Prompted by widely held concerns about middle schools' academic rigor and the effectiveness of activities designed to help early adolescents develop in non-academic realms, many middle school educators have renewed efforts to develop curricula and instructional strategies that challenge students academically and expand their intellectual…

A critical ingredient for understanding the experiences that students undergo in the transition from elementary school to junior high school is the students' changing perceptions. The Ecological Perspectives for Successful Schooling Practice Junior High School Transition Study tapped the perceptions of students in transition using data from two…

This volume, part of the Junior High School Transition Study which examined students' adjustment to junior high school, reports on findings related to instructional organization in elementary and junior high schools. Chapter 1 presents a brief overview of the project and outlines the theoretical framework used to describe and compare the ways in…