Sensible, supported by research and practice, and doable. Looping is one practice that all middle schools should consider given its many benefits, including long-term student-teacher relationships that have proven...

Data from past and present middle level programs and practices supports middle school concept as key factor in highly successful middle schools The early 1900s marked the beginning of American education moving from a...

It was a Monday morning, two short weeks before Mardi Gras and unusually chilly for the Crescent City. A gaggle of seventh graders had just begun to assault my classroom. In defense (or terror), I pulled a Jeb...

The investigation examined a collaborative teaching and learning house structure at a New Zealand intermediate (or middle) school. Using observations, questionnaires, and interviews, we explored the perceptions of...

Carl Sagan once said, "We can do science, and with it we can improve our lives." Yes, science is an action—something we can do—and it is apparent that we in education have forgotten that fact. As a...

Teacher quality is an important school-level factor in student achievement (Rivkin, Hanushek, & Kain, 2005) and the focus of ongoing effort by policy makers and practitioners to ensure that all students have...

“My goal is to eliminate the schedule and for your team to sit down together and decide how you want to use the instructional day.” When our administrator made this statement, we laughed, but we were...

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...

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...

A school year ends and we ask ourselves, "What can we do to make next year the best year ever?" Every spring, our K–8 school staff meets to discuss what we would like to do to make our school a better place to...