This article explores how a laboratory middle school (LMS) serving students from low-performing elementary schools and students with academic or social-emotional challenges is developing as a trauma-responsive school. The authors explore the literature, school/community context, student cases, and the ways in which classroom and school-wide…

Middle schools implementing a multi-tiered system of supports will provide adolescents with or at risk for reading difficulties supplemental, small-group reading intervention classes. Although numerous studies have established that peer collaboration, blended learning, differentiation, and sufficient time for instruction are effective practices…

Our purpose was to provide a model for a middle school design thinking program supported by a university-school partnership and to investigate potential benefits of teaching middle school students to be design thinkers. Sixth, seventh, and eighth grade girls (N = 80) participated in the Innovation Nation program. Over three days, students engaged…

Teacher educators surveyed and interviewed program alumni working in middle schools to address the question, what literacy practices have you found to be most supportive of English language learners in your classrooms? This article describes the three most common practices identified by the middle school teachers, practices that are affiliated…

Numerous studies have contributed to the theoretical, empirical, and practical understanding of teacher empathy, but few have captured the voices of middle school students to understand their lived experiences; no studies have explored the topic in Christian academies. Grounded in Rogers' theory of self and subsequent theories about…

This article aims to explore the parent involvement perceptions of teachers and parents of middle school students. The study is grounded in Epstein et al.'s theory of overlapping spheres of influence and six typologies of parent involvement. Qualitative data were collected through short-response surveys at three different middle school sites to…

The COVID-19 global pandemic significantly impacted both the academic and social and emotional development of middle school students. This article describes the benefits of implementing an interdisciplinary, project-based summer school program to support middle school students as they adapted to in-person learning after school closures due to the…

The purpose of this article is to present a brief synopsis of major theoretical orientations of second language acquisition (SLA) processes and offer practical implications for middle school teachers who work with English language learners (ELLs). ELLs' academic needs in middle school settings are particularly unique. Compared to younger children,…

In the following article the authors detail important concepts surrounding sexual harassment when teachers address such topics in their classrooms. The article considers activities and resources for teachers that should be taught to middle school students in tandem with the literary titles. Middle grades literature, when paired with intentional…

When middle school teachers and leaders commit themselves to being responsive to the personal concerns of adolescents and the social concerns of their community, it results in opportunities to build capacity in students to be agents of change. This article captures the story of one school's process in designing and implementing a yearlong…

Middle schools are increasingly diverse places where students see and interact with peers different from themselves. However, students with and without intellectual disability (ID) have few opportunities to interact--they are together infrequently within extracurricular settings and the classroom. As such, students with ID are on the margins of…

Middle grades transitions pose challenges to many students who meet these tasks with varying levels of success. Contemporary developmental and strengths-based literature offers Hope Theory (Snyder, 2002), a research supported approach that can mitigate risks in school transitions. This article describes how middle grades educators can apply the…

The rising percentage of nonwhite students in the U.S. public school system accompanied by persistent educational debt and racial inequities presents an opportunity gap for many marginalized students. Scholars suggest that teaching ethnic studies curriculum with critical race pedagogy can help address the opportunity gap. Ethnic Studies centers on…

Hallways, cafeterias, buses, bathrooms, locker rooms, and other spaces in and around school property serve as venues for positive and negative social processes. Middle school educators can gain important insights into the adolescent world by exploring student perspectives of these spaces vital to middle school social experiences. Often unseen or…

Policies and practices in middle school continue to perpetuate inequities faced by students from historically marginalized groups. In the current article, we present a literature review that focuses on feedback as one avenue by which inequities are exacerbated, specifically for Black and Latiné middle school students. Furthermore, we describe…