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Find more Kappan articles in the The Five-Foot Bookshelf: Readings on Middle-Level Education and Reform THE IDEA OF the five-foot bookshelf dates to the 19th century and originally referred to the 50-volume set of Harvard classics -- purported to include all the great books of the Western world. My challenge is to put together a five-foot bookshelf of indispensable readings in middle-level education and reform. Ten years ago it would have been difficult to put together a one-foot bookshelf of books, monographs, and articles on issues critical to middle-grades education and reform. Today, the five-foot upper limit is daunting. The most recent attempt to document the now vast body of literature (see the bibliography compiled by Samuel Totten and his colleagues, listed below), records more than 1,750 items, excluding journal articles, and the list grows daily. The question has now become how to identify the most valuable nuggets in this field. I found my answer through asking the most discerning researchers, funders, teacher educators, and practitioners to nominate the titles that most influence their thinking and work. Twenty-two individuals responded to my invitation to contribute, some providing thoughtful comments about their selections and about the process. "This has been a wonderful exercise!" commented one respondent, and another referred to his list as "the titles that have influenced me greatly . . . and [are] the benchmarks that have affected my view." Nevertheless, the collective list was still too long -- filling, perhaps, a 10-foot bookshelf. By strictly enforcing the focus on middle-level schools, by eliminating works about specific subject areas in the curriculum, by choosing one or two representative works by the most prolific writers, and by selecting only a few of many suggested titles on certain topics, such as teacher preparation, I was able to pare the list. Section I contains the heart of the recommendations I solicited, along with two new publications that were not available at the time I asked for nominations. I provide some additional resources in two more sections: reports from the states and critical reading that falls outside the scope of Section I. Section I. The Core Alexander, William M. "The Junior High: A Changing View." In Readings in Curriculum, edited by Glen Hass and Kimball Wiles. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1965. This is the speech that "started it all," calling for a "new school in the middle." Ames, Nancy L., and Edward Miller. Changing Middle Schools: How to Make Schools Work for Young Adolescents. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1994. This work describes the paths taken by four Indiana schools participating in the Middle Grades Improvement Program, funded by Lilly Endowment Inc., and sets forth principles central to the sustained school reform observed in these schools. Arnold, John. "A Responsive Curriculum for Emerging Adolescents." In Readings in Middle School Curriculum: A Continuing Conversation, edited by Tom Dickinson. Columbus, Ohio.: National Middle School Association, 1993. This article set the direction for current middle-grades curriculum discussions, long before curriculum became a focus for the movement. The remaining articles consider a range of questions that include gender issues, sexuality education, and whole language. Beane, James A. A Middle School Curriculum: From Rhetoric to Reality. 2nd ed. Columbus, Ohio.: National Middle School Association, 1993. The author urges an examination of the "broad and underlying conception of the whole curriculum" at the middle level. Braddock, Jomills Henry II, and Joyce L. Epstein, guest eds. A Special Section on Middle Schools. Phi Delta Kappan, February 1990, pp. 436-69. The articles cover the issues of grade span, tracking, curriculum, instruction, responding to early adolescent needs, and staffing. Clark, Terry A., William E. Bickel, and Richard A. Lacey. Transforming Education for Young Adolescents: Insights for Practitioners from the Lilly Endowment's Middle Grades Improvement Program, 1987-1990. New York: Education Resources Group, 1993. These practical observations about the Middle Grades Improvement Program in Indiana are based on four years of documentation of program components, processes, and implementation. Council of Chief State School Officers and Carnegie Corporation of New York. The Middle School: Professional Development for High Student Achievement. Washington, D.C.: Council of Chief State School Officers, 1995. This report presents four prerequisites for professional development that are necessary for reaching high levels of student achievement. "Curriculum Integration: Proceeding with Cautious Optimism." Focus Section. Middle School Journal, September 1996, pp. 3-26. This section presents an iconoclastic debate about curriculum integration in the middle grades. Dorman, Gayle. Middle Grades Assessment Program User's Manual. 3rd ed. Revised by Robin Pulver. Chapel Hill, N.C.: Center for Early Adolescence, 1995. This manual is a tool to enable parents, educators, and policy makers to make a comprehensive assessment of their local schools based on what is known about early adolescent development and effective schools. Epstein, Joyce L., and Douglas J. Mac Iver. Opportunities to Learn: Effects on Eighth-Graders of Curriculum Offerings and Instructional Approaches. Report No. 34. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Center for Research on Effective Schooling for Disadvantaged Students, 1992. This study looks at curriculum and instruction using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988: A Profile of the American Eighth-Grader survey of eighth-graders in public, religious, and independent schools. The authors conclude that there is a need for more equitable access to high-level course offerings and that, while high-ability math students do better in homogeneously grouped classes, students at other ability levels in math perform better in heterogeneous groups. All students benefit from being mixed by ability in English classes. Epstein, Joyce L., and Karen C. Salinas. Promising Programs in the Middle Grades. Reston, Va.: National Association of Secondary School Principals, 1992. This study presents the results of a search for high-content programs for educationally disadvantaged students in the major academic subjects. It includes survey questionnaires and discussion questions for schools to use to determine whether their programs meet "high content" standards. Felner, Robert D., et al. "Restructuring the Ecology of the School as an Approach to Prevention During School Transitions: Longitudinal Follow-Ups and Extensions of the School Transitional Environment Project (STEP)." Prevention in Human Services, vol. 10, 1993, pp. 103-36. This report describes the effects of an intervention program that reorganized schools into teams and provided teacher-based advisement during student transitions to middle-level schools and from middle-level to high schools. Felner, Robert D., et al. "The Process and Impact of School Reform and Restructuring for the Middle Years: A Longitudinal Study of Turning Points-Based Comprehensive School Change." In Frontiers in the Education of Young Adolescents, edited by Ruby Takanishi and David Hamburg. New York: Carnegie Corporation, 1995. This report presents the initial findings from a study of schools that are engaged in restructuring based on the recommendations of the Carnegie Corporation's Turning Points. Fine, Michelle, ed. Talking Across Boundaries: Participatory Evaluation Research in an Urban Middle School. New York: Bruner Foundation, 1996. This collection makes the case that school reform decisions must be data-driven and must emerge from important questions asked and answered within the school community. George, Paul S., and William M. Alexander. The Exemplary Middle School. 2nd ed. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1993. This is the textbook to use in preparing teachers; it's the real McCoy. The second edition is even better than the ground-breaking first edition. Hargreaves, Andy, Lorna Earl, and Jim Ryan. Schooling for Change: Reinventing Education for Early Adolescents. Bristol, Pa.: Falmer Press, Taylor & Francis, Inc., 1996. The authors provide a coherent review of international research on a broad range of issues surrounding schooling for young adolescents, including discussions of school culture, curriculum, early adolescent needs, assessment and evaluation, and teaching and learning. Jackson, Anthony W., et al. "Adolescent Development and Educational Policy: Strengths and Weaknesses of the Knowledge Base." Journal of Adolescent Medicine, vol. 14, 1993, pp. 172-89. This book summarizes a symposium focused on issues involved in transforming middle-grades education and presents preliminary evidence that restructuring based on Turning Points is associated with enhanced student achievement and adjustment. James, Charity. Beyond Customs: An Educator's Journey. New York: Agathon Press, 1974. The author offers insights into adolescents' educational requirements based upon an astute understanding of their developmental needs. It's a classic. Lara, Julia. Second-Language Learners and Middle School Reform: A Case Study of a School in Transition. Washington, D.C.: Council of Chief State School Officers, 1995. In a middle-grades school undergoing reform, what happens to young adolescents whose first language is not English? This booklet makes good research accessible. Lee, Valerie E., and Julia B. Smith. "Effects of School Restructuring on the Achievement and Engagement of Middle-Grade Students." Sociology of Education, July 1993, pp. 164-87. The effects of school restructuring on student achievement, academic engagement, and at-risk behaviors in a sample of public, Catholic, and independent schools. Lewis, Anne C. Believing in Ourselves: Progress and Struggle in Urban Middle School Reform 1989-1995. New York: Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, 1995. The author chronicles the reform efforts of middle-grades schools in the five urban districts that participated in the Clark Foundation's Program for Student Achievement. Lipsitz, Joan. Successful Schools for Young Adolescents. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction, 1984. This volume provides a framework for identifying and examining effective schools and four illustrative case studies. Lounsbury, John H., and Donald C. Clark. Inside Grade Eight: From Apathy to Excitement. Reston, Va.: National Association of Secondary School Principals, 1990. The authors report what was learned when eighth-grade students in 162 schools were shadowed for one day. Manning, M. Lee. Developmentally Appropriate Middle Level Schools. Wheaton, Md.: Association for Childhood Education International, 1993. The author uses the characteristics of early adolescent development to argue for curricular, instructional, and environmental decisions. McEwin, C. Kenneth, and Thomas S. Dickinson. The Professional Preparation of Middle Level Teachers: Profiles of Successful Programs. Columbus, Ohio: National Middle School Association, 1995. The authors profile 14 successful middle-level teacher preparation programs in colleges and universities across the country. McEwin, C. Kenneth, Thomas S. Dickinson, and Doris M. Jenkins. America's Middle Schools: Practices and Progress: A 25 Year Perspective. Columbus, Ohio: National Middle School Association, 1996. This volume is a status report on the middle school movement, comparing a 1993 study with earlier studies undertaken in 1968 and 1988. Mizell, M. Hayes. The New Principal: Risk, Reform, and the Quest for Hard-Core Learning. New York: Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, 1995. The author envisions a new role for principals so that school change will raise student achievement to the highest possible level. National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. The Early Adolescence/Generalist Standards. San Antonio, Tex.: National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, 1993. This document contains standards for the knowledge and skills teachers must exhibit to attain National Board Certification. These standards are becoming extremely important for schools of education and for state licensing. National Middle School Association. This We Believe: Developmentally Responsive Middle Level Schools. Columbus, Ohio: National Middle School Association, 1995. This is the most recent revision of the National Middle School Association's position paper on the essentials of the philosophy and practice of middle-level education. National Staff Development Council. Standards for Staff Development: Middle Level Edition. 2nd ed. Oxford, Ohio: National Staff Development Council, 1995. This volume provides the standards for staff development and shows how to use them. It reviews the school culture and processes necessary for implementing the standards successfully and discusses the actual skills and knowledge that effective middle-level educators need to acquire through staff development. Neufeld, Barbara. "Improving Principals' Practice: The Influence of Professional Development on Principals' Work in Middle School Reform Efforts Supported by the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation." Photocopy. Education Matters, Cambridge, Mass., 1995. The author analyzes principals' responses to a program of professional development opportunities provided as part of the Clark Foundation's Program for Student Achievement. Newberg, Norman. "Bridging the Gap: An Organizational Inquiry into an Urban School District." In The Reflective Turn: Case Studies in and on Educational Practice, edited by Donald A Schön. New York: Teachers College Press, 1991. This article documents the experience in one Philadelphia district where elementary and middle schools worked together with the high school to improve the often devastating effects on low-income students of transitions from one school level to the next. It demonstrates that elementary, middle, and high schools need to break the "blaming cycle" and resolve problems of student failure collectively and systematically. Oakes, Jeannie, guest ed. Research in Middle Level Education Quarterly, Fall 1996. The articles in this special invited issue grew out of a symposium titled "Becoming Good American Schools: The Struggle for Virtue in Middle School Reform." Oldfather, Penny, and H. James McCaughlin. "Gaining and Losing Voice: A Longitudinal Study of Students' Continuing Impulse to Learn Across Elementary and Middle Level Contexts." Research in Middle Level Education, Fall 1993, pp. 1-25. This study concludes that engagement in learning wanes in unresponsive classroom environments in which students' voices are not allowed to be heard. Rutherford, Barry, ed. Creating Family/School Partnerships. Columbus, Ohio: National Middle School Association, 1995. This study focuses on the importance of parent and community involvement in middle-level schools. It is one of 12 studies commissioned in 1991 by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement to evaluate significant education and reform efforts across the country. Stevenson, Chris. Teaching Ten to Fourteen Year Olds. White Plains, N.Y.: Longman, 1992. This is a hard-to-put-down textbook, as useful to experienced middle-grades teachers as it is to undergraduates in teacher preparation programs. Swaim, John H., and Greg P. Stefanich. Meeting the Standards: Improving Middle Level Teacher Education. Columbus, Ohio: National Middle School Association, 1996. Organized around NCATE (National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education) standards, this volume discusses each standard and the ways in which various teacher education programs have chosen to meet that standard. Appendices contain complete texts of the original and revised NCATE curriculum guidelines. Task Force on Education of Young Adolescents. Turning Points: Preparing American Youth for the 21st Century. New York: Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development, 1989. These comprehensive recommendations for transforming the school experiences of young adolescents have become a major reference for middle-level reform. Totten, Samuel, et al. Middle Level Education: An Annotated Bibliography. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1996. This bibliography provides a comprehensive, annotated, but nonselective list of books, monographs, state reports, journals, and organizations. Waxman, Hersholt C., Shwu-Yong L. Huang, and Yolanda N. Padron. "Investigating the Pedagogy of Poverty in Inner-City Middle Level Schools." Research in Middle Level Education, Spring 1995, pp. 1-22. The study presents the results of an empirical investigation of classroom instruction in inner-city middle-level schools. The "pedagogy of poverty" translates into a predominance of whole-class instruction, little interaction between students and teachers, lack of student choice in instructional activities, and a lack of encouragement of, interest in, and personal regard for students by teachers. Wheelock, Anne. Crossing the Tracks: How "Untracking" Can Save America's Schools. New York: New Press, 1992. The author marshals powerful arguments against tracking students by ability, describes schools that have successfully eliminated tracking, provides a course of action for "untracking," and offers descriptions of specific programs that work. ________. "Standards-Based Reform: What Does It Mean for the Middle Grades?" Photocopy. Edna McConnell Clark Foundation Program for Student Achievement, New York, November 1995. The author describes the status of the standards movement as it relates to the middle grades and examines the implications of such standards for school reform efforts. Williamson, Ronald D., and J. Howard Johnston. Planning for Success: Successful Implementation of Middle Level Reorganization. Reston, Va.: National Association of Secondary School Principals, 1991. This volume presents a systematic approach to general reform in the middle school based on the experiences of the Ann Arbor public schools. The protocols provided are useful for any district implementing change. ________. "Through the Looking Glass: The Future of Middle Level Education." Special feature article for middle-level leaders. Reston, Va.: National Association of Secondary School Principals, November 1996. Rather than adhere rigidly to a middle school orthodoxy, the authors advocate a more flexible approach to current practice in order to achieve greater responsiveness to young adolescent learners.
The following entries were not available for review at press time, but they promise to be important contributions: Dickinson, Thomas S., and Thomas O. Erb, eds. We Gain More Than We Give: Teaming in Middle Schools. Columbus, Ohio: National Middle School Association, 1997. Takanishi, Ruby, and David Hamburg, eds. Preparing Adolescents for the Twenty-First Century. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Section II. Reports from the States California was the first state to produce a framework and a document on the status of middle-level education for the state. It published Caught in the Middle in 1987. By 1996, 20 more states had followed suit: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Reports for all except Michigan are available from the state departments of education and are annotated in the Totten bibliography listed above. Michigan's Starting Again in the Middle is the most recent report and is available from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation (Item #932), as is Assessment of Middle Grades Education in Michigan: A Report to the W. K. Kellogg Foundation's Middle Start Initiative (Item #940). Section III. Additional Reading Ayers, William. To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher. New York: Teachers College Press, 1993. Bronfenbrenner, Urie. The Ecology of Human Development: Experiments by Nature and Design. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1979. Chaskin, Robert J., and Diana Mendley Rauner, eds. A Special Section on Youth and Caring. Phi Delta Kappan, May 1995, pp. 665-719. Cohen, Jody, and Sukey Blanc. Girls in the Middle: Working to Succeed in School. Washington, D.C.: American Association of University Women Educational Foundation, 1996. Dolan, Patrick. Restructuring Our Schools: A Primer on Systemic Change. Kansas City, Mo.: Systems and Organization, 1994. Feldman, S. Shirley, and Glen R. Elliott, eds. At the Threshold: The Developing Adolescent. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1990. Felner, Robert D., and Angela M. Adan. "The School Transitional Environment Project: An Ecological Intervention and Evaluation." In 14 Ounces of Prevention: A Casebook for Practitioners, edited by Richard H. Price et al. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, 1988. Felner, Robert D., and Tweety Y. Felner. "Prevention Programs in the Educational Context: A Transactional-Ecological Framework for Program Models." In Primary Prevention and Promotion in the Schools, edited by Lynn Bond and Bruce Compas. Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1989. Fullan, Michael. Change Forces: Probing the Depths of Educational Change. Bristol, Pa.: Falmer Press, Taylor & Francis, Inc., 1993. Hill, John P. Understanding Early Adolescence: A Framework. Carrboro, N.C.: Center for Early Adolescence, 1980. Institute for Education in Transformation. Voices from the Inside: A Report on Schooling from Inside the Classroom. Part One: Naming the Problem. Claremont, Calif.: Claremont Graduate School, 1992. Lieberman, Ann, ed. The Work of Restructuring Schools: Building from the Ground Up. New York: Teachers College Press, 1995. SUSAN ROSENZWEIG was for eight years director of information services at the Center for Early Adolescence, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She is now an independent consultant and adjunct faculty member at the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, University of Rhode Island, Kingston. |
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