A total of 283 students at Fassett Middle School in Oregon, Ohio, a suburban, middle-class city were surveyed about their attitudes toward foreign language study in high school. The participants were 151 male and 132 female students in grade 6 (87), grade 7 (104), and grade 8 (92). The objective was to determine whether or not the middle school…

Although school violence is an important topic to the U.S. public, little research has examined issues of violence and bad behavior in schools, particularly among early adolescents. To fill this need, research on the transition from elementary to middle grades, to include the domain of violence, is covered in this paper. Three aspects of violence…

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents. Between 1981 and 1989, 7% of all those who suicide were children and adolescents aged five to 19 and during that time 16,585 adolescents between the ages of 15 and 19 committed suicide. Written for counselors and middle and high school personnel, this book examines the dynamics of…

Recent studies have documented a decline in academic performance and motivation as students move from elementary to middle level schools. This paper expands these studies in three ways: (1) by examining the classroom-level differences among middle school students' motivation to see if motivational constructs vary by classroom; (2) by exploring the…

The documents in this curriculum unit are drawn from the massive archive collected by the Emma Goldman Papers Project at the University of California (Berkeley). They are linked to the standard social studies and humanities curriculum themes of art and literature, First Amendment rights, labor, progressive politics, and Red Scare, the rise of…

Equity is an important part of technology education. Without adequate equipment and training, schools shortchange students and limit their ability to compete with their more fortunate peers. This is especially important at the middle school level because computer assisted instruction not only taps into adolescents' natural curiosity, but also can…

To better understand how some secondary schools are working to encourage continued family and community involvement as children progress from elementary to middle and high school, 22 educators, parents, and students at 2 middle schools and 2 high schools were interviewed. The four schools are members of the National Network of Partnership Schools,…

The Peace Project was initiated in 1993 by the Wholistic Stress Control Institute in conjunction with three schools to develop an intervention for middle school students who were repeatedly suspended for violent behaviors. It is an in-school suspension program for violent youth. The project provides training and services in conflict resolution,…

This paper describes a funded project, Families and Neighborhood Schools (FANS), which provided coordinated services for selected at-risk middle school students. The FANS project, based at Bryson Middle School in Greenville County School District, South Carolina, collaborated with the county mental health center to offer school-based mental health…

This study investigated the effects of Oregon's Lane County "Problem Solving in Mathematics" (PSM) materials on middle-school students' attitudes, beliefs, and abilities in problem solving and mathematics. The instructional approach advocated in PSM includes: the direct teaching of five problem-solving skills, weekly challenge problems,…

This report describes the Lessons to Enhance Achievement and Develop Student Leaders (LEADS) program, designed to facilitate the leadership training of middle school students through the creation of a leadership program by teachers and administrators. Section I contains a brief introduction for teachers, and Section II outlines team building…

Recent reports on mathematics education reform have focused the attention of educational practitioners and policymakers on new goals for mathematics education and new descriptions of mathematical proficiency. QUASAR is a national project (Quantitative Understanding: Amplifying Student Achievement and Reasoning) designed to improve the mathematics…

The Teachers Achieving Success with Kids (TASK) mentorship program was designed to improve the attendance, discipline, academic achievement and attitudes of at-risk students attending an urban middle school. In order to develop positive relationships, 25 teacher-student pairs met each day away from the classroom setting and engaged in one hour…

The choice theory holds that people can control only their own behavior, and that all people need a sense of belonging, freedom, power, and fun. This article argues that teachers must recognize that these needs motivate student behavior, and describes how a middle school turned its discipline and achievement problems around by using choice theory.…

Describes two middle schools (IS 218 in New York City and Hanshaw School in Modesto, California) that stand out as models of how to put together innovative schooling plus help children and their families by providing health and social services on site. Both schools are located in poverty neighborhoods and enroll mostly students from disadvantaged…