This study investigated how a self-regulated learning intervention, implemented within a personalized learning environment, affected students' self-regulation, self-efficacy, and academic achievement at a middle school. The personalized learning environment in this study was two self-paced units within middle school seventh grade math classrooms.…

Public education depends on the collaboration of adults to promote the success of the students who are served. Principal-teacher relationships are a necessary part of the overall learning environment established for students to grow and thrive. In an urban educational setting these relationships can be tested, especially in the transitional grades…

Instructional quality dimensions of cognitive demands and instructional support have been shown to have an impact on students' learning gains. Existing operationalizations of these dimensions have mostly used comprehensive ratings that combine various subdimensions of task quality and interaction quality. The current study disentangles interaction…

Fostering a sense of belonging is fundamental to recommended organizational structures in middle grades schools including interdisciplinary teams, advisory relationships, flexible instructional schedules, and heterogeneous grouping. Middle grades educators must ensure that organizational structures support a sense of belonging and also…

Middle level scholars and educators have begun to examine dominant narratives and conceptual traditions around middle level history and philosophy with careful attention to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) (Harrison et al., 2018). Across these critical shifts in focus for middle grades education, myriad questions have arisen about…

The current study used thematic analysis to examine school staff perspectives on the impact of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP) on school climate in terms of the quality of student-student and student-teacher relationships in two low-income, urban middle schools in the United States. Data were collected using focus groups and…

The purpose of this quantitative ex post facto study was to determine if, and to what extent, differences existed in pre-and-post math scores following the VMath intervention for Title I 6th, 7th, and 8th graders in the Southwestern United States. Three research questions guided this study: (1) is there a statistically significant difference in…

When developing school improvement plans and implementing transformational change, why not ask students? Involving students and listening to their voice can provide a better understanding of what is needed and how the school improvement process can be enhanced to promote growth. Principals play a significant role in the leadership of school…

The purpose of this study is to identify how common the practice of block scheduling is currently among American public middle schools. This study also determines the perspectives of choral music educators working in public middle schools with existing block schedules. More extant literature is needed to examine block scheduling practices at the…

Despite daily interactions by principals with a variety of adults, there is scant research on the experiences which are so disrespectful that they become instances of workplace mistreatment. This study reveals, in a first of its kind, that workplace mistreatment does exist for principals and there are challenges to preventing it. Therefore, the…

Racial disproportionality in school discipline is a major U.S. educational problem. Official data show that Black boys are disciplined at the highest rates of any racial and gender subgroup. Scholars suggest the "criminal" Black male image shapes teachers' views and treatment of their Black male students. Yet few studies examine the…

In 2016, the Middle Level Education Research Special Interest Group (MLER SIG) of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) published "The MLER SIG Research Agenda," a white paper identifying critical issues and concerns facing the field of middle level education. Since its release, much has changed. This manuscript is a…

Researchers use data from the RAND American Mathematics Educator Study surveys of public school principals and teachers to investigate three school structures--referred to as "school opportunity structures" throughout this report--that may affect kindergarten through 8th grade (K-8) students' mathematics learning. These structures are…

The purpose of the study was to examine the extent to which participants built meaningful culturally and linguistically responsive (CLR) relationships with students and to what extent those same participants engaged in cognitively demanding academic discourse with their students. The participatory action research (PAR) study took place in a rural…

The problem addressed in this study was that teachers struggle to apply the middle school concept in three middle schools in the U.S. region of New England. This study was a qualitative investigation of teachers' perceptions of the middle school concept and their needs for additional support to effectively apply it. The conceptual framework for…