Ninth grade students who attend Boundary High School (BHS) encounter a host of academic, social and emotional challenges commonly associated with the transition from middle school to high school. To the extent BHS ninth grade students navigate these challenges during this vulnerable time in their educational journey determines their overall…

Education practitioners and policymakers grapple with ways to ensure that students are adequately prepared for college and careers. An important step is ensuring that students graduate from high school. A number of studies indicate that programs and strategies designed to assist middle grades students' transition to high school can contribute…

Successful entry into kindergarten and transitions into middle grades school are crucial to academic success, high school graduation, and post-secondary outcomes. An array of studies have revealed the contribution that transition strategies have made in reducing student dropouts, in enhancing academic performance, in alleviating student and family…

Middle grades schools have their hands full in working with elementary schools and high schools to improve the likelihood of success for middle grades students--accelerating learning, helping elementary students move seamlessly into the middle grades, preparing middle grades students for rigorous high school courses, changing organization and…

High schools and middle grades schools are making special efforts to keep students in school and to help them look forward with confidence to the next stage of life. They are connecting students to adult mentors or counselors who assist them in setting goals and completing a program of study for college and career readiness. They are assisting…

The transition to middle school is an educational milestone, marking significant and sometimes unspoken changes in expectations. The overriding expectation is that students will become more independent. This article discusses some tips that will help teachers in teaching organizational skills to middle school students. Middle school teachers…

The transition between middle and high school is a defining moment for students on whether they drop out of school or progress to graduation. A majority of the students who eventually fail to graduate fall through the cracks during this transition period. This research brief gives several recommendations on how schools and school districts can…

Several schools that eschewed the middle school model and remained K-8 discovered anecdotally that their students showed fewer behavioral problems and higher academic achievement than many students enrolled in middle schools. On the basis of studies that verified these observations, school district leaders in Milwaukee, Baltimore, and Philadelphia…