The purpose of this study was to collect reliability and validity data on the School Characteristics Inventory (SCI), a quantitative measure based on Sternberg's (2000) theory of contextual modifiability. Data were collected from a national sample of middle school teachers and from teachers participating in a 3-year study investigating teachers'…

The students in 21st-century public middle schools are increasingly diverse in terms of language proficiency, cultural and ethnic representation, and varied levels of poverty; and, yet, they are being educated in a political climate that encourages mainstreaming special education and gifted services in the regular classroom. Given this context,…

This article documents the socialization experiences of beginning teachers in five pairs of middle schools and explores the differences in the socialization experiences as they relate to the effectiveness of the middle school where these experiences took place. This research jointly studies school effects and teacher effects through the case study…

The initial phase of the Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) provided all 7th and 8th grade students and their teachers with laptop computers. In the fall of 2003, a survey of all teachers involved with the program was administered by Maine Education Policy Research Institute to determine how and to what extent the technology was being…

This article describes a collaboration between a university professor and a sixth-grade teacher who teamed to introduce algebra using a visual approach. The project began with a study of qualitative graphs, moved on to quantitative graphs, then introduced tables of values and finally concentrated on equations. (Contains 12 figures.)

This article presents the results of a qualitative research study conducted in one Texas urban middle school. One of the purposes of the study was to investigate the instructional methods used by regular classroom teachers to address the unique needs of ESL students recently main-streamed into these teachers' regular content classes. In this…

Neurologist and middle school teacher Willis, frustrated by mandates handed down by "non-experts" who didn't know what she knew about how the brain works, developed strategies to rekindle the spark of learning and escape the rote nature of teaching to the test. By encouraging practice to create an accessible neural circuit, finding ways…

Three well-established issues for educational reform to insert middle schooling into the traditional primary-secondary tiers are (a) lack of preservice training of specialist middle school teachers, (b) the absence of clear positive educational outcomes linked to the promotion of middle schooling policy as a philosophy of teaching, and (c) the ad…

This paper reports on a qualitative study that examined English as a second language (ESL) teachers' perceptions of classroom-based reading assessments. ESL teachers' use of classroom-based reading assessments, their understanding about the function and effectiveness of this assessment method, and the factors influencing this assessment process…

The federal Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, or GEAR UP, project strives to equalize low-income students' access to higher education by increasing their participation in rigorous coursework, providing expanded opportunities for low-income students and parents to learn about postsecondary educational opportunities…

This study reports on a 5-year project to improve urban, middle-level student achievement through the implementation of two initiatives. First, teachers at a participating New York City middle school engaged in weekly curriculum-planning workshops to reformulate classroom curricula into interdisciplinary, discovery-oriented activities. Second,…

East Texas, home to a large English language learner (ELL) population, is the setting for a successful program that offers students support for both language development and subject-matter learning. In this article, the authors examine why East Texas is so successful in closing the achievement gap of its minority students. The authors also…

This article presents the experience of Marshall University Graduate College in using online middle level teacher preparation. The case suggests that such a format provides opportunities for efficient, accessible, and effective training for middle level teachers. Online training does not suggest a different philosophy to that of the traditional…

This document consists of a final report and executive summary. The report is that of a project involving eight college and university faculty who were given the responsibility of developing new versions of introductory level geography courses. The plan of the project involved bringing together college or university professors, local school…

A middle school teacher with both English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) and mainstream students in her class attempted to foster learning independence by encouraging self-evaluation and examination of the learning process. Initially, this involved providing them with rubrics and checklists for assessing work on several assignments. A second step was…