Students who are no longer children but not yet fully adolescent require an appropriate program to meet their specific education needs. The true middle school program can meet these needs. In an effort to provide usable and valuable guidelines for evaluation of existing school programs and for planning new ones, this booklet describes 14 characteristics of a "true middle school" drawn from studies and program evaluations over the past three decades. After an introduction on the history of the middle school, the booklet discusses each characteristic: (1) basic skills: repair and extension; (2) multimedia approaches to instruction; (3) creative exploration and enrichment; (4) independent study; (5) physical activities and intramural sports; (6) continuous progress; (7) flexible scheduling; (8) team teaching; (9) parent-teacher conferences and reporting pupil progress; (10) volunteers; (11) guidance and advisor/advisee programs; (12) student services; (13) attention to social development; and (14) community relations. Contains 19 references. (EV)