William M. Alexander

The Junior High School: A Changing View.

the departmentalized program of the high school with its relatively greater emphasis on subjects and specialization. These differ ences are becoming much less sharp, how ever, as subjects are once again being pushed downward, as departmentalization of vari ous sorts is again spreading in the elemen tary grades, and as vertical curriculum plan ning in the major subjects makes more progress. That is, there are the distinct signs, commented on in Professor Broudys paper and elsewhere, that the differences between the last years of the elementary school and the first ones of the high school—junior, senior, 4-year, or 6-year—are not nearly so severe and distinct as a decade ago, or indeed as many feel they should be. However needed a transition is

What is the Place of the Middle Grades in the K-8 School?

^jE large majority of the nations young adolescents are now ry 1 attending separately organized middle level schools for example, about 80 percent of all seventh graders (Epstein & Maclver, 1990). Significant progress is being made toward making these middle level schools developmentally responsive ones which reflect the unique needs and interests of young adolescents. However, many thousands of middle grades youth, including nine percent of all seventh graders, continue to attend 5,552 K 8 schools (National Center of Educational

Middle Level Schools--Their Status and Their Promise.

Middle schools are here to stay, these writers say. They believe the overriding purpose of middle level education continues to be that of providing programs based on the unique characteristics, needs, and interests of middle level students.

What Has Happened to the Middle School

(Editors Note— For space reasons, we have been compelled to present only excerpts from excel lent presentations made at the NASSP conven tion by Mr. Alexander, Mr. Romine, and Mr. George. Readers interested in securing a copy of the complete remarks of these speakers should address the director of NASSP publica tions at the Washington, D.C., headquarters.)

The nature of independent study in secondary schools

When we began a project1 on independent study in 1965, there was no generally accepted definition of independent study to use. Indeed, one of the major goals of the project was to develop a comprehensive and concise definition. The use of independent study in secondary schools was considered innovative and promising, and the purpose of our project was to find out what it was in practice, what characteristics and possibilities could be identified. For purposes of selecting schools and their practices for study, our project was initially limited to study activities in grades 7 through 12 with the following characteristics: 1. Differed from uniform homework assignments for all members of the class (including individualized study assignments in classes where each student must have such an assignment, as in the choice of required papers or projects). 2. Involved studies carried on in school facilities or in outside facilities by arrangement of teachers. 3. Were planned individually for each student concerned. 4. Received school recognition in the form of course credit, full or partial, or other evaluation entered in official school records.