The middle level classroom presents unique challenges to educators who strive to provide opportunities that acknowledge learner diversity in terms of social, cognitive, physical, and emotional development. This is confounded even further within inclusive middle-school classrooms where the responsibility to differentiate instruction is even more…

In 2011, the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) and the City Council's Middle School Taskforce launched the Middle School Quality Initiative (MSQI) as an instructional intervention for improving literacy levels in the lowest performing middle schools in New York City. The initiative grew rapidly and now serves over 100 schools and…

This article examines school-level responses to subgroup accountability pressure through an ethnographic case study of a school cited for failing to make adequate yearly progress for student subgroups. Concerns about the calculations and measures used to derive the citation and reservations about acting on accountability data delegitimized the…

Portugal, like many other countries, faces obstacles regarding school-based sexuality education. This paper explores Portuguese schools' approaches to implementing sexuality education at a local level, and provides a critical analysis of potential strengths and weaknesses. Documents related to sexuality education in a convenience sample of 89…

Reports on one-to-one (1:1) technology initiatives emphasize overall favorable results; however, comprehensive multiyear studies looked at understate the progressive experiences of teachers and students. A small body of research suggested the second year of 1:1 technology programs manifested difficulties and struggles which significantly…

Math in Common® (MiC) is a five-year initiative that supports a formal network of 10 California school districts as they implement the Common Core State Standards in mathematics (CCSS-M) across grades K-8. As the MiC initiative moves into its second year, one of the central activities that each of the districts is undergoing to support CCSS…

This study investigated a professional development model designed to improve teachers' inquiry teaching efficacy as well as the quality of their inquiry instruction through engaging teachers in practice-teaching and reflection sessions. The programme began with a two-week summer Institute focused on both inquiry pedagogy and science content and…

This study investigated whether a senior teacher with many years of teaching experience, despite lacking adequate technology skills or contending with other barriers, can sufficiently implement technology integration in the classroom. The research was conducted between October 2013 and January 2014 and was focused on a junior high school biology…

Response to intervention (RTI) is advocated in elementary school as a system-wide, multitiered model of academic and behavioral interventions. Middle schools have begun adopting RTI models based on these existing elementary models. This investigation into current middle school RTI practices describes technical aspects as well as some of cultural…

Through growing formative research, lesson study has emerged as a powerful practice that affects teachers' practical analysis of learning and teaching. Such research, however, also recognizes challenges to its implementation. In a methods course, lesson study has the potential to provide valuable links between teacher education and practice. In…

This research study's purpose or theme was to qualitatively investigate the reading component of a private after-school tutoring program that offered academic assistance to eighth-grade students. The problem with reading is many urban middle school students have poor reading skills and do not perform well on reading standardized tests. Relative to…

As experiential education attempts to achieve more prominent influence in school reform efforts, organisations often bring adventure into the classroom. This paper will use the Project Adventure RESPECT Program as a means to explore the challenge of implementing a system-wide experientially-based programme as an agent for whole school social and…

This case study examines the micropolitical strategies that a coach and seven teachers utilized to negotiate ideological and epistemological beliefs during required common planning time meetings for the period of one semester in an urban middle school. Theories of micropolitics and critical discourse analysis guided the development of the research…

One model that can help middle school educators provide an effective system of instruction and early intervention is response to intervention (RTI). RTI is a schoolwide process that integrates instruction, intervention, and assessment. The alignment of instruction, assessment, and interventions promotes a stronger, more cohesive program of…

The goal of the "Closing the Achievement Gap for 21st Century Learners in West Virginia (CAG)" report, 3rd edition, is to update West Virginia educators to the status and improvement of student achievement in West Virginia which may then be utilized as a basis for determining future educational decisions. In order to enhance the quality…