Educators today have a renewed perspective: when schools attend systematically to students' social and emotional skills, the academic achievement of children increases, the incidence of problem behaviors decreases, the quality of the relationships surrounding each child improves. The challenge of raising knowledgeable, responsible, and caring…

This position paper identifies the purposes and underlying rationale of the middle school, outlines what the middle school program should be--curricular, instructional, and organizational-administrative, and presents some leadership implications. It is assumed that if educators understand the root causes of transescent behavior, they will deal…