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Tools &
Resources
The
following is a list of important resources on middle-grades reform.
This list will continue to grow and change. If you would like
to recommend additional resources, please email us at info@southernforum.org.
- Power Point
Presentation
-
- National &
Southern Forum General Information PowerPoint Presentation--A
presentation you can modify as needed to share information about
the Forums' work.
2002
Publications
Six Comprehensive
School Reform Models that Focus on Middle Schools
The National Forum counts among its membership developers of
six comprehensive school reform model aimed at bringing about
whole-school change. These six CSR models are unique because
they focus on the middle grades. This new portion of the National
Forum web site focuses on the history, model design, and research
findings of AIM at Middle Grades Results, Different Ways of Knowing,
Making Middle Grades Work, Making Schools Work, Middle Start,
Talent Development Middle School Model, and Turning Points Transforming
Middle Schools.
Opportunities
and Accountability to Leave No Child Behind in the Middle Grades:
An Examination of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
(Clicking
on this link begins a PDF download). The Edna McConnell Clark
Foundation commissioned author Cindy Brown to analyze the impact
that the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 will have on American
education. "The report focuses on the opportunities and
challenges that middle schools will be facing, in light of this
new legislation, to improve the learning environment for their
students, classroom practices, school climate, and student outcomes."
Four Important
Lessons About Teacher Professional Development
Based on Mid South Middle Start Self-Study data, this article
focuses on an analysis of the 2000/01 teacher professional development
data. This reasearch paper written by Steven Mertens, Nancy Flowers,
and Peter Mulhall appeared in the May 2002 issue of the Middle
School Journal (published by NMSA).
2001
Publications
How Familiar are
Parents with Middle Level Practices (Clicking on this
link begins a PDF download). Based on Mid South Middle Start
Self-Study data, researchers Steven Mertens, Nancy Flowers, and
Peter Mulhall focus on an analysis of the 1999/2000 Mid South
parent survey data. This article was published in the November
2001 issue of the Middle School Journal (published by
NMSA).
School Size Matters
in Interesting Ways (Clicking on this
link begins a PDF download). As part of the Middle School
Journal's focus on middle school renewal, researchers Steven
Mertens, Nancy Flowers, and Peter Mulhall discuss the impact
of school size on interdisciplinary teaming, classroom practices,
school climate, and student outcomes.
Safe To Be Smart:
A Middle-Grades Study Guide (Clicking this
link begins a PDF download). Anne Wheelock's 1998 book, "Safe
to Be Smart: Building a Culture for Standards-Based Reform in
the Middle Grades," now has a study guide, available free
at the National Middle School Association website. Developed
by past NMSA president Fran Salyers, the guide is designed to
help schools and teams "mine the riches" of Wheelock's
work, which explores the uses and abuses of standards-based reform
and provides suggestions for developing a standards-baed school
and classroom. Wheelock's book can be ordered at the NMSA site.
2000
Publications
Turning
Points 2000: Educating Adolescents in the 21st Century by
Anthony Jackson and Gayle Davis. this updated report of Carnegie
Corporation of New York is published by Teachers College Press
and co-published and distributed with the National
Association of Secondary School Principals and the National
Middle School Association. To order Turning Points
2000, contact Teachers College
Press
at (800) 575-6566.
Turning Points 2000 Resources available through this
site:
National Conference
on Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment in the Middle Grades:
Linking Research and Practice. Proceedings
of the July 24-25 conference sponsored by the U. S. Department
of Education, National Educational Research Policy and Priorities
Board.
How
to Improve Middle Grades Achievement. In a series
of reports, the Southern Regional Education Board has identified
problems that help explain the pattern of lagging performance
among middle grades students in the region's 16 states. This
final report, "Leading the Way: State Actions to Improve
Student Achievement in the Middle Grades," sets out a framework
for policies and actions that can alter that discouraging pattern.
Complete report available at website, including 13 recommendations
for state and district action that are pertinent to all states
and school systems. Links to first three reports also available.
1999
Publications
What
Works in the Middle: Results-Based Staff Development
This
guidebook identifies 26 programs in English, math, science, social
studies and interdisciplinary studies that have led to measurable
learning gains. The product of a two-year study led by the National
Staff Development Council (NSDC) with participation of national
content area and secondary school groups -- and supported by
the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation.
What's Missing
in Middle Grades Standards-Based Reform? Standards-based
reform is doomed to failure, says the National Dropout Prevention
Center, unless states use their newly established, more rigorous
standards to develop interventions that provide teachers with
the skills and knowledge required to teach to the higher standards
and students with additional opportunities to achieve the higher
standards. This article synthesizes information from a variety
of sources. The Center is supported in this work by a middle
grades reform grant from the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation.
The Middle School Movement.
. .Thirty and Counting During the past three decades,
writes middle grades reformer Hayes Mizell, "there has been
a lot of loose talk about middle schools being 'student-centered.'
If middle schools had truly been student-centered there would
be more impressive evidence of student performance than is currently
the case. In fact, most middle schools have been more adult-centered
than anything else. It is, after all, the adults in the schools
who have been the most resistant to change and who have been
inclined to expect so little of themselves and their students."
Figuring It Out:
Standards-Based Reforms in Urban Middle Grades
by Anne C. Lewis. This book reports on key elements of success
at six urban middle-grades school districts that are part of
the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation's Program for Student Achievement.
It includes different approaches to standards, compelling classroom
stories, obstacles, as well as recommendations for moving forward.
Published by Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, 250 Park Avenue,
NY, NY 10177.
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