Jennifer's first years as a middle school principal occurred during a time of transformation initiated by the federal No Child Left Behind Act and further intensified by demographic changes within her Midwest suburban district of 25,000 students. In the context of national educational reform during this time period, Tom Erb asked, "Who will…

Early adolescents require schools in which there is a freedom from pressure so that they can develop without fear of failure. (CK)

The interdisciplinary team organization allows teachers to allocate time to accommodate the curriculum and young adolescents' instructional needs. For maximum flexibility, several scheduling options may be considered: large-group instructional time, one less period daily, heterogeneous class grouping, and "top class" team scheduling. Advantages,…

Describes use of portfolios with middle school students, highlighting assessment purpose, structure, evidence, implementation, grading, validity, and cost considerations. Portfolios have the potential to revise schools' roles in preparing students for the future. Convincing parents and the public that portfolio completion is a demanding task will…

Reform advocates have often recommended using interdisciplinary teams, advisory groups, and transition activities to comprise appropriate educational programs for young adolescents. Using 1988 Johns Hopkins University middle grades survey data, researchers explored "real world" use of these components and gauged their effectiveness.…

This report contains addresses and symposium discussions presented at the conference on teacher competence for the middle school years (fifth or sixth through eighth grades) which was attended by about 100 educators for various levels and positions. The foreword lists three questions posed by emergence of the middle school movement which the…

The possibility of developing a separate educational institution geared to the scholastic and interpersonal goals of the middle school grades has become a major challenge for educators today. It was to attain this ideal of developing the many possibilities for children in this age range that the concept of the middle school campus was designed in…

Interdisciplinary teams of middle school faculty are fulfilling roles which serve academic, social, and emotional needs of students. The team coordinates procedures and shares information about teaching and about students. Evidence shows this style of team teaching may be appropriate in high schools if traditional departmental barriers can be…

Described and evaluated is a Marion County, Florida, program which applied the team teaching method to instruction of 45 educable mentally retarded 10- to 14-year-old students. It is stressed that the philosophy of the middle schools and of team teaching is to provide a means of meeting individual needs of students. Described are the program's…

Building and implementing a school master schedule is one of a school administrator's most crucial tasks. A master schedule can either create opportunity or hinder teaching students. This is particularly true in middle-level schools, many of which are using information about the learning characteristics of early adolescents to reexamine how…

Summarizes findings of a middle schools study. The middle school movement keeps growing, but schools do not always follow the accepted model and philosophy. (Author)

Describes the founding of Washington, D.C.'s Brookland School, a preschool-to-grade-eight facility that embodies the middle school philosophy. (Author/JM)

A half-century or more of experience with the traditional junior high school has led many educators to conclude that it is failing to answer the needs of preadolescent and early adolescent children (transescents). The middle school approach can provide the best kind of educational program for children undergoing rapid physical, mental, emotional,…

High school educators can learn much from the middle school reform movement and apply its strategies to change interdisciplinary teaming and student advocacy programs. Many high schools today still operate with an outdated, impersonal, departmentalized, and factory-model approach to schooling, in which students do not develop a sense of belonging…