The prevailing cultural narrative about middle school is that those years are extremely difficult, and the best students can hope for is to endure them until finding relief in high school. Nancy Deutsch argues that these years are, in fact, a time of great potential if schools can abandon their stereotypes about young adolescents and create school…

Middle school teacher Michael Yell and education professor Geoffrey Scheurman discuss a decades-long partnership of ongoing professional development opportunities that involve teachers, university faculty, and teacher candidates working together to create personalized, meaningful, and sustained initiatives that enhance the growth and skills of all…

Middle schools often struggle to provide students with the necessary academic rigor to promote academic growth. Many students experience academic stagnation when schools fail to provide appropriate academic services. Dani Tinkel's article examines how the limited priorities of middle school inadvertently promote disengagement and underachievement…

The middle school years are important for social and emotional learning, and the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated social-emotional learning needs. At this age, young people are paying attention to the social world and exploring their identities and need learning environments that respond in kind. Jessica Shiller and Inte'a DeShields describe a model…

School leaders Lydia Cochrane and Ayesha Hoda have struggled to meet the increasingly complex needs of the students in their schools. As students' needs increase, schools are asked to do more and more, while continuing to have strong academic results. Cochrane and Hoda believe the current system is untenable and needs to change. With Linda Nathan,…

Middle schools were designed to promote exploration in the curriculum in a way that is appropriate for young adolescents. However, this vision has not been fully embraced, and many middle schools still function as junior versions of high school. Gary Weilbacher explores the history of the middle school movement and describes how the…

Over the last 30 years, the school choice movement has been one of the most prominent large-scale reform efforts in American education. In recent years, charter schools and voucher programs, in particular, have been a focus of policy makers and philanthropists. Mark Berends presents an overview of these two models, their prevalence, and what…

Joseph P. McDonald reports findings from a study of nine poverty-impacted schools in New York City striving to more effectively use student performance data in teaching. The study was one of 13 studies of data use at the classroom level across the United States funded by the Spencer Foundation -- an effort intended to fill a serious gap in…

In June 2016, the Mastery Collaborative completed its first year as an official program, working with more than 40 public middle and high schools across the five boroughs of New York City to improve, document, and advocate for mastery-based teaching and learning. The collaborative has eight Living Lab schools that practice schoolwide mastery; most…

Recently, makerspaces have captured the imaginations of educators as resources for transforming school-based learning. Aligning informal making practices with the formal aims of the school curriculum, however, can present challenges. In this article, Philip Nichols and Kurt Salisbury show how educators in two very different contexts -- a suburban…

In 2012, things were not looking good for Grant Beacon Middle School in Denver, Colorado. Enrollment numbers were declining, students were not reaching required academic levels, and the Denver Public Schools district designated the school as on watch. By implementing a plan that emphasized expanded learning opportunities--adding five hours to the…

People often think that power only flows downhill in school. The author draws on his own research observations, as well as the philosophy of Michel Foucault, to offer more nuanced insights. He explains that power is not a "thing" people can possess and that it flows in multiple directions, forming a web of influence. These insights…

What does it take to sustain a productive partnership between a public school system and local cultural institutions? This article describes the genesis, evolution, and continued success of a long-term partnership between the New York City Department of Education, the American Museum of Natural History, and seven other leading cultural…

Three experienced science teachers at a middle school tell about their first-year journey of adopting STEM pedagogy. STEM did not materialize as planned, but in the end it worked out. Some observations and advice: Transitioning to STEM requires leaving comfort zones. Teachers may need the help of an experienced guide. Many students have been…

Like many school systems in economically stressed parts of the country, the Everett, Mass., school district had cut back on arts instruction over the years, to the point where most students were getting only a single art class per week. But since 2013, and thanks to a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Everett has designed and…