This study investigated the relationship among critical motivational variables and mathematics achievement as middle grades students engaged in a reform-oriented curriculum, "Mathematics in Context." We tested 327 students in fifth, sixth, and seventh grade before and after two years of implementation. We performed a path analysis with…

Throughout the 1980s and early '90s, school leaders in Waterloo faced a gloomy horizon. Economic hardships, including declines in property values and rising unemployment, resulted in decreasing school enrollment and limited financial resources. By 1995, the district had accumulated several million dollars of debt. From 1995 to 2005, the student…

A three-year study was conducted to evaluate the implementation of the Transitional School Model in the Des Moines, Iowa, Independent Community School District. The model was designed to provide early adolescents in grades 6-8 with a more comprehensive bridge between elementary school and high school by emphasizing students' physical, emotional,…