Effective Middle School Research Articles

Developing Middle Level Teaching Skills Online

Is it possible to communicate the rich and value laden middle school concept to preservice teachers through an online learning experience? Can teachers learn the concepts and skills necessary to implement an effective middle school program through computer-based instruction? Many are skeptical, but our experience at Marshall University Graduate College has shown that it can be done. The online preservice training approach at Marshall University Graduate College is a delivery of middle level preservice development through a net work environment. We refer to it as a preservice training program predicated on the fact that these are inservice teachers from either a junior high or elementary background with no prior training in middle level education. Unlike the traditional model

Mentoring the Beginning Teacher: Providing Assistance in Differentially Effective Middle Schools

Statistics regarding the teaching profession are alarming. Over the next ten years, American school systems will need to hire an average of 200,000 K-12 teachers; in the urban and rural areas with high rates of poverty, the figure jumps to a need to hire 700,000 teachers (Fideler & Haselkorn, 1999). The estimates regarding new teachers are even more alarming.

A Field-Based Teacher Education Internship for Middle Level Teacher Candidates

In the fall of 1998, the middle level program at Eastern Illinois University (EIU) embarked on a unique integrated teacher education pilot program. The primary intent of EIU’s pilot program was to offer a motivational, meaningful, unique, and experience-based internship. A secondary focus was to present to other higher education institutions the structure of this pilot program and its impact on teacher education candidates. First, students were involved in six weeks of intensive on-campus course work. The constructivist focus of the course work offered students the opportunity to develop numerous in-class presentations, projects, and group activities. Interdisciplinary teaching, advisory program development, teaming activities, and content area reading strategies enriched students broadening the participants; and the program gave teacher candidates a clear perception of what it means to be an effective middle school teacher. Other important components of the class included promoting use of adolescent literature in the content areas and developing effective strategies to use in implementing technology in the classroom. Subsequent to the course work, an eight-week internship experience was offered during which teacher candidates co-taught daily with middle level educators in two exemplary middle schools. The university coordinator met to dialogue and evaluate the teacher candidates in their daily teaching experience. The students were given an opportunity to reflect about each day and also commented on the long-term results of the internship. Teacher candidates’ input indicated they felt better prepared to teach; shared an extraordinary collegiality as they taught; experienced enhanced general self-confidence; strengthened their understanding of classroom management, discipline, and content area knowledge; and developed a high sense of preparedness. The mentor teachers concurred that this eight-week experience was far more productive than the four-week practicum Eastern Illinois University had previously offered.

The Crabapple Experience

Mr. Elmore and Mr. Wisenbaker concur that we should resist pressures to retreat to teacher-centered approaches that focus narrowly on the four basic subjects, that ignore social and personal development, and that make creative learning experiences available mainly to those in classes for the gifted. WHEN Crabapple Middle School was awarded a grant from Fulton County to implement a multi-age team (MAT) project, principal Linda Hopping asked us to conduct a three-year evaluation of the effort. quickly realized that, if the goals of the grant were achieved, the experiment would move Crabapple to the cutting edge of middle-level education. While community building was the overarching goal of the Crabapple project, Linda and her teachers came up with an ambitious list of additional goals, based on recommendations from Turning Points, that they wished to accomplish. Our evaluations, which used both quantitative and qualitative procedures, sought to determine how well these objectives were being met. In this article, we share the lessons we learned about what makes an effective middle school. discuss leadership, MAT goals and practices, and the results of our evaluation. Effective Middle Schools Have Strong Leadership Successful reform requires strong leadership. During the Crabapple experiments, visionary leadership existed at every level. Other articles in this section have described the strong leadership at Crabapple and in the Fulton County School District. Camille McElroy, the assistant principal who was responsible for overseeing the MAT groups, was essential to the evaluation effort. Throughout the project evaluation, she worked tirelessly to coordinate the collection of data and to assist us at every turn. Camille frequently gave MAT evaluation progress reports at education conferences. dynamic change is to occur in middle schools, it is essential that we nurture teachers who are leaders of and inquirers into effective practice. Teachers in the MAT program continuously engaged in staff development and regularly conducted inservice training themselves. They gave presentations at the annual meetings of the Georgia Middle School Association and the National Middle School Association. MAT Organization and Goals Linda, the teachers, the parents, and the students believed that the multi-age team design would create a sense of community and provide a democratic climate in which the students' social, emotional, physical, and intellectual needs could be successfully addressed. To put these ideas into practice, two multi-age teams were formed, each with a total of 110 sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students and four teachers - representing math, science, social studies, and reading/language arts. With many students from middle- and higher-income families, average achievement at Crabapple was high. Average scores on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, across subjects, ranged from the 65th to the 75th percentiles. Academic improvement was a school goal, but social, emotional, and physical outcomes were also considered important. The goals of the MAT project included enhancing self-esteem; implementing Project Adventure; enhancing critical and creative thinking; teaching gifted and learning-disabled students in the mainstream; creating flexible block schedules; using thematic, interdisciplinary units; and increasing hands-on learning. In an early visit, Randy asked Linda and the MAT teachers if they really wanted to attempt so many goals. They answered with firm resolve: We want to do all these things. want to have the best middle school program possible! Randy told them about an old adage, If you rock the boat a lot, you make big waves. you rock it a little, the waves are smaller (meaning, perhaps, the chances of success are greater). The Crabapple teachers wanted to rock the boat a lot. Major Changes with MAT The beginning of a school year is always a time of anxiety and excitement. …

Leadership for Effective Middle School Practice

As guest editor Randy Elmore points out, the middle school educators whose articles appear in this section tell readers what it is like for leaders - particularly those at the building and classroom level - to introduce genuine reforms in day-to-day teaching. MUCH IS KNOWN about creating effective middle schools. In preparing to write the introduction to this special section, I reread material from 1989 - the date of the Carnegie Council report Turning Points - to the present. That literature is extensive and compelling. Its common theme is that middle schools should emphasize academic excellence and provide developmentally appropriate, equitable instruction. Specifically, according to Turning Points, the ideal middle school features the following elements: learning teams/communities, a focus on integrated content and critical thinking, flexible grouping for successful learning, empowerment of faculty, improved training for teachers, emphasis on health and safety for learners, and connections between schools and communities. One rarely finds all these elements in one school. However, it is possible to find schools with many of the elements. From these exemplary schools, we can learn about creating excellent middle schools. The articles that follow will acquaint readers with two such schools in Georgia, Crabapple Middle School in Fulton County and Five Forks Middle School in Gwinnett County. These schools' stories teach us that another element is crucial to the success of middle schools: effective leadership - at all levels and both inside and outside the school. In the early Nineties, conditions for middle school development in Georgia and Fulton County were favorable. The governor was education- minded Zell Miller, author of the 1985 Quality Basic Education Act, an omnibus reform bill with special incentives for creating middle schools. Fulton County's superintendent was James Fox, and the coordinator of middle schools was John Spindler. These Fulton officials wanted to challenge middle school principals to respond to the recommendations in Turning Points, so they offered the schools an opportunity to compete for grants to develop innovative programs. The message from the district office was clear. Build real middle schools, and we will support you. A number of schools received grants to encourage the implementation of middle school goals through multi-age grouping. One in particular, Crabapple Middle School, achieved a high degree of success. Articles in this special section by Linda Hopping, Camille McElroy, and Randy Elmore and Joe Wisenbaker describe the multi-age team (MAT) experiment at Crabapple Middle from 1993 to the present. …

Leadership for Effective Middle School Practice

Many trends, including lack of understanding by state leaders, hamper efforts to implement high-quality middle schools, Mr. Elmore points out. But the ideals summarized in Turning Points are as valid today as they were in 1989. SUBSTANTIVE improvement in teaching and learning can be difficult under the best of circumstances. As the stories in this special section reveal, the chances for sustainable change increase dramatically when strong, visionary leadership exists. Effective leaders help everyone overcome difficult challenges to achieve excellence for all students. Today, myriad challenges face middle-level educators attempting to implement best practices. The issue of education has become increasingly politicized - a fact evident in the campaign season that recently ended. Some stakeholders, seeking an educational advantage, press aggressively for vouchers and tracking. The standards/accountability movement is exerting extraordinary pressure to raise test scores. School populations are growing increasingly diverse, and problems related to poverty are persistent. The stream of reforms with which educators must contend can seem overwhelming. Frequently, the litany of criticism and proposed changes emanates from sources far from the classroom. Suggested improvements come from national panels formed by professional organizations or created by foundations, from the media, and from politicians, who are advised by representatives of business and industry. Occasionally, teachers are invited to the conversation. In recent years, the standards movement has focused attention on the need to raise the test scores of middle school pupils. Some observers have suggested that middle school educators misinterpreted the recommendations of Turning Points, emphasizing social and emotional development and equity issues over academic achievement. In the decade after this report was issued, I visited many middle schools and did not find this to be true. Instead, I observed teachers and administrators working very hard, under difficult conditions, to emphasize academic achievement in caring ways. While test scores may not be as high as many would like them to be, it is difficult to blame an excessive emphasis on social and personal development and equity for that. In the mid- to late Eighties and in the Nineties, accountability pressure was relentless. To address that pressure, middle school educators clearly stressed the basic subjects. Schedules were departmentalized, and bells rang every 50 minutes. Most middle schools more closely resembled junior highs than true middle schools. Often the only evidence that one was in a middle school was the sign in the school yard. If the middle school concept was on the rise in the Seventies and early Eighties, the movement now struggles to maintain earlier gains. In Georgia - an early leader in the middle school movement, as discussed in my introduction to this special section - support for middle schools has been lost. The state school superintendent has repeatedly sought to dismantle middle schools through the removal of special funding. Studies were undertaken by the state department of education, presumably to demonstrate the failure of middle schools. …

Middle School Programs That Work

To carry out their mission of being responsive to the needs of young adolescents, middle schools must offer a wide range of guidance services to their students. Ms. McElroy describes the multifaceted program that has been developed to ease the way for students at Crabapple Middle School. YOUNG adolescents face a wide range of choices. What is more, every day they bring events from their out-of-school lives to school with them. Thus middle-level schools that are developmentally responsive to their students must have on staff teachers and specialized professionals who are readily available to offer the broad range of help that many students need.1 An essential component of an effective middle school is a comprehensive counseling program that includes individual and group counseling, classroom guidance, test interpretation, skills-building instruction, parent education, and assistance with parent and teacher conferences. The guidance program at Crabapple Middle School, where I am an assistant principal, emphasizes communications, conflict resolution, and organizational skills. During the 1990s, we implemented a number of special guidance activities at Crabapple. These included programs to facilitate transitions from elementary to middle school and from middle school to high school, strategies to improve academic skills, a conflict management program to improve discipline, and an incentive program to recognize student accomplishments. In this article, I will describe the programs that have worked for us. Transition from Elementary to Middle School The transition from elementary to middle school can be a difficult and stressful experience for students. At Crabapple, the sixth-grade counselor coordinates the elementary-to-middle-school transition program. Input from other counselors and from fifth-grade teachers at feeder schools is used in the effort. This program was developed to provide rising sixth-graders with information about the procedures and programs at Crabapple. The program consists of three components: the Bridges program, visits to Crabapple by elementary students, and night. The Bridges program. Sixth-graders at Crabapple are an integral part of the Bridges program, which seeks to smooth the transition from fifth grade to middle school. Crabapple sixth-graders, selected by their teachers, work with the sixth-grade counselor to provide an overview of Crabapple Middle School for rising fifth-graders. The sixth-grade Bridges participants visit classrooms at feeder elementary schools and discuss ways for fifth-graders to be successful at Crabapple. Elementary school visits. Elementary school students also visit and tour Crabapple for a morning. Student members of the Bridges program present aspects of middle school life to the visiting fifth-graders. At the end of the presentation, sixth-grade Bridges participants take the fifth-graders on a tour of Crabapple classrooms. Locker night. In August each year, prior to the first day of school, incoming sixth-graders are invited to a locker night at Crabapple Middle School. Learning to use lockers is a particularly stressful experience for elementary students who are moving to middle school, so Crabapple gives these new students an opportunity to come to school with their parents, obtain a number and combination from the homeroom teacher, and have time to practice opening the with their parents. This practice alleviates many anxious moments on the first day of middle school. Transition from Middle to High School The transition from middle school to high school is another stressful time in the lives of young adolescents. A smooth transition requires good communication between the staffs of both schools. A strong working relationship exists between the staffs of Crabapple Middle School and Roswell High School and has proved essential in developing a successful transition program. …

Right fielders are people too: an inclusive approach to teaching middle school physical education

One of the most respected physical education teachers in the country shares his methods for effectively reaching all students, from those who fear physical activity to those who are accomplished athletes. Right Fielders Are People Too helps middle school physical education teachers establish and maintain a positive learning environment that allows students to work to their potential. The inclusive, developmentally appropriate program described in this book helps students feel comfortable in class and develop a positive attitude toward physical activities. Students can learn skills without intimidation and experience the joy and exhilaration of physical activities, even if they can't perform the activities very well.Author John Hichwa, 1993 NASPE Middle School Physical Education Teacher of the Year, shares the successful strategies he developed in 35 years of teaching K-8 students. The book's friendly, teacher-to-teacher format and nearly 150 unique drawings make the methods and activities easy to understand, whether you've been teaching for several years or are just beginning your first student-teaching experience.Hichwa provides insights into the challenges of teaching middle school physical education and shares examples from his classes, offering a perspective not available in textbooks. He also presents more than 100 innovative games and activities for developing physical skills, cooperative behaviors, and problem-solving abilities. But Right Fielders Are People Too is not simply one teacher's ideas-the entire book is connected to the NASPE National Standards for Physical Education and follows the developmentally appropriate guidelines.The format of the book resembles a doubleheader baseball game. Game 1 discusses various characteristics of middle school children and describes an effective middle school physical education program. By following Hichwa's practical advice, you'll learn how to -integrate the teaching of respect, responsibility, and resourcefulness into the curriculum; -get feedback about students' concerns and feelings and their understanding of the material presented;-develop new teaching skills, such as debriefing and involving students in the grading process;-motivate students by helping them track their own progress; and-involve parents in their children's physical education.Game 2 offers specific suggestions for planning day-to-day activities. From musical push-ups to the rolling river raft to school rugby, you'll find activities that will maximize class participation by making physical education fun!

Designing an Effective Middle Level Schedule

If middle schools are to operate efficiendy and effectively to meet their goals, school day must be structured in best manner possi ble. The middle level schedule can be defined as the plan to bring together people, materi als, and curriculum at a designated time and place for purpose of instruction (Ubben & Hughes, 1992, p. 257). Scheduling is a mechanism to facilitate school's goals and purposes in areas of curriculum, instruction, student grouping, and staffing. It is axiomat ic that a well designed schedule be foundation for an exemplary middle level program. Conversely, a poorly developed model will not only undermine a faculty's efforts to implement effective middle school programs, it can actually destroy any progress that has been made to make a school truly responsive to needs of young adolescents. The purposes of this article are (a) to examine fac tors relevant to developing a schedule, (b) to identify types of schedules that are used in middle level schools, and (c) to assess effectiveness of various scheduling options for supporting a quality middle level program.

Young Adolescents: An Introduction

0 ver the past decade educators have emphasized the need to understand the early adolescence developmental period and provide effective middle level school practices. The contemporary impetus to make middle level schools more responsive to young adolescents’ needs can be found in state and foundation reports, textbooks and monographs, increased participation at professional conferences that focus on young adolescents and the commitment of professional organizations such as the Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI).

The relationship of school strain to school functioning and self-worth among urban African American early adolescents

Fitting the environment of a school to the developmental needs of early adolescents is particularly important for inner-city African American students who tend to drop out of school in large numbers. The present study examined the person-environment fit in terms of the relation of school strain to self-worth and three indicators of school functioning—scholastic competence, intrinsic motivation, and grade point average—among 102 subjects enrolled in an academic intervention program. Results showed a consistent relation of peer strain to self-worth during the Fall and Spring and strong relations in the Spring of strain associated with teacher relations and school demands to scholastic competence and intrinsic motivation. Furthermore, strain increased during the year, and males experienced greater peer strain than did females. Results are discussed in light of previous research on effective middle schools and the developmental needs of urban African American early adolescents. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Providing a Secure Environment for Students with Emotional Problems

Effective middle schools are secure places. One of the most evident qualities of the social-emotional climate is that students feel safe in school—safe not only from physical harm but also from psychological and emoti nal harm and abus . (Johnston & Ramos de Perez, 1992, p.24) Students with emotional and behavior disorders need a secure envi ronment that is conducive to learning. The environment has a direct effect on all students, but students with spe cial needs are more vulnerable to the environment than most regular education students. Establishing a secure environment can have a direct bearing on how the stu dents behave in class. According to Gallagher (1994), A good or bad environment promotes good or bad memo ries, which inspire a good or bad mood, which inclines us toward good or bad behavior. We needn't even be con sciously aware of a pleasant or unpleasant environmental stimulus for it to shape our state (p. 132). The challenge is to develop an environment that is secure and invites learning for both regular education students and stu dents with special emotional and behavioral needs. How do schools provide this environment? The program for students with emotional or behav ioral disorders (EBDs) at Northdale Middle School has a number of features which are designed to promote a secure, inviting environment that meets the emotional and psychological needs of its students. These features are:

Facilitating Change in Schools: Is There One Best Style?

ABSTRACT This study examines the various ways principals provide leadership for school improvement and the relationship of these “change facilitator styles” to school effectiveness in the different contexts in which they work. Results of this study of 472 teachers in 53 schools indicate that principals exhibited different leadership styles across effectiveness and SES categories. Effective low SES schools were more likely to have strong, assertive initiators as principals than were ineffective low SES schools, and responders were more likely to be principals in ineffective schools. The results only partially replicated the findings of two earlier studies associating effective middle SES schools with manager‐types. Principals were not characterized by their teachers as having pure styles ‐ initiator, manager or responder ‐ but rather as employing a combination of behaviors as they worked to bring about changes or improvements in their schools. These styles existed along a continuum from initiator to respon...

If you want to know about Effective Teaching, Why not ask your Middle School Kids?

26 Effective teaching research has supported a variety of instructional behaviors and techniques -many generically applicable to grade school and high school classrooms. Specific application suggestions for those teaching in the middle school are not easily distinguished from the techniques fostered by their counterparts in elementary and secondary settings (Anderson, 1989; George & Lawrence, 1982; Peterson & Walberg, 1979). Johnston and Markle (1986) detailed several such studies which, while not specifically designed for middle school educators, had findings deemed particularly applicable for those charged with teaching the young adolescent. Based on their review, they presented the following composite of an effective middle school teacher:

Successful Middle Level Schools and the Development of Programs for the Gifted

Effective middle level schools and effective programs for gifted middle level students share many characteristics. The bottom line is that they respond to student needs.

Characteristics of the Effective Middle School Principal

Do effective middle level principals exhibit certain common characteristics? That's the question this writer sought to answer by analyzing data from several recent studies.

School Environmental Robustness, Holding Power and Achievement: Implications for Effective Middle Schools

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to explore the construct of school “holding power” (as measured by teacher perceptions of school environmental robustness and generalized job satisfaction) and its relationship to school outcomes of achievement and attendance. Of particular interest, were the results of analyses completed with a sample of middle schools. The Robustness Semantic Differential (RSD) and Job Satisfaction Scale (JSS) were administered to approximately 1600 teachers in 80 schools. The results of correlation and multiple regression analyses demonstrated rather strong positive relationships between school environmental robustness characteristics and school attendance and achievement. Teacher satisfaction was inversely related to these school outcomes. Implications of the findings for understanding the middle school environment and for completing additional studies within this line of inquiry are discussed.

On Effective Middle Schools

On Effective Middle Schools

The Organizational Structure of Effective Middle Schools

AbstractThe purpose of the study was to determine the organizational structure of effective middle level schools measured by the achievement gain of students on standardized achievement tests. The study utilized achievement scores obtained from middle level schools in both reading and mathematics as well as survey research to determine teacher, department chair/team leader, principal and superintendent perception of the organizational structure of participating middle level school in Missouri.

The Relationship of Self-concept and Achievement Implications for the Middle School

Since 1960 there have been numbers of investigators of the relationship between self-concept and what happens in the classroom. A review of the research literature of self-concept and what happens in the classroom reveals: (1) The self is a complex subjective system that the student brings to school. (2) There is a positive relationship between self-concept and academic performance and that parents and teachers have an important impact on the self-concept of the individual child. (3) Effective educators should accept and support the multidimensional model of self-concept. (4) Ability grouping has little significant effect on learning outcomes, self-concept, or attitudes toward school and subject matter. (5) Activities that develop self-concept: teacher-pupil planning, cooperative learning, peer tutoring, multi-age interaction, self-evaluation, out of school activities, and community service projects are also important to effective middle school educators.