Middle-Grades Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment

By Nancy Ames with contributions by: Barbara Berns, Glenn Kleiman, Carolee Matsumoto, Marguerite Roza, Faye Ruopp, Susan Smith, Joyce Malyn-Smith, and Judy Zorfass

Education Development Center, Inc., Newton, Massachusetts

Prepared for the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, April 1998

The following is an excerpt from the paper.  The   full text of the article will be posted soon.

One of the most overlooked aspects of middle-grades reform is curriculum, instruction, and assessment.  In an effort to develop smaller, more nurturing environments for young adolescents, middle-level educators have paid scant attention to the heart of the matter: teaching and learning.  This paper addresses six major challenges for middle-grades educators: (1) how to establish clear standards for student performance, without reverting to standardization; (2) how to balance interdisciplinary and discipline-specific curriculum and instruction so that students can meet high standards; (3) how to identify and implement instructional strategies that respond to the unique developmental challenges of early adolescence; (4) how to ensure social equity, taking into account the wide diversity among students at the middle level; (5) how to make good use of authentic assessment; and (6) how to create accountability systems that continuously improve school and student performance.

None of these challenges is unique to the middle grades, but each must be considered in that special context.  As OERI develops its research agenda in the area of curriculum and instruction, it should make sure that the research community addresses three key questions: (1) How does this strategy respond to the unique developmental challenges of early adolescence?  (2) How does this strategy foster academic excellence? (3) How does this strategy contribute to social equity?