An Historical Overview of the Middle School Movement, 1963–2015

Abstract

Over 50 years of articles related to the middle school movement in the United States were examined and analyzed in order to uncover the movement's primary themes associated with practice, research, and policy. Using a qualitative content approach, researchers created themes to represent the movement decade by decade. The years 1963-1979 were identified as the beginning of the Middle School Movement and its search for an identity. The next decade, 1980-1989, was a time of advancement and progress, and the movement became identified with practices, such as team teaching, interdisciplinary curriculum, and advisory. The years 1990-1999 saw pressure on the movement advancing from national policies, but the movement persisted with a sense of hope. To combat challenges to the middle school movement's core beliefs and practices, an era of research on middle school practices emerged, and this research focus characterized 2000-2009. The current decade continued the research focus with an international perspective and efforts to identify and describe a "signature" middle school pedagogy. From this historical perspective, it was determined that core middle school practices must continue to grow and thrive in order to meet the social and academic needs of future generations of young adolescents.

What Do Middle Grades Preservice Teachers Believe about Writing and Writing Instruction?

“…Writing beliefs are not a new topic in education, and researchers agree that focusing on the middle grades is important (Howell, Faulkner, Cook, Miller, & Thompson, 2016;Schaefer et al, 2016). The following sections outline recent policy changes and prior research on writing instruction in middle grades, as well as how self-efficacy beliefs about writing influence teachers' instruction in writing.…”

“…The focus on writing in the U.S. has shifted in recent years, providing both hope and areas of concern for the future (Schaefer et al, 2016). While the 2000 National Reading Panel (NRP) report did not include writing as one of the five main components of literacy education, the newer Common Core State Standards (National Governors Association, 2010a) emphasize both learning to write and writing-to-learn as important constructs in literacy development (Graham et al, 2012).…”

“…In addition to the academic benefits of increasing writing instruction, middle grades' students represent a unique group who are highly malleable in their beliefs, attitudes, and academic achievement (Schaefer, Malu, & Yoon, 2016). Importantly, students are heavily influenced by their teachers, and several studies reported that teachers are one of the most important factors influencing student achievement (Hodges, 2015;Myer et al, 2016).…”

Responsive Middle Level Teacher Education: Learning from Central Alberta Middle School Leaders

“…The school administrators emphasized that certain teaching competencies are needed for success in current middle school realities. Although the middle school concept as expressed in This We Believe [30] is intended to be a comprehensive approach to middle level education with all components fully implemented, this ideal is rarely achieved [44,45].…”

“…Mark's statement that "we used to have formalized advisory," ([1], p 173) and Maggie's revelation that "we have formal advisory but, I would say, it is not true to the concept of advisory as much as it is a homeroom period," ( [1], p. 173) reflect limited implementation of this middle school concept in the central Alberta region. The decline of this component of the middle school concept has been attributed to increased emphasis on academic achievement, high-stakes exam preparation, and classroom teachers striving to meet individual student needs [45]. In the few existing advisory programs described in the focus group interviews, the purposes were related to building relationships, character education, and promoting school culture.…”