I was sitting in my office when I heard the distant sounds of crying. I found the source in the girls' bathroom. Kesha, the president of the student council, was collapsed on the ground, sobbing. I got her to her feet...

Remember the Fibonacci sequence? It's a series of numbers in which each subsequent number is the sum of the previous two: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, and so on. One of the most fundamental concepts in...

In December 2007, Walled Lake Consolidated Schools in Michigan faced a dilemma: how to revise the 30-year-old pre-referral process that identified students for special education services. The old process—Student...

Teachers in middle level schools face overwhelming demands and challenges in their classrooms. They are expected to know content and pedagogy, develop engaging lessons that meet the needs of diverse learners, and use...

Why do we grade? Is it to sort students by perceived ability? To measure learning? To engage students? To fail students, because not everyone can or should be successful? To satisfy parents and others in the...

Let's face it: Teachers can control their instructional practices, their classroom environment, and the relationships they develop with students and encourage among students, but these elements are just the tip of the...

State standardized test scores at Cedarbrook Middle School in the Cheltenham (Pennsylvania) School District had been stagnant for several years and the achievement gap within our school dismayed and disheartened all...

"Let me give you a math story problem." This sentence often strikes fear in many middle grades students as well as some teachers. As international comparisons, national commissions, and state assessment results...

The complexity and magnitude of changes young adolescents experience during the middle school years are profound. Providing them with a learning environment that fosters the development of meaningful relationships is...

Have you noticed the groundswell of volunteerism during the past few years? In 2006 alone, 60 million Americans dedicated 8.1 billion hours of service to community organizations. More recently, President Obama has...