The purpose of this study is to identify how common the practice of block scheduling is currently among American public middle schools. This study also determines the perspectives of choral music educators working in public middle schools with existing block schedules. More extant literature is needed to examine block scheduling practices at the…

This phenomenological qualitative research study aimed at understanding the scheduling practices of middle school principals in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. More specifically, this study examined how frequent changes are made to the middle school master schedule, factors that contribute to scheduling changes, barriers to scheduling, and the…

Research on middle-level schools and student achievement revealed a drop in academic performance when students transitioned from elementary school to a traditional middle school. In the United States, the middle school years have historically seen a decline in student achievement following a transition from elementary school. According to the…

The middle school concept, aimed at creating a more developmentally responsive learning environment for young adolescents, gained a stronghold in the later part of the 20th century. Proponents of this concept have argued continually for the holistic implementation of its six key characteristics if its benefits are to be realized. These…

In 2003, Dr. Freddie Thomas Middle School in Rochester, New York, was in serious trouble. In 2000, it had been labeled a "school under registration review" by the New York State Education Department and was under a directive to make significant progress or face serious consequences. Three years later in 2003, only 3% of eighth-grade…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine whether a difference existed in the percentage performance of students earning a pass/advanced score on the Standards of Learning (SOL) Test in math and reading in Virginia's Region IV for schools using an A/B block schedule and those using a traditional schedule. The research also examined if…

In 2004, South Charlotte Middle School (SCMS), Charlotte, North Carolina, was named "A School to Watch" by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform. One of the program components cited as highly successful by the visiting committee representing the Forum was the provision of an enrichment period called the ninth block. Ninth…

There are those in the school community who believe that the anxious feelings and heightened sense of anxiety experienced by sixth graders as they transition from elementary to junior high school constitute a rite of passage. Teachers and school administrators in the Indiana Area Junior High School in Pennsylvania believed differently. During the…

Today's schools are responding to the pressing need for positive student-teacher relationships that promote successful learning and prevent dropouts and violence. To meet this challenge, many secondary schools are reorganizing around smaller schools or "houses" and structuring longer blocks of learning time. Authors Elliot Y. Merenbloom and…

This document presents the proceedings of the Annual Research Forum. Included herein are the following 29 studies: (1) What Factors Influence Algebra 1 Students' Attitudes toward Math? (Elizabeth A. Allen); (2) Low-Income Student and Teacher Impressions of Kagan Cooperative Learning (Andrea Anderson); (3) Developing and Implementing an Articulated…