Teaching institutions with middle grades-specific teacher preparation programs remain a cornerstone for improving the condition of the nation's middle schools. Yet such programs scarcely exist as the heartbeat of excellence for middle grades schools or for preservice teachers seeking middle grades licensure (Jackson & Davis, 2000). Moreover,…

The goals of this research are two-fold: (1) to survey the literature comparing the effectiveness (as measured by student achievement on state tests) of scripted language arts/reading programs in low-performing schools, and (2) to compare middle school teachers' attitudes (measured in questionnaires, interviews and surveys) on implementation and…

The Middle School Task Force was created in May 2007 as a result of the State Board of Education's High School Redesign efforts and recommendation for a committee to examine middle school issues to meet the following goals: (1) To ensure that all students are prepared to be successful in high school; (2) To increase academic engagement and student…

Two schools in Idaho received ARRA SIG (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act School Improvement Grants) funds to enable them to implement improvement efforts. This paper describes the outcomes of these two ARRA SIG recipient schools: (1) Jefferson Middle School; and (2) Lakeside Elementary School. The experiences of this non-recipient school is…

The educational needs of middle school students are truly unique. In no other period of PreK-12 education can one find such a wide range of physical, social, and cognitive development among students. For students, the middle school years can be a time of both great vulnerability and great responsiveness to change. These years are highly formative…