Best Practice in the Middle School Education. By Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa. December 2012

P R E L I M I N A R Y V I E W O F T H E D ATA
T R A C E Y T O K U H A M A - E S P I N O S A , P H . D . , 2 2 D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 2
BEST PRACTICE IN MIDDLE
SCHOOL EDUCATION

GOALS
Share research on Middle School “best practices”
1.  Format, Models, Definitions: What does this tell us about the “Cotopaxi
Middle School Identity”
2.  Instructional practice
•  Developmentally appropriate instructional practice
•  educational neuroscience perspective; pedagogical
perspective; psycho-socio perspective; emotional perspective
•  Grading
3.  Structure
4.  Curriculum
•  What is taught and why
•  Twenty-first century skills development at the MS level
•  Format of Exploratory and Mentor elements
•  Developmentally appropriate curriculum content
•  At-risk behavior
•  Mind-Body connection (nutrition, sleep, exercise, drugs)

MIDDLE SCHOOL OR K-8?
Middle school students have disadvantages when compared with
K-8 structures when…
1.  Strange and new environment: Children are brought together for the
first time in a middle school structure (as when several elementary
feeder schools send kids to a single middle school) because social
relations are strained.
2.  Teachers stretched too thin: Teachers are often spread out across a
variety of age-group classes, instead of being able to focus on a single
grade. That is, teachers who are primarily high school or elementary
are recruited for middle schools, rather than having specialized middle
school teachers.
3.  Socialization with different age groups is limited: K-8 school kids benefit
from mixed grade activities and therefore are more empathetic to
peers, reducing disciplinary problems that are often found in middle
school structures.
4.  Disorganized transitions: Transitions from elementary and into high
school are not well articulated or well-managed.
5.  Incoherency in school curriculum: Concepts taught in 5th grade are
often retested in 8th grade without coherency or teacher
communication.

MIDDLE SCHOOL OR K-8?
The Harvard series on educational policy (Schwerdt & West, 2011)
identifies that moving kids from an elementary to a middle schools
structure was NOT recommended in Florida because overall because:
•  “students moving from elementary to middle school in grade 6 or 7
suffer a sharp drop in student achievement in the transition year…
[which] persist through grade 10, by which time most students
have transitioned into high school.”
•  And “middle school entry increases student absences and is
associated with higher grade 10 dropout rates.”
•  However, ”[t]ransitions to high school in grade nine [rather than
grade eight] cause a smaller one-time drop in achievement but
do not alter students' performance trajectories.”
•  This finding was echoed by other studies at Stanford (Martin &
Schwerdt, 2012).

MIDDLE SCHOOL FORMATS
Three basic formats:
1.  6-2-4 (K-16; 7-8; 9-12)
2.  5-3-4 (K-5; 6-8, 9-12)
3.  4-4-4 (K-4; 5-8; 9-12)
According to Combs (2005; 2011):
•  “The overwhelming majority of the research supports the middle
school concept.
•  “7/8 combination is the worst configuration available based on the
current research.
•  “The 6-8 combination is the most common configuration at this
time, as supported by current research.
•  “The 5-8 grouping is growing in popularity as research is becoming
more supportive of this configuration based on the constantly
changing needs of the students.”

Middle years formation possibilities:
•  The time of puberty is a time of intense learning when students must
deal with a new body, a new world, new responsibilities, and new
intellectual pursuits. The problems of puberty are compounded by
periods of brain growth and plateaus; this creates difficulties for the
student as well as the teacher.
•  Myers research (1969) supports a 6-8 middle school because of the
more gradual transition from self-contained classrooms to
departmental organizations.
•  Hillyer (1972) reported that 5th, 6th and 7th grade students (as well as
8) should be included in a middle school and that middle schools met
student needs better than the elementary model.
•  Garner found that the largest number of students’ adjustment
problems occurred in a 7-8 school.
CHOOSING THE RIGHT MODEL: DEFINING
MIDDLE SCHOOL
Combs, 2005; 2011

Middle years formation possibilities:
•  Gateman and Creek report that 6th
grade was the most appropriate entry
level for the middle school. Additionally,
the research recommends that 5th
grade teachers adopt promising middle
school approaches. Gateman and
Creek further report that 6th graders
more closely resemble 7th graders than
5th graders in areas of personal
adjustment and sense of personal
freedom. Consequently, the 6th grade is
the most appropriate entry level for the
middle school.
MIDDLE SCHOOL
Combs, 2005; 2011

Middles years formation possibilities:
•  The New York Middle Grade Task Force states
developmentally, students in grades 6, 7, and 8 have more in
common in terms of physical, social, psychological, and
intellectual variables than do those in other age-grade
combinations. A three year middle grade time frame allows
the opportunity for strong, positive relationships to be built
among students, teachers, counselors and administrators; this
bonding is critical to healthy intellectual and emotional
development and sets the state for future academic success
and personal/social development for young adolescents. The
task force recommends the ELIMINATION of fiscal incentives to
build 7-9 schools and ESTABLISH incentives to build 6-8 schools.
MIDDLE SCHOOL
Combs, 2005; 2011

•  The Mineola Union Free School District reported 11 to 14 year olds
share broadly defined qualities the middle school combines into one
organization and facility a school program that bridges, yet differs
from the childhood (K-5) and adolescent (9-12) programs; they
reported that the three grade combination provides more stability to
the overall program; more time exists for the development of
programs, promote teacher/pupil relationships, and provide
individualized instruction to meet the highly variable needs and
ability levels of this age group; the availability of guidance services is
highly important; the emphasis on active student participation in
interest groups and low-keyed athletics and social activities is
important. Further, the report stated that the middle school facilitates
the introduction in grade 6 of some staff specialization and team
teaching the middle school provides an opportunity for gradual
change from the self-contained classroom to complete
departmentalization.
MIDDLE SCHOOL
Combs, 2005; 2011

•  Mineola reports the following drawbacks:
•  some students in grade 6 are physically immature
•  some 6th graders may not be able to handle the social
pressures coming from 7th and 8th graders
•  having to adjust to so many teachers may be difficult for
some students
•  The Jamesville-Dewitt Central School District
adopted the 6-8 model in 1980.
•  Trauschke (1970) reported that:
•  fifth and sixth graders were not adversely affected by middle
school
•  7th and 8th graders achieved at higher levels than junior
high 7th and 8th graders after two years in middle school
•  middle school students showed more favorable attitudes
toward school, themselves, and other students and teachers
MIDDLE SCHOOL
Combs, 2005; 2011

•  Case’s research (1970) suggested that a
5th grader in a middle school
configuration is offered certain
advantages not present in the elementary
school.
•  Several studies (Smith and Brantley)
reported better reading, science and
math scores in middle schools.
•  Mooney (1970) reported children in the
middle school achieved as well or better
on the variables tested and that
attendance was significantly greater than
in equated regular schools.
•  Moss (1971) research included grade 5 in
his definition of a middle school.
MIDDLE SCHOOL
Combs, 2005; 2011

•  Hillyer’s research (1972) indicated
that 5th and 6th graders should be
included in a middle school because
the differences in the various maturity
levels were greater between grades
four and five than they were between
either grades five and six o grades six
and seven.
•  Schoo (1970) reported that students in
a 5-8 middle school showed higher
self concepts than students in other
schools; concluded that 5-8 schools
provide an easier transition for
students from elementary schools.
MIDDLE SCHOOL
Combs, 2005; 2011

CHOOSING THE RIGHT MODEL:
DEFINING MIDDLE SCHOOL
•  The Herricks Union Free School District
(1978) adopted 5-3-4 model and reported
that:
•  the middle school reorganization can
shake-up and help the adoption of
more flexible teaching strategies;
•  6th graders received a more diversified
curriculum and had access to a greater
range of facilities;
•  the emphasis on guidance services for
6th graders as well as a close learning
relationship with a team of teachers
was beneficial the transition to HS was
much more smooth.
Combs, 2005; 2011

MIDDLE SCHOOL FORMATION OPTIONS
Retrieved from http://www.edulink.org/msconfig.htm

IMPORTANCE OF TRANSITIONS FOR
MIDDLE SCHOOL MODEL TO WORK
•  Independent of the structure
followed (K-8 or Middle
School), the key to overall
school graduation rates is
the transition into high
school:
•  “Recent research points out
that a smooth transition to
ninth grade can contribute
to students' success in high
school and
beyond” (Oakes& Waite,
2009, p.6).

WHY CHOOSE A MIDDLE SCHOOL
FORMAT?
Reasons for change in configuration
•  A change in the recommended grade level combination
began on a large scale in the early 1960’s; this resulted in a shift
from the 7-9 combination to a 6-8 or 5-8 configuration. This shift
was based on:
•  increasing evidence that children matured earlier than
before
•  in 1910 children reached puberty at approximately 12-14
years of age; today, most children reach puberty by age 11.
•  puberty appears to start approximately four months earlier
every decade
•  Reasons for change in configuration:
•  the belief that 9th grade was more attached to high school
•  more sophisticated evaluation and research methods and
materials provided more accurate data.
Combs, 2005; 2011

DEFINITION: WHAT IS A
“MIDDLE SCHOOL”?

What is “Middle School”?
•  A grade pattern that begins with either the 5th or the 6th
grade and ends with the 8th grade.
•  An educational philosophy that emphasizes the needs and
interests of the students.
•  A willing attitude on the part of the staff toward instructional
experimentation, open classrooms, team teaching, utilization
of multimedia teaching techniques, and student grouping by
talent and interest rather than age alone.
•  An emphasis on individual instruction and guidance for each
pupil.
•  A focus on educating the whole child, not just the intellect.
•  A program to help ease transition between childhood and
adolescence.
DEFINING MIDDLE SCHOOL
Association for Middle Level Education

INSTRUCTION VS. CONFIGURATION
•  However, Thompson and Homestead
(2004) found that grade
configuration was less important
than Instruction. Of most importance
is the
•  educational level of teachers
•  experience of teachers
•  expenditure per student
•  education and occupation of
parents
•  Instruction vs. configuration
•  length of school year
•  quality of instructional materials

CHOOSING A MIDDLE
SCHOOL “COTOPAXI” MODEL

CHOOSING THE RIGHT MODEL: WHAT IS THE
“COTOPAXI MIDDLE SCHOOL IDENTITY”?
In order to choose the right model, a comparison of successful Middle
School designs from around the world should be taken into
consideration.
•  According to the National Middle School Association (2003):
•  “Successful schools for young adolescents are characterized by a
culture that includes:
•  Educators who value working with this age group and are
prepared to do so
•  Courageous, collaborative leadership
•  A shared vision that guides decisions
•  An inviting, supportive, and safe environment
•  High expectations for every member of the learning community
•  Students and teachers engaged in active learning
•  An adult advocate for every student
•  School-initiated family and community partnerships” (pp.9-19).

According to the National Middle School Association
(2003):
•  “Successful schools for young provide:
•  Curriculum that is relevant, challenging, integrative and
exploratory
•  Multiple learning and teaching approaches that respond to
their diversity
•  Assessment and evaluation programs that promote quality
learning
•  Organizational structures that support meaningful relationships
and learning
•  School-wide efforts and policies that foster health, wellness,
and safety
•  Multifaceted guidance and support services” (pp.19-35).

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EXAMPLE TRANSITION MODELS

According to Scholastic, successful middle schools
have:
•  Teachers with vision, passion, and compassion, who
coach and guide rather than lecture. An increasing
number of teachers are getting trained and certified
by colleges and universities that have inaugurated
programs geared to teaching this age group.
•  Creation of schools-within-schools. A body of
research has shown that the most effective middle
schools divide students into small groups under the
guidance of a core group of teachers, across
disciplines, who act as advisors and mentors. Some
schools assign an advisor to each pupil who serves
as a mentor, checks in with him daily, and meets
regularly to assess performance, weaknesses, and
strengths.
http://www.scholastic.com/resources/article/model-middle-schools/

According to Scholastic, successful middle schools have:
•  An exciting, meaningful learning experience that
challenges all students to use their minds well, regardless
of ability. Concerned less with getting the right answer,
good middle schools care more about how a student got
to that answer in the first place. Children are taught to
think critically, research, and analyze, so they can
problem-solve and interpret rather than memorize facts
and tables and regurgitate them back on a test. Classes
in art, music, technology, drama, foreign languages, and
careers offer students opportunities to explore new areas,
pursue interests, and identify aptitudes.
•  Thematic curriculums that link several subjects. In one
Texas middle school, students read The Scarlet Letter
while studying Colonial history. In New York City, a unit on
the monarch butterfly becomes a template not just for
science class, but for math and English as students
compute how long it takes for a caterpillar to shed its
chrysalis, experiment with what to feed it, and record
what they learned in a journal they share with parents.

have:
•  Use of different teaching styles to reach and challenge
all types of learners. That's why you might see the
science teacher asking students to drop water balloons
from the second-story window to calculate rate of fall
and measure acceleration, or bring in cake mixes to
simulate a volcano erupting in chemistry class, rather
then simply lecturing on scientific principles.
•  Innovative scheduling that allows more time for in-
depth study and fits the pattern of middle school minds.
It's not easy for a preteen to concentrate for 45
minutes, break for five, and then buckle down for
another 45-minute period. Block scheduling allows for
fewer, but longer, classes. A lecture, a project, and time
for discussion makes learning more meaningful.

have:
•  An understanding of what it's like to be an
adolescent and the ability to respond well to
students' needs and concerns. Classes in ethics,
conflict resolution and bully-proofing behavior,
media literacy, substance abuse, eating disorders
— the full panoply of issues confronting kids today
— are woven into the curriculum. The best schools
include a staff of nurses, counselors, social workers,
or child psychologists who can recognize when a
child needs help.
•  A thriving after-school curriculum of athletics and
clubs, intramurals, student government, community
service projects and peer tutoring that keep kids
engaged and supervised after the final bell rings.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT MODEL: THE ROLE OF
SCHOOL CLIMATE
Hoy and Sabo (1998) indicate the school
climate, actively and conscientiously
constructed by the institutional leaders in
conjunction with the community, are key
aspects of creating the right environment
for middle school learners.
•  A primary suggestion of their work:
•  “distinguishes between the concepts of
organizational culture and climate,
formulates two perspectives of school
climate (openness and health) discusses
Total Quality Management theory and
educational quality, and offers
empirical indicators of school quality.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT MODEL: THE ROLE OF
SCHOOL CLIMATE
To devise a true identity, it appears that
school climate is fundamental good MS
programs. How can this be measured?
1.  Organizational Climate Description
Questionnaire Revised for Middle
Schools (OCDQ-RM)
2.  Influences on school climate
(Scherman, 2002):
•  Cohesiveness
•  Trust
•  Respect
•  Control
•  Violence
•  Physical infrastructure

A MODEL: “TURNING POINTS 2000”
•  Turning Points 2000: Transforming
Middle Schools began in 1989 with
the Carnegie Corporation of New
York issuing guidelines for
strengthening the academic core of
middle schools and establishing
caring, supportive environments that
guide adolescents.
•  This was followed by the
development of the Turning Points
Network in 1999 based on research
from the Center for Collaborative
Education in Boston (CCE) (1998).

“TURNING POINTS” VISION*
“Our Vision for Middle School Students
•  Recognizing that each child comes with unique
strengths, challenges, and needs, Turning Points
teachers maintain high expectations for all their
students and hold a vision that their students will
leave middle school able to:
•  Think creatively
•  Identify and solve complex and meaningful problems
•  Know their passions, strengths, and challenges
•  Communicate and work well with others
•  Lead healthy lives
•  Be ethical and caring citizens of a diverse world.”
Retrieved from http://www.turningpts.org/vision.htm

“TURNING POINTS” VISION*
“Our Vision for Middle School Students involves…
•  Understanding the intellectual, social, physical,
moral and emotional characteristics of the early
adolescent can provide the foundation for a vision
of learning and teaching in the middle
grades….The risks young adolescents face as they
navigate this phase of life can be considerable as
they make decisions and choices that will affect
their health, education, and who they will become.
•  Middle schools need to both strengthen their
academic core, and establish caring, supportive
environments that value the young people they
serve. Above all, each and every middle school
teacher needs to develop strong relationships with
his or her students. Such relationships are the
foundation for powerful learning.”
Retrieved from http://www.turningpts.org/vision.htm

INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICES
•  Instructional practices are the teaching-
learning dynamics that shape a student’s
experiences in class.
•  From the teaching perspective,
instructional practices include:
•  Classroom activities, formats
methodologies and grading practices
•  From the learning perspective,
instructional practices are seen to be
influenced by successfully
developmentally appropriate practices
that consider:
•  Emotions, social contexts, mind-body
connections, as well as a learner’s
own biology.

DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE
•  Developmentally appropriate practices in
education are classroom designs (activities,
formats, etc.), which match most learners’ abilities
and are generally associated with age and
maturity.

INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICES:
ACTIVITIES
Classroom activities in successful Middle Schools contexts
include
•  Disciplined inquiry:
•  Learning for deep understanding
•  Scaffolding
•  Learning to dialogue and form question
Recommended readings:
•  Making thinking visible: How to promote engagement,
understanding, and independence for all learners (Ritchhart,
Church & Morrison, 2011)
•  Teach like a champion: 49 techniques that out students on the
path to college (K-12) (Lemov & Atkins, 2010)
•  Best practice (4th ed.) (Zemelman, Daniels &C Hyde, 2012)

RECOMMENDED READINGS
General Teaching in Middle School
Middle school teaching: A guide to methods and resources. (3rd ed.) by
Kellough & Kellough (1999).
Teaching in the middle school (4th ed.) by Manning & Bucher (2011).
Teaching in middle and secondary schools (10th ed.) by Carjuzza &
Kellough (2012).
Classroom management for middle and high school teachers (9th ed.)
by Emmer & Evertson (2012).
What every middle school teacher should know (2nd ed.) by Brown &
Knowles (2007).
Meet me in the middle: Becoming an accomplished middle level
teacher by Wormeli (2001).
Classroom strategies for interactive learning by Buehl (2008).
“Why won’t you just tell us the answer?!: Teaching historical thinking in
grades 7-12 by Lesh (2011).

METHODOLOGIES
Some classic guides and handbooks on middle school education were
popular in the late 1990s, and some of the classics are mentioned
below:
•  Handbook for Middle School Teaching (2nd ed.) by George,
Lawrence and Bushnell, 1998;
•  Imagination in Teaching and Learning: The Middle School Years by
Klegan (1992);
•  In the Middle: New Understandings about Writing, Reading, and
Learning by Nancie Atwell (1998);
•  Middle school teaching: A guide to methods and resources (3rd ed.),
by Kellough & Kellough, 1999.

Language:
Differentiated instruction for the middle school language arts teacher:
Activities and strategies for an inclusive classroom by D’Amico &
Gallaway (2009).
In the Middle: New Understandings about Writing, Reading, and Learning.
(2nd ed.)by Atwell (1998).
Teaching middle school writers: What every English teacher needs to know
by Robb (2010).
Teaching reading in middle school (2nd ed.): A strategic approach to
teaching reading that improves comprehension and thinking by Robb
(2010).
The middle school writing toolkit by Clifford (2006).
Giggles in the middle: Caught’ya! Grammar with a giggle for middle school
by Bell Kiester (2006).
Teaching middle school language arts: Incorporating twenty-first century
literacies by Roseoro, Jago & Schultze (2010).
Awakening the heart: Exploring poetry in elementary and middle school by
Heard (1998).

Math
Differentiated instruction for the middle school math teacher: Activities
and strategies for an inclusive classroom by D’Amico & Gallaway
(2008).
Science
Differentiated instruction for the middle school science teacher: Activities
and strategies for an inclusive classroom by D’Amico & Gallaway
(2010).
Art
The art teacher’s survival guide for elementary and middle schools by
Hume (2008).
History
Reading like a historian: Teaching literacy in middle and high school history
classrooms by Wineburg, Martin & Monte-Sano (2011).
Music
Middle school general music: The best part of your day by McAnnally
(2010).

INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICES: GRADING
Grading in Middle School, as in all levels of formal education,
should seek higher, deeper and more profound thinking.
Recommended reading:
•  Fair isn’t always equal: Assessing and grading in the
differentiated classroom by Wormeli (2006).
•  Embedded, formative assessment (William, 2011)
•  Academic conversation (Zweiers & Crawford, 2011)
•  Social-emotional learning assessment measure for middle
school youth (Haggerty, Elgin &Woolley, 2011).

There are many ways to
think about
developmentally
appropriate practices,
among them are:
•  educational neuroscience
perspective
•  pedagogical perspective
•  psycho-socio perspective
•  emotional perspective

EDUCATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE
PERSPECTIVE
Educational neuroscience perspective
•  There are different neurotransmitters in the brain
that can either enhance or impede new
connections in the brain, and therefore influence
learning.
•  High stress, anxiety, depression and other volatile
emotional states related to adolescents due to their
hormonal changes can influence learning.
•  A student’s perception about his own ability to learn
influences this delicate hormonal balance.

EDUCATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE
PERSPECTIVE
•  “Although most people
believe that cognitive
development plateaus in
early adolescence, current
research shows that young
adolescents go through
tremendous brain growth and
development. Far from being
over the hill, they are just
beginning to encounter the
mountain” (Lorain, 2012).

CHARACTERISTICS OF EARLY
ADOLESCENT LEARNERS
Early adolescents share several characteristics
•  desire for independence
•  growth in importance of the peer group
•  sexual, emotional and social maturation
•  search for values and norms
•  resentment of authority figures
•  ambivalence concerning dependence
•  emancipation from the home
•  fluctuation of emotions
•  concern about physical growth and appearance
•  development of self concept

Motivation and self-perception
•  According to Pajares and Graham
(1999), self-efficacy and motivation
constructs influence mathematics
performance in middle school
students.
•  John Hattie (2009; 2012) has shown
that a student’s self-perception as a
learner has a profound impact on the
actual success rate for learning.
•  Andeman and Midgley (1997) found
that self-perception about being a
good learner decreased from 5th to 6th
grade, which can result in a vicious
downward circle for learning
(believing you can’t learn leads to the
reality that you don’t).

STUDENT SELF-PERCEPTION
•  There are clear relations between
achievement goals and self-beliefs of
middle school students, as shown in
Parejas, Britner and Valiente’s work on
Writing and Science (1999):
•  “task goals were associated positively
with self-efficacy, self-concept, and
self-efficacy for self-regulation and
negatively with apprehension;
performance-approach goals were
associated positively with self-concept;
and performance-avoid goals were
associated negatively with self-
concept and self-efficacy for self-
regulation and positively with
apprehension. In”

GOAL ORIENTATION THEORY
•  “Goal orientation theory was used to examine changes in personal
achievement goals, perceptions of the classroom goal structure, and
perceived academic competence as students move from elementary to
middle school.
•  Surveys were given to 341 students in the 5th grade in elementary school
and again in 6th grade in middle school.
•  Results show that students were more oriented to task goals (wanting to
improve their competency), perceived a greater emphasis on task goals
during instruction, and felt more academically competent in 5th grade
than in 6th grade.
•  As perceived a greater emphasis on performance goals (an emphasis on
relative ability and right answers) in middle school than in elementary
school. Several interactions emerged between year (5th grade, 6th
grade), and both student level of ability (higher, lower, based on
standardized achievement tests) and subject domain (math,
English)” (Andeman & Midgley, 1997, p.296)

PEDAGOGICAL PERSPECTIVES
Pedagogical perspective
•  There appears to be a great difference between
how elementary and middle school teachers
approach teaching (Midgley, Anderman & Hicks,
1995, p.90):
•  “comparisons based on survey data indicated that middle
school teachers and students perceive the school culture as
more performance-focused and less task-focused than do
elementary teachers and students. In addition, elementary
school teachers use instructional practices that emphasize
task goals, and endorse task-focused achievement goals
for their students, more than do middle school teachers. A
perceived stress, in the school, on task goals predicted self-
efficacy both for teachers and students, whereas a
perceived stress on performance goals was unrelated to
self-efficacy.”

PSYCHO-SOCIAL PERSPECTIVE
Psycho-social perspective
•  According to Wentzel’s studies (1998):
•  “Adolescents' supportive relationships with parents, teachers, and peers were
examined in relation to motivation at school (school- and class-related
interest, academic goal orientations, and social goal pursuit).
•  On the basis of 167 sixth-grade students, relations of perceived support from
parents, teachers, and peers to student motivation differed depending on
the source of support and motivational outcome: Peer support was a positive
predictor of prosocial goal pursuit, teacher support was a positive predictor
of both types of interest and of social responsibility goal pursuit, and parent
support was a positive predictor of school-related interest and goal
orientations.
•  Perceived support from parents and peers also was related to interest in
school indirectly by way of negative relations with emotional distress. Pursuit
of social responsibility goals and school- and class-related interest in 6th
grade partly explained positive relations between social support in 6th grade
and classroom grades 1 year later.” (p.202)

PSYCHO-SOCIAL PERSPECTIVES
•  According to Wentzel, Barry & Caldwell (2004, p.195):
•  “In this 2-year longitudinal study (n=242), the authors examined
relations of having a reciprocated friend and characteristics of
a reciprocated friend to students' social and academic
adjustment to middle school.
•  With respect to having a friend, 6th-grade students without
friends showed lower levels of prosocial behavior, academic
achievement, and emotional distress than did students with
reciprocated friendships. Not having a friend in 6th grade also
was related to emotional distress 2 years later.
•  Evidence that motivational processes mediate relations
between friends' and individuals' prosocial behavior was
obtained. For students with reciprocated friendships (n=173).
friends' prosocial behavior predicted change in individuals'
prosocial behavior in 8th grade by way of changes in goals to
behave prosocially.”

PSYCHO-SOCIAL PERSPECTIVES
•  Wentzel & Caldwell (1997)
found that “peer
relationships are related to
classroom achievement
indirectly, by way of
significant relations with
prosocial behavior” (p.1198).
•  Prosocial behavior, antisocial
behavior, and emotional
distress are directly related to
academic achievement.

EMOTIONAL PERSPECTIVE
Emotional perspective
•  Emotional stability in the middle school years is a
strong indicator of future emotional balance
(Roeser, Eccles & Sameroff, 1998). This study
•  “[s]howed reciprocal relations between school motivation
and positive emotional functioning over time.
•  “Furthermore, adolescents' perceptions of the middle
school learning environment (support for competence and
autonomy, quality of relationships with teachers) predicted
their eighth grade motivation, achievement, and emotional
functioning after accounting for demographic and prior
adjustment measures” (p.321).

SCHOOL STRUCTURE:
WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE AND
WHY LEARNING OCCURS

SCHOOL STRUCTURE: WHO, WHEN,
AND WHERE LEARNING TAKES PLACE
•  School structure includes the
way classes are time tabled,
which teachers are present
when in the student’s learning
day, as well as the physical
divisions of learning.
•  People
•  Who influences in the learning process
•  Time
•  Structure of the day
•  Space
•  Where and how one learns
•  Climate or learning environment

TEACHER SPECIALIZATION
•  People
•  According to Jacob and Rockoff (2012), a
key element in successful school structures
in allowing teachers to specialize.
•  Teachers who are asked to teach in middle
school levels as well as high school levels
tend not to be as effective as those who
teach a single grade level.
•  “A teacher who receives the same grade
assignment year after year will improve
roughly 50% faster than a teacher who
never repeats a grade assignment” (p.32).

TEACHER SUPPORT
•  According to Ryan (2001),
“students’ perceptions of teacher
support, and the teacher as
promoting interaction and mutual
respect were related to positive
changes in their motivation and
engagement.
•  “Students’ perceptions of the
teacher as promoting performance
goals were related to negative
changes in student motivation and
engagement. Implications for
recent educational reform initiatives
were also discussed” (p.437).

CARING TEACHERS
•  People: Who influences in the learning process?
•  According to Wentzel (1997):
•  “A longitudinal sample of 248 students was followed from 6th to
8th grade.
•  Perceived caring from teachers predicted motivational
outcomes, even when students' current levels of psychological
distress and beliefs about personal control, as well as previous (6th
grade) motivation and performance, were taken into account.
•  Eighth-grade students characterize supportive and caring
teachers along dimensions suggested by Noddings (1992) and
models of effective parenting (Baumrind, 1971).
•  Teachers who care were described as demonstrating democratic
interaction styles, developing expectations for student behavior in
light of individual differences, modeling a "caring" attitude toward
their own work, and providing constructive feedback” (p.411).

TIME
•  Time
•  Structure of the day
•  Earlier start times are linked to
reductions in student
performance “stemming from
increased absences and fatigue”
according to Jacob and Rockoff
(2012).
•  In 1999 a federal “Z’s to A’s Act”
was proposed to start all middle
schools at 9:00a.m. (U.S.
Department of Education)

SPACE
•  Space
•  Where and how one learns:
everything from physical divisions
of learning spaces within the larger
school context, to the design of
micro learning spaces, such as
labs and classrooms.
•  Having learning spaces with a
smaller number of students
actually increases the likelihood of
taking and having higher scores
on ACTs and SATs, according to
Krueger and Whitmore’s
longitudinal study (2001).

SCHOOL CLIMATE
•  Sweetland’s study explains the
vital role of empowering teachers,
which in turn influences school
climate, which in turn impacts
learning in Math and Reading
achievement (2000, p.703):
•  “Empowerment is defined and
measured in terms of teachers’ power
to control critical decisions about
teaching and learning conditions…
•  The results support the pivotal
importance of teacher empowerment
in the effectiveness of schools.”

SCHOOL CLIMATE
•  The lives of early adolescents are full
of social decisions about what is
“popular” versus “deviant” behavior.
•  This self-perception evolves, however,
during the middle school years and
students who were self-classified as
being unpopular, nerds o strange in
middle school often find they are
“reconstructed” their self-image in
high school and become “normal”.
•  This ability to become self-confident
and transform one’s self-image was
found to be correlated with the
integration into social groups, sports
teams and other school activities
(Kinney, 1993).

CURRICULUM: EXPLORATORY AND
MENTOR ELEMENTS
Format of Exploratory and Mentor elements
•  According to Andeman, Maehr y Midgley (1999):
•  “Investigated the effects of the transition from elementary- to middle-
level schools on the motivational beliefs (MBs) of 278 students
attending 2 substantively different types of middle schools: one was
characterized as utilizing task-focused instructional practices, while
the other school utilized more traditional practices.
•  …students attending the school that placed a greater emphasis on
competition and ability differences exhibited higher mean levels of
personal performance goals and personal extrinsic goals after the
transition.
•  There was an increase in perceptions of an emphasis on
performance goals between the 5th and 6th grades for students who
moved into this school. In contrast, students who moved to the school
that used more task-focused (and less performance-focused)
instructional practices exhibited fewer negative shifts in MBs after the
transition” (p.131).

CURRICULUM: EXPLORATORY AND
MENTOR ELEMENTS
•  According to Andeman (1999, p.89):
•  “Examined the extent to which changes in students' self-reported
positive and negative affect across the transition to middle school are
explained by their perceptions of the achievement goal orientation in
their classes, sense of school belonging, and their social goals.
•  Hierarchical regression analyses indicate that students' perceptions of
a task goal orientation in their classes, school belonging, relationship
and responsibility goals predicted increased positive affect in 6th
grade.
•  An ability goal orientation predicted increased negative affect, while
school belonging was inversely related to negative affect.
•  A significant interaction effect indicates that a task goal orientation
was inversely related to negative affect but that this relation was
moderated by students' level of endorsement of status goals. An
appendix of the scales, sample items, and reliability coefficient is
provided.”

TWENTIFIRST CENTURY SKILLS
Three Global Comptencies:
1.  Use tools interactively
(e.g., language,
technology in order to
learn how to learn.
2.  Interact in heterogeneous
groups (learn to live
together).
3.  Act autonomously.

Worth
being
acquainted
with

(knowledge)

Important
to
know
and
be

able
to
do
(skills)

Signiﬁcant
(long-‐term)

learning
(a=tudes)
“Quality”
of
learning:
Learn
to

learn;

learn
to
live
together;
act

autonomously.

Based
on
Wiggins
&

McTighe
(2005),
Understanding
by
Design;
Fink
(2003)
Crea1ng
Signiﬁcant
Learning
Experiences.

LAYERS OF KNOWLEDGE

HOW IS “QUALITY EDUCATION”
RELATED TO CRITICAL THINKING?
1.  Intellectual curiousity
2.  Intellectual courage
3.  Intellectual humility
4.  Intellectual empathy
5.  Intellectual honesty
6.  Intellectual perserverance
7.  Intellectual generousity
8.  “Faith” in reason or a method
9.  The ability to act justly
10.  The predisposition to review all angles,
however unlikely they seem initially
A person who thinks critically shows…
Adapted from Paul, 1992

CURRICULUM: SCIENCE
According to Kesidou and Roseman (2002, p.
522), the average science curriculum in the
middle schools programs which:
•  “only rarely provided students with a sense of
purpose for the units of study, took account of
student beliefs that interfere with learning,
engaged students with relevant phenomena to
make abstract scientific ideas plausible,
modeled the use of scientific knowledge so that
students could apply what they learned in
everyday situations, or scaffolded student efforts
to make meaning of key phenomena and ideas
presented in the programs.
•  New middle school science programs that
reflect findings from learning research are
needed to support teachers better in helping
students learn key ideas in science.”

CURRICULUM: SCIENCE
Best practice?
•  Problem-Based Learning meets Case-Based
Reasoning in the middle-school science classroom:
Putting learning by Design(TM) into practice
(Kolodner, Camp, Crismond, Fasse, Gray, Holbrook,
Puntambekar. & Ryan, 2003):
•  “Learning by Design(tm) (LBD), a project-based inquiry
approach to science learning with roots in case-based
reasoning and problem-based learning…lay the foundation
in middle school for students to be successful thinkers,
learners, and decision makers throughout their lives and
especially to help them begin to learn the science they
need to know to thrive in the modern world…”
•  The success of LBD depends on a highly collaborative
classroom climate.

CURRICULUM: WHAT IS TAUGHT AND
WHY
Curriculum content should go
beyond class subjects to include
learning about:
•  At-risk behavior
•  Mind-Body connection (nutrition,
sleep, exercise, drugs)
•  Values

MIND-BODY CONNECTION
•  Explicitly teaching students about
the mind-body connection – how
what they eat, drugs, sleep and
exercise can influence their
performance in school – can in and
of itself improvement behaviors
related to these areas (Tokuhama-
Espinosa, 2011).
•  When girls, for example, are taught
about normative developmental
challenges related to nutrition in, this
conscientious improved behavior
related to eating disorders (Levine,
Smolak, Moodey, Shuman & Hessen,
1994).

WHAT SCHOOLS ADMINISTRATORS
CAN DO TO EASE THE TRANSITION
Transitions in and out of middle school rest with administrators and
counselors. Why should they do?
Create a Program That Involves All the Stakeholders
•  A well-planned, systematic transition program involves all the
stakeholders: students, school personnel, and parents. Here are
some things to consider:
•  Incoming middle school students should be involved in a variety
of activities preparing them for middle school. They should have
the opportunity to meet middle school students and teachers in
their elementary school. They should have the opportunity to visit
the middle school in the spring and meet the staff and students,
particularly their homeroom teacher and classmates. Educators in
both the elementary and the middle school should provide
activities for students that lessen their concerns, build their
confidence, and reduce their anxiety.
Peter Lorain for the National Education Association, 2011

Create a Program That Involves All
the Stakeholders
•  Current middle school students also
should be prepared for and included in
orientation presentations -- through a
leadership/student government class, a
“buddy” system, or other planned ways.
•  School leaders should plan and provide
for several events that involve students,
teachers, and parents. These events
should focus on providing a positive
message about middle school, that it is
safe and fun. They should also focus on
providing information about the changes
that early adolescents will be
experiencing.

Create a Program That Involves All the Stakeholders
•  Elementary teachers, counselors, and other licensed staff
members should be aware of the concerns of their
students and the anxieties of moving into middle schools.
They should be upbeat and reassuring -- and they should
not use middle schools as a "threat" or misplaced
motivational tool. They should know about the
developmental issues, indeed, some of their students in
the elementary schools will already be experiencing
some of these changes.
•  Middle school teachers should be well versed in the
developmental issues of their students. They also should
be aware that students will experience anxieties
associated with the change and they should begin
before school starts to work to neutralize these anxieties.
Visiting elementary schools in the spring, so the students
know the teachers, and addressing any questions or
concerns on the first day of the school year are two ways
to facilitate this easing into the year.

Create a Program That Involves All the
Stakeholders
•  Parents should attend the spring incoming
parent night to meet homeroom teachers and
begin to establish a relationship with the
teachers.
•  Parents should attend school meetings to learn
about the concerns and questions their
children have and will have. They should talk
with their children about the upcoming school
year and emphasize the positive aspects of
attending middle school. Parents should watch
for signs of depression and be ready to address
them.
•  Parents need to learn about young
adolescents and their developmental issues
and stages so that they will understand better
this new and wonderful person with whom they
live, and be able to interact with them in
positive ways that build relationships.

CONCLUSIONS
•  Summary
•  Key Factors:
•  School climate development
•  Successful transitions into and out of middle school
•  Permit teachers to specialize in a single age group.
•  Climate counts: A student’s self-perception as a learner –
shaped in great part due the school climate – is the single
greatest factor influencing academic performance.
•  The entire community plays a role
•  Further reflections

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CONTACT
Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa, Ph.D.
Director of IDEA (Instituto de Enseñanza y Aprendizaje;
Teaching and Learning Institute) of the
Universidad San Francisco de Quito
Casa Corona – planta baja
Cumbayá, Diego de Robles y vía Interoceánica
Quito, Ecuador, 17-22
Telf.: 297-1700 x 1338 o 297-1937
ttokuhama@usfq.edu.ec

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