Discover the teaching practices that make the biggest difference in student performance! The new edition of this practical, research-based book gives leaders and teachers an even closer look at instructional practices from top award-winning urban schools. With refreshed examples from high-performing teachers and detailed analyses of these…

This report describes characteristics of the 11 model SEL schools in AISD and compares them to nonmodel SEL schools.

The benefits of a strength-based approach to working with children and adolescents are clearly indicated in the literature while Strengths-Based School Counseling embraces the positive development of students and learning environments. An interdisciplinary research team formed a partnership with a middle school community to intentionally…

This paper investigates the growth of early adolescent self-esteem and self-concept as students progress through the middle level years (sixth through eighth grade). Based on mixed method longitudinal research conducted from 2004 to 2007, the study's findings suggest that this sample of 104 urban students' self-esteem changed most significantly…

The tensions that accompany growing up are distressing enough for middle school youngsters, without adding unwarranted pressure for grades. University Middle School faculty considered these factors when they developed the system of student evaluation described in this article. (Author/RK)

Described a project designed to help students improve upon their reading ability. (RK)

This questionnaire attempts to assess the educational and social growth of students in the middle school (grades 6-9). Each student is to answer the eleven questions individually and anonymously by marking the response which he feels is correct, or where appropriate, by writing in his own response. For a detailed description of the assessment of…

Rapid developmental changes amplify early adolescent children's susceptibility to stress. A lack of refined coping skills accompanied by an increase in stress factors affecting young adolescents contributes to their use of counterproductive approaches to stress management. To examine the frequency and intensity of early adolescent experiences with…

Summarizes research on the effects of the transition from elementary school to middle school on young adolescents. Notes problems of this transition in academic performance and in students' perceptions of school and self-perceptions, and of the mismatch of developmental needs with school environment. (JPB)

Presents perceptions of sixth-grade students, from ethnically diverse New York City schools, of teacher behaviors that they interpret as caring. An ethnographic technique of open-ended written responses indicates that demographic differences exist and show that students' perceptions of caring differ by ethnicity and sex. Implications for further…

Interdisciplinary teaming in middle schools has increased dramatically over the past few decades (McEwin, Dickinson & Jensen, 2003); nevertheless, students have rarely been consulted as important sources of insight into this practice (Dickinson & Erb, 1997) of two or more teachers sharing the responsibility for instruction, curriculum, and…

This conference presentation handout describes a program which uses dance therapy to integrate special education students with various disabilities. The 6-week program at a middle school involved having a professional dancer teach students traditional and modern dance methods as a means of expressing emotions, followed by teams of students…

This paper discusses the modern American junior high and middle school from the perspectives of an interested observer, the educational researcher, and the students themselves. Discussed briefly are three factors that place junior high/middle school education in a unique context--the developmental stage of the students who are served, the…

This paper examines the interests, perceptions, and participation of 16 African American girls in a program designed to improve girls' persistence in science, mathematics, and technology (SMT). The girls are among 33 African American and 73 total original participants in "Rural and Urban Images: Voices of Girls in Science, Mathematics, and…

This document provides narrative portraits of early adolescents in middle school and junior high school as described by preservice university students majoring in middle level education. The observations were made during a course titled "Middle School Programs and Practices," which develops the middle school concept across different…