Because positive changes in a school's capacity to educate all its students are not automatic, the California Department of Education has launched an educational reform model embodied in a comprehensive School Improvement Plan (SIP). The model is based on student-centered educational standards (quality criteria) that direct the four SIP processes of planning, implementation, self-study, and program quality review. These processes were developed to engage the entire school community in improvement activities to benefit all student populations. This four-part document has been designed to help members of a quality review team conduct a review of middle school programs. Part I describes how the quality criteria can be used for planning and implementing school improvement initiatives at a school site. Part II is the guide for conducting a school's self-study. Part III describes program quality review procedures, the application of quality criteria to the school's curriculum and instructional program, and the means for developing suggestions in the report of findings. Part IV details the quality criteria for middle grades, including eight curricular and five schoolwide criteria. Curricular criteria reflect the major themes of state curriculum handbooks, frameworks, and curriculum guides. Schoolwide criteria, emphasizing students in transition, are derived from various school improvement publications and the judgment of middle grades educational practitioners. (MLH)