Internet Sites:
• Focus on the Wonder Years: Challenges Facing the American Middle School (2004)
“The monograph is designed to identify the challenges middle schools face today, describe and evaluate the effectiveness of current efforts to improve middle schools, highlight the many areas lacking rigorous research, suggest new ways of thinking about the middle school and its functions, help prioritize the challenges, and make recommendations when possible.” Published by the RAND Corporation.
http://www.rand.org/publications/MG/MG139/MG139.pdf
• Are Middle Schools Getting a Bum Rap?
This essay from Education World defends the middle school concept and includes five components of a successful middle school.
http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/profdev052.shtml
• In the Middle: Characteristics of Public Schools With a Focus on Middle Schools
“This report uses data from the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), conducted in 1987-88, 1990-91, and 1993-94, and the accompanying Teacher Followup Survey (TFS), conducted a year after each administration of SASS, to describe various aspects of middle schools, examine how they have changed over time, and compare middle schools with elementary and secondary schools.” Available as a pdf document.
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2000312
• MiddleWeb
MiddleWeb explores the challenges of middle grades reform with a special focus on urban middle schools.
http://www.middleweb.com/
• Middle Grades: Feeling the Squeeze (October 2000)
“Education Week delves into all aspects of middle school—teacher prep, curricula, the maelstro of adolescence, and finds four schools that get it right.”
http://www.edweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=05ms_toc.h20
• State Policies To Support Middle School Reform: A Guide For Policymakers
There is a link on this page to the full text of the report in pdf. (Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader). This 66-page document describes “what state policymakers, as well as teachers, principals, parents, central office administrators, and school board members can do to support and encourage the fundamental restructuring of the education of young adolescents (ages 10-15) in the middle grades.”
http://www.ccsso.org/publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=105
• Make It Happen! Integrating Inquiry and Technology into the Middle School Curriculum
Make It Happen! is an approach that improves middle school education for students with diverse learning abilities. In the Make It Happen! approach, interdisciplinary teams of teachers design and implement inquiry-based “I-Search Units” and integrate technology into these units in meaningful ways to benefit students.
http://www.edc.org/FSC/MIH/
• MidLink Magazine
Online magazine produced by middle school students. Each issue is built around a common theme. Includes a teacher’s guide for using the journal in class.
http://www.ncsu.edu/midlink/
• MIDDLE-L
This list if for those interested in middle level education and children from ages 10 to 14.
To subscribe, address an e-mail message to: listserv@postoffice.cso.uiuc.edu
In the message body type: subscribe middle-l Your First and Last Name
Archives: http://askeric.org/Virtual/Listserv_Archives/MIDDLE-L.shtml
Archives: http://ericeece.org/listserv/middle-l.html
• PROJECTS-L
(The Project Approach, a specific interdisciplinary approach to teaching children in the preschool, elementary, and middle grades)
To subscribe, address an e-mail message to: listserv@postoffice.cso.uiuc.edu
In the message body: subscribe projects-l Your First and Last Name
• Middle School Chatboard at Teachers.net
http://teachers.net/mentors/middle_school/
• National Middle School Association
Web site contains NMSA position papers, catalog of NMSA publications, and full text research summaries on topics such as grade configuration, multiage grouping, flexible scheduling, etc.
4151 Executive Parkway, Suite 300
Westerville, OH 43081
1-800-528-NMSA
E-mail: jcberck@aol.com
http://www.nmsa.org/
• Center of Education for the Young Adolescent
134 Doudna Hall
1 University Plaza
Platteville, WI 53818-3099
(800)-208-7041, (608) 342-1276
FAX: (608) 342-1889
http://vms.www.uwplatt.edu/~ceya/
• The National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform
Education Development Center, Inc
55 Chapel Street
Newton, MA 02458-1060
Email: mgforum@edc.org
http://www.mgforum.org/
• National Resource Center for Middle Grades Education
University of South Florida
College of Education EDU 162
4202 E. Fowler Avenue
Tampa, FL 33620-5650
http://www.coedu.usf.edu/middlegrades/