Planning and organizational details of a citywide spelling bee for intermediate-level hearing impaired students are described. (CL)

A cooperative program for gifted fourth, fifth, and sixth graders began as a result of budget cuts. The program has experimented with scheduling patterns, course offerings, and teacher selections. (Author/CL)

A one-day per week pull-out social studies program for gifted fifth graders incorporates theories of John Dewey and Joseph Renzulli (the Enrichment Triad Model) in the study of economics, urbanization, and social organization, as well as participation in community service projects. (CL)

Middle-level instructional teams promote feelings of belonging and enhance student academic and social growth, teacher job satisfaction, mission clarity, and instructional program strength. A survey of Ohio middle-school teachers and principals disclosed four components promoting successful team development: including all participants in teamwork…

The attitude and modeling behavior of the entire middle school staff is the most important factor in providing an effective school learning environment. Discusses program ingredients necessary to help staff members furnish authentic middle level education. Includes 15 references. (Author/MD)

Explores student and teacher views about an advisor-advisee program being conducted in a rural midwestern middle school. Although teachers overwhelmingly supported the advisory concept, they (as well as students) made several suggestions for improving the school's program: eliminating a controversial Positive Action program; removing disruptive…

Nene College (United Kingdom) has developed a residential enrichment program for gifted ten- and eleven-year-olds in Northamptonshire County. The paper outlines the logistics of program implementation, including determining academic and social content and the selection of children and teaching staff. (DB)

Fifty-seven sixth-grade gifted students were asked to depict models of ideal gifted programs in ways that were not limited by their experiences in these programs. The students appeared to endorse the practices of existing program models, though one type of gifted program was not found to be ideal for all students. (Author/JDD)

This article describes the training process developed for teachers when the Columbus, Ohio, public schools decided to introduce Student Team Learning in the middle schools and the intermediate elementary grades. (MT)

An enrichment class for gifted students (grades four-six) sponsored a townwide convocation in which students were teamed into minicompanies, asked to devise a plan to make and sell a game, and exposed to business and industry resource people. Planning for the day took place over a seven-month period. (CL)

Gifted intermediate-level students in Greenville, South Carolina, held a Future Fair in which students completed projects and developed critical and creative thinking skills as they investigated real problems. Projects such as models, inventions, photo essays, and creative writing focused on future schools, art, fashions, space travel, and other…

Presents, in dialogue form, the differing viewpoints of two Maine middle-school teachers who developed individual methods and rationales for implementing portfolios in their subject disciplines. Whereas the English teacher has adopted a fairly inclusive, personalized format to evaluate students, the science teacher used portfolios to help students…

Recognizing that families are a powerful force in preventing or intervening in negative youth behaviors, the Gridely (Arizona) Middle School's substance abuse/intervention team launched a program to promote the positive aspects of family life. Family week activities included a local teen theater presentation featuring vignettes on timely topics,…

Describes a principal-initiated advisory program at a Toronto middle school. Summarizes successful program elements, including a 6-month planning period; a staff-supported inservice program offering training in team-building and adolescent development; daily advisory group meetings, with maximum group size of 15 students, who retain the same…

Examines the effects and interactions of gender, pubertal status, and body weight on the self-concept of young adolescent Australian students. The mean self-concept score was significantly related to students' standard body weight, and there was an interaction between gender and puberty, with postpubertal males having the highest and…