In this qualitative study, the authors examine the advisory program of a Horizon Schools to Watch middle grades school. Horizon Schools to Watch is the Illinois affiliate of the National Forum to Accelerate Middle School Reform national Schools to Watch (STW) program, meaning schools with the STW designation have made significant inroads in…

This article presents findings drawn from the development of an intervention designed to leverage Spanish to improve English reading comprehension. Five teachers and 18 middle school English language learners (ELLs) in 2 urban middle schools participated in the project over the course of an academic year. Analysis of policy documents, interviews,…

This qualitative case study analyzed how one interdisciplinary team within a large middle school fostered a responsive adolescent-centered community for eighth-grade team students. Data were collected during the spring semester of the 2009 school year via observations, individual interviews, and focus group interviews with nine participants,…

Data literacy is recognized as a critically important skill in today's society, but thinking with and about data is often ignored in K-12 curricula. The Thinking With Data (TWD) project advocates that data literacy is a skill that should be addressed in an interdisciplinary manner. This article provides an overview of the TWD curriculum for middle…

The development and implementation of a comprehensive and systemic career development program, The Career Institute, provided the mechanism through which one school community addressed students' career development and college readiness needs while also attending to their academic and personal-social development. The Career Institute consisted of a…

This article reports on a study that investigated the reasons why one group of secondary education students chose to major in middle school education. Data were collected via interviews and meeting and observational notes with prospective middle school majors at a mid-Atlantic public university during the 2010/2011 academic year. Findings indicate…

Given the dearth of research on elementary education majors' experiences in middle level endorsement programs (Anderson, 2009), and the shortage of teachers aspiring to work with young adolescents, this case study examined the topic to provide insight into the experiences of preservice elementary education teachers. Specifically, this study…

This case study considers the centrality of the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE), formerly National Middle School Association teacher preparation standards (NMSA, 2006) to the development of teacher identity in middle level student teachers. Initial survey and transcriptions of 4 audio-taped interviews were analyzed. Standards were…

The purpose of this descriptive qualitative study was to examine case study as a pedagogical tool used to scaffold the conceptualization of developmentally responsive pedagogy for middle level preservice teachers in early field experiences. Child study projects (CSP) completed by middle level preservice candidates were analyzed to determine if…

The Middle Level Program at California State University San Marcos is the only middle level teacher credential program in the state of California. The program is based on a set of goals and philosophy of middle grades education, recognizing the developmental needs of young adolescents in Grades 5 through 9, and the socially equitable experience of…

Process-oriented approaches are increasingly used in schools to improve writing. One of these approaches, known as the writing workshop model, is challenging for teachers to implement without supports. This quasi-experimental study evaluated the effectiveness of a middle school writing program that incorporates this model along with technological…

This article examines an after-school program in which English language learners (ELLs) collaborated with their mainstream peers at an urban middle school to produce a multilingual video that addressed a social issue. The project, which was grounded in the tenets of critical and culturally relevant pedagogies, allowed the young people to mobilize…

The National Science Foundation (NSF) funded project "Mathematics, Science, and Technology Partnership" (MSTP) developed a multidisciplinary instructional model for connecting mathematics to science, technology and engineering content areas at the middle school level. Specifically, the model infused mathematics into middle school curriculum…

More than 2,300 teachers in 241 schools across 25 states participating in a professional development approach to character education classroom management known as Development Designs 1 and Developmental Designs 2 (DD1 & DD2) were studied throughout the 2008-2009 academic school year. Data from this longitudinal program evaluation indicate that…

This study reports finding from an ex post facto causal-comparison study utilizing data from a multifaceted program evaluation of a professional development approach to classroom management known as Development Designs 1 and Developmental Designs 2 (DD1 & D2). Data from this program evaluation indicate that teachers implement a number of classroom…