This study examines the influence of parent involvement in middle school mathematics track placements on the organization of students and assignment of teachers. Data are from participant-observation of parent-educator relations in a suburban school district in the Northeastern U.S. and the school's documentation of parent requests for mathematics track re-placements and re-placed students' subsequent grades. Though the school made public the importance of middle school mathematics placements to later educational opportunities, only involved, mostly upper-middle class parents learned of the policy. While fewer than 10 percent of parents had their children re-placed, parents' efforts substantially altered the school's placement plans. Track replacements created large upper level heterogenous tracks. Upper-middle class, involved parents also influenced the overall distribution of students on grade-wide teams. Moreover, parents' actions resulted in the frequent reassignment of middle school mathematics teachers. Implications for student access to educational opportunities and for school policy are discussed.

Framed by postmodern theory of identity and resistance, this year-long interpretive study examined the phenomenon of resistance contemporary scholarship, the study found that resistance was not located in individuals, but rather in the play of power between people. Multiple expressions of resistance in response to being positioned undesirably by school tasks, teachers and peers account for much of the resistance, which is manifested in many forms in the classroom, from the subtle to the obvious. Implications address the need to negotiate classroom life in ways that take into account individuals' backgrounds, strengths and needs and to create a place where identity and difference can exist in respectful relationships.

As an indication of their understanding of the moral development of middle level students, 87 teachers were asked to predict student responses to the behavior of fictitious students in an ethical dilemma scenario. Two hundred and thirteen students in grades 6, 7, and 8, were asked to rank fictional characters in a scenario from least admired to most admired. Eighty-seven teachers were also asked to rank the characters as they believed students would rank them. Choices of the least admired and the most admired character for students and teachers were compared using the chi square statistic. Results indicate that teachers were able to predict which characters students would admire the least but were unable to predict which characters the students would most admire. Grade level and gender differences among the students and subsequent teacher predictions were also noted.

In 1989, the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development released Turning Points: Preparing American Youth for the 21 st Century, a major report on the status of middle school children with recommendations for improvement. This report prompted the Carnegie Corporation and the Council of Chief State School Officers to launch a state grant program entitled the Middle Grade School State Policy Initiative (MGSSPI). Of the 45 applications submitted, 27 states including North Dakota were selected to receive planning grants.Carnegie established as one of its goals for the MGSSPI to promote change in state policies that would allow local schools to initiate and sustain fundamental reform. Additional goals of the project were to have each state's effort targeted toward systematic, statewide reform and to have each state design strategies to address the needs of educationally disadvantaged youth in the most at-risk communities (Council of Chief State School Officers, 1992).This study describes how the North Dakota MGSSPI, called the BRIDGES Project, is reforming middle level education within the state. Perceptions of teachers and principals regarding the effect of the BRIDGES Project on the reform efforts in their schools were examined. Funding of staff development, local study groups, networking among principals and teachers, external coaching, and a shared understanding of effective middle level practices were perceived to be critical elements in local and state reform efforts.

Middle school reform challenges schools to address simultaneously the academic and humanistic needs of young adolescents. The policy recommendations in Turning Points reinforce research on caring s...

Abstract Dimensions of organizational health and faculty trust are conceptualized and measured in 86 middle schools. As predicted healthy organizational dynamics promote faculty trust among particip...

Abstract This study examined the impact of high quality middle level teacher preparation programs as determined by 2,139 middle school teachers teaching in 525 middle schools (grade 6-8). These schools were located in six states that have separate middle level teaching licensure. Approximately 55% of all respondents had received some kind of specialized middle level preparation, 22% at the initial and 33% at the graduate level. Teachers prepared in special middle grades programs were more likely to have had each of seven program components considered essential for successful middle level teaching. Respondents prepared in comprehensive middle level teacher preparation programs gave more favorable ratings to their preparation programs than teachers from programs with medium or low comprehensiveness. The more middle level courses preservice teachers had taken, the more likely they were to report their programs were highly comprehensive. Those who had separate middle grades certification/licensure were more li...

Abstract Although the results of numerous studies have indicated that providing for the learning styles of students results in marked improvement in behavior and achievement, the results of this study indicate that the relationship between middle level students, their learning styles, their academic success and self–reporting learning style instruments is confusing and tenuous at best. Neither statistical differences nor linear relationships between achievement and learning styles were confirmed and interview data findings indicate students fail to recognize their learning style preferences. It is possible that the traditional classroom does not provide sufficient environmental options to enable students to recognize their learning style preferences. It is also possible that the Dunn and Dunn Learning Styles Inventory may not accurately profile the learning style preferences of middle level students; in fact, the LSI may profile only students' perceptions of appropriate learning behavior.