Educational contracts define the parameters of teacher obligations to students, parents, and other stakeholders freeing teachers to design and implement instruction rather than trying to fulfill roles (counselor, social worker, parent) best filled by other stakeholders. Describes analogous contracts used in the business world and provides examples…

Explains the use of student reflections as a way of promoting instructional scaffolding. Concludes that scaffolding helps students develop skills through a structured practice of those skills within a specific subject matter, electricity. (SOE)

Investigated the ways teachers' content knowledge affected implementation of mathematics education reform by observing teachers during a reform-based algebra lesson. Found that teachers learned during this process by modifying existing content knowledge and developing new content knowledge and appropriate strategies, and that teachers negotiated…

Contends that supportive teacher-student relationships can benefit students' social, behavioral, emotional, and academic health. Offers five recommendations for teachers working with adolescents with high incidence disabilities: (1) provide students adult support within school; (2) teach skills for building strong adult relationships; (3) focus on…

Provides snapshots of the classroom activities of one middle school teacher over two years as she was introduced to ATLAS (Authentic Teaching, Learning, and Assessment of all Students) program concepts like personalization, student exhibitions, and teaching for understanding, describing six dilemmas she faced as she used a…

Discusses the experience of including a deaf and academically delayed student in a middle school classroom. Notes the team teachers' and students' efforts to modify instructional and social situations to benefit all students, including modifying assignments, participating in class activities, using the community as a classroom, and assigning…

Describes Earth Force's Community Action and Problem Solving (CAPS) learning model that integrates learning across the curriculum by bringing together three experientially based activities: care for the environment, service learning, and skills of civic engagement. Discusses CAPS' six-step sequence, and teacher and student responses. (JPB)

Tested the benefits of matching high-anxiety German and American 8th graders with teacher-centered instruction and low-anxiety students with student-centered instruction. Data from student interviews and diaries indicated that anxiety alone was did not necessarily significantly deter achievement, and instructional patterns alone did not account…

Reports results of a 1998 survey of 364 middle school and high school teacher-librarians that provides insight into the status of professional collections within schools. Discusses findings on availability, importance, description, location, size, usage, currency, and problems. Concludes with recommendations for developing and promoting…

Describes the Alliance for Better Schools, a partnership established in 1987 between Trinity University and Mark Twain Middle School in San Antonio, Texas. Discusses the partnership's goals, including providing in-depth, multicultural experience for preservice teachers in a school committed to middle level philosophy and recognized as a leader in…

Presents an annotated bibliography of ERIC documents and journals discussing issues related to implementing total quality management (TQM) principles in middle level education. Topics include guidelines for implementation, profiles of schools demonstrating TQM principles, and efforts in other fields. Journal article topics include TQM in school…

Investigated teacher instructional practices and the extent to which exemplary teachers used five pedagogical standards by following four exemplary urban middle-school teachers for 3 years. Data from observations and interviews indicated that overall, the teachers infrequently and inconsistently used the standards. Students showed signs of apathy…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to provide an examination of beliefs, context factors, and practices of exemplary teachers that lead to a technology-enriched curriculum. Three middle school teachers participated. Using both direct and participant observation the Spradley model was followed with three rounds of observations: (1)…

As we begin to apply functional assessment procedures in mainstream educational settings, there is a need to explore options for identifying behavior function that are not only effective but efficient and practical for school personnel to employ. Attempts to simplify the functional assessment process are evidenced by the development of informant…

The purpose of this research was to enhance self-efficacy beliefs, chemistry content, and pedagogical content knowledge of middle grades teachers by incorporating specific design elements into professional development. This study analyzed the influence of program design on achieving gains in personal science teaching self-efficacy, outcome…