This study contributes to the field by identifying a broad range of traditional and newer middle grade policies and practices, and determining in California which of these differentiate higher- from lower-performing schools serving similar student populations, with performance measured by the state's standards-based tests. Based on a sample of 303…

In the 2008-09 school year researchers from EdSource and Stanford University conducted a large-scale study of 303 middle grades schools in California. The team surveyed 303 principals, 3,752 English Language Arts (ELA) and math teachers in grades 6-8, and 157 superintendents of the districts and charter management organizations that oversee the…

This book offers teachers a handbook for teaching literacy to diverse students in grades 3-8. The balanced literacy method combines the best practices of phonics and other skill-based language instruction with the holistic, literature-based approach in order to help teach reading, writing, and speaking in a clear and approachable format. This…

The "Standards" of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) were established as a broad framework to guide reform in school mathematics, not as a specific curriculum. Whether the implementation of the NCTM standards in classrooms has a relationship to student anxiety about mathematics was studied. Student levels of…

This research reports on a descriptive study conducted by interviewing 18 U.S. history teachers of eighth-graders in seven middle schools in a Pacific Northwest school district. The volunteers were from middle-class suburban schools with an average of 15 years teaching experience. The research questions focused on: (1) What strategies do social…

This document is the second of two reports of the findings of the 1991 "Sciences...humaines" Assessment for grades 8 and 10 conducted in Franco-Manitoban schools and in French immersion programs in Manitoba, Canada. The report on the French immersion course is presented in parallel French and English versions, and a separate report, in…

This curriculum support package is intended to assist grades 5-8 teachers in Manitoba to start the process of integrating and implementing sustainable development in science and social studies courses. Containing four sections, the first section briefly outlines the origins of sustainable development, how it evolved, why it should be taught, what…

Developed by the participants of the Huntington Theatre Company's Master Works Study in Greek drama, this collection presents lesson plans and curriculum projects for teaching the master works of Greek drama. The collection offers 22 lesson plans or curriculum projects (ranging from one day to several weeks) suitable for secondary school students…

One theory of second language acquisition argues that children's competence in a second language is a function of the amount of "comprehensible input" acquirers receive and understand, without formal instruction in reading or grammar. To examine this hypothesis, this study analyzes whether comprehensible input in the form of captioned television…

This manual was developed to assist classroom teachers responsible for implementing the grades 8 and 9 integrated occupational social studies program in Alberta, Canada. It contains: (1) information about the goals and objectives of the curriculum; (2) thematic contexts for the delivery of prescribed knowledge, skills, and attitudes; (3)…

This practicum intervention was designed to improve the effectiveness of a middle school's interdisciplinary teams. While the school's sixth grade teams were judged to be effective in implementing the district's philosophy, two seventh grade and two eighth grade teams, composed of 18 teachers and 588 students, were among 70 interdisciplinary teams…

Activity sheets for seventh and eighth grade student use in economics are contained in this document. Activities are developed in the following areas: checking accounts, bank account applications, check writing, keeping a check register, using checks, budgets, insurance, responsibility and planning, consumer shopping, supermarkets, taxes, help…

The keyword method, originally developed as an instructional technique in foreign language acquisition, was tested for its application in other school learning tasks and as a self-initiated study strategy. Two classes containing a total of 40 eighth grade students served as the experimental and control groups. The tasks were learning to pair…

A sequential writing program is described that has adapted James Moffett's ideas in "Teaching the Universe of Discourse" to suit the needs of a seventh and eighth grade school system that emphasizes expository writing instruction. The introductory chapter explains Moffett's ideas and how they were adapted for this program. Subsequent…

This paper examines the difference between junior high school student attitudes and images of modern society before and after instruction. The study was conducted in a junior high school located in north central United States. Subjects were students in social studies classes, grades 7 and 8. A stratified random sampling procedure was used in order…