How can middle-level educators improve reading achievement when digitized texts and tests manage their instruction? Experienced Osage Middle School reading teachers and school administrators addressed this question as they examined their Istation reading curriculum, and higher education faculty partners were invited to portray this work. Teaching…

This paper reports the struggles of 24 pre-service teachers (PTs) while intentionally integrating anti-racist pedagogy in which they were trained in a secondary teacher education program. PTs participating in this study are from various disciplines (i.e. Science, Math, English and Social Studies). Our findings reveal a multitude of struggles that…

This article illustrates the critical need for middle level preservice teachers to be explicitly prepared to engage in reform-oriented advocacy. To illustrate this point, we present the experiences of four reform-minded student teachers who attempted to enact developmentally responsive curriculum, as defined in "This We Believe"…

Engaging students in both hands-on and minds-on experiences is needed for education that is relevant and complete. Many middle school students enter science classrooms with pre-conceived ideas about their world. Some of these ideas are misconceptions that hinder students from developing accepted concepts in science, such as those related to…

Drawing from different orientations, personalized, learner-centered environments and connected learning are two frameworks that work well together to renew classrooms and schools to focus on the needs and interests of the learner and make connections between experience, content standards, disciplines, and the community. This case study describes…

This article will define the engineering design process used to create an integrated curriculum at STEM Center Middle School, and it features the planning, implementation, and revision of the Deconstruction Geography unit. The Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) Center opened in the fall of 2009 as a way to relieve overcrowding at the…

Examines six elements of the transition to middle schools that ultimately hindered full implementation of the middle school concept in many schools: use of an incremental stage implementation model, lack of teacher education programs, lack of curriculum development, inadequate leadership, a paucity of research, and misunderstanding of the middle…

Details changes in programs and practice to improve middle level education. Examines characteristics of developmentally responsive middle schools. Identifies barriers to efforts to provide meaningful learning experiences through curriculum integration. Maintains that changes should revolve around expanding teachers' models of learning to…

Discusses efforts to revitalize middle schools in Guilford County, North Carolina. Describes five revitalization strategies used in the process: formation of a middle school task force, development of a middle school concept, staff development, principal role, and school evaluation. (JPB)

Discusses sources of criticism of progressive middle school curriculum reforms that emphasize democratic learning communities, egalitarian methods and attention to emerging learning theory. Notes attempts by political conservatives and religious fundamentalists to undo progressive educational reform, and resistance based on academic success,…

Argues that various reforms have been initiated in an attempt to respond to calls for school improvement, and although well-intentioned, most attempts have failed to bring about the substantive change needed in American schools. Discusses first- and second-order change and middle school philosophy. Recounts two stories of change. (SD)

Urges renewal and revitalization to sustain middle school reform. Discusses the nature of middle school reform as an ongoing process of refining middle school concepts, practices, or programs to make them better for students. Highlights articles in this issue. (JPB)

Examines the merging of site-based management with middle school development, highlighting as an example successful implementation in Missoula County, Montana. Discusses changes in teachers' attitudes, how site-based management aided the transition to middle school, and its unanticipated impact on the salary negotiation process. Presents goals for…

Discusses criticism of middle school reform based on questions about the universality and intensity of the characteristics of early adolescence. Suggests ways in which middle school advocates might respond to various criticisms, from using research evidence to supplementing their emphasis on development with a socially conscious commitment to…

Responds to M. S. Tucker and J. B. Codding's criticism of the middle school concept in their 1999 article "Education and the Demands of Democracy in the Next Millennium." Notes that the authors apparently approve of middle school reform but over-generalize the term "middle school" to mean a building rather than a curriculum or…