from public schools serving seventh graders describes middle grade education in the United States. The 5 articles in this special section are intended to encourage discussion about ways to improve middle level educational practices and disclose new research directions. (MLH)

This report was prepared in compliance with Chapter 4, Article 2.3 of the California Education Code. Section 48644.3 directs the State Department of Education to evaluate the increase in availability of opportunity classes and programs in grades 7 through 9. The report has four sections. Section I, Introduction, chronicles events prior to…

Describes a mathematics education research project conducted among seventh graders with the goal of identifying important processes, skills, and understandings needed by students to use mathematical ideas in everyday situations. Discusses information utilization skills required for solving a written problem containing extensive verbal and…

An inservice consultation program between teachers and a school psychologist was designed to establish classroom conditions to improve 7th- and 8th-grade students' (N=233) thinking skills. Inservice training conducted by the psychologist emphasized encouragement of ideas, modeling thinking skills, opportunities for practice, and support of diverse…

Many questions about the associations between risk factors and drug use remain unanswered. Data originally obtained from seventh graders participating in a school-based prevention program were examined in terms of a theoretical model. A series of multiple regression analyses were then conducted to select those risk factors which contributed unique…

A 1988 Johns Hopkins University survey gathered data on organizational variations among schools containing grade seven to study how grade span affects school programs, teaching practices, and student progress. This article reports selected results on the relation of grade span to school size, grade level enrollment, school goals, report card…

Three components of the Detroit Emergency School Aid Act (ESAA) Basic Projects are evaluated here: (1) Individualization of Instruction: Elementary and Middle School Sub-Component; (2) Total Curriculum Reading Thrust: Elementary and Middle School Sub-Component; and (3) Parent Training: Home Curriculum Specialists and Assistants Sub-Component. All…

Describes a project which involved designing a nine-week course utilizing computer assisted instruction (CAI) to teach seventh graders critical thinking skills. Results indicate measurable gains were made in the critical thinking skills of verbal analogy and inductive/deductive reasoning, although no consistent gains were made in logical reasoning…

The Lunch at SAMS program--an innovative lunch guest program for seventh graders--is described and evaluated. In this program, conducted at the Selinsgrove Area Middle School (SAMS) in Pennsylvania, adults from the community ate lunch with groups of seventh graders. The focus of the lunch guest program was to increase interaction between students…

This report evaluates the 1985-86 implementation year of the District of Columbia Public Schools Secondary Student Progress Plan (SSPP), which delineates courses of study for secondary students and establishes uniform procedures for grading and promotions. SSPP was implemented in Grade 7 in 1984-85 and Grade 8 in 1985-86. Evaluation data were…

Two individualized writing programs, useful for mainstreaming learning disabled students into the English classroom were field tested among 100 seventh and eighth grade students in four school districts. The document reports on the results of "Mission WRITE," the design of "Touchstone WRITE," and the strategies used in teaching…

IMPROVE, a method for teaching mathematics in heterogeneous classrooms based on social cognition theories, was developed and tested in studies involving 247 and 265 seventh graders. IMPROVE uses metacognitive activities, peer interaction, and feedback-corrective enrichment. Results of both studies showed that IMPROVE students significantly…

The study found that teachers of seventh grade mathematics classes interacted less frequently and for less time with the best students. At the grade 10 level teachers also spent less time interacting with high achievers but called on them more frequently in some situations. Sex differences were not observed. (Author/DB)

Social control and social learning theories were combined to construct a model of delinquency that specifies the contributions of various factors, including parenting, social skills, value commitments, and school problems. Results with a sample of 61 families of seventh graders largely support the model. (SLD)

Work in the design and construction of virtual environments (VEs) is described from the standpoint of semiotic theory. It is advocated that well-constructed visual worlds can create in a person the feelings and cognitions that arise from being in the natural world and that interactions with computer-constructed VEs are mediated through signs. The…