Middle Ground: News of Middle-Level Education, 1995. INSTITUTION National Middle School Association, Columbus, OH
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 403 980 PS 023 609 AUTHOR Holland, Holly, Ed. TITLE Middle Ground: News of Middle-Level Education, 1995. INSTITUTION National Middle School Association, Columbus, OH. PUB DATE 95 NOTE 53p.; Photographs may not reproduce well. AVAILABLE FROMNational Middle School Association, 2600 Corporate Exchange Drive, Suite 370, Columbus, OH 43231-1672. PUB TYPE Collected Works Serials (022) JOURNAL CIT Middle Ground; Spr-Win 1995 EDRS PRICE MF01/PC03 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Educational Assessment; *Educational Change; Educational Testing; *Integrated Activities; Interdisciplinary Approach; Intermediate Grades; Junior High Schools; *Middle Schools; Parent School Relationship; Professional Development; School Community Relationship; *Service Learning; *Staff Development; Student Evaluation; Teacher Attitudes; Teaching Methods; *Team Teaching IDENTIFIERS Middle School Students ABSTRACT These three 1995 newsletter issues explore concepts and problems relevant to middle-level education. The cover story for the spring issue examines new trends in educational assessment. Additional briefs in this issue discuss team teaching, school reform as a community-wide effort, and home-school collaboration. The cover article for the Fall issue explores service learning in the middle school. Additional briefs in this issue discuss the hazards of "ditto" or mimeographed worksheets; a magazine for deaf students; the link between one's name and self-esteem in middle school; and use of online computer research in the middle school. The cover article of the Winter issue discusses interdisciplinary team teaching. Additional briefs in this issue discuss National Science Education Standards, and a student-produced educational television show. Each newsletter issue also has additional sections on resources, book reviews, grant information, and learning from the experiences of veteran teachers. (HTH) *********************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * *********************************************************************** NEWS OF MIDDLE-LEVEL EDUCATION SPRING 1993 U. NIPARTISENT OF EDUCATION OR4e d Educate.. EeaaNa .J lammeemeol EOUC.ATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERICI XThat document nu R reoomeEeEk ecated Do. me Deno.. a. otomseeon ono.M.9 C Nap 0..9. .8. Owen a to reap. GROIN eroductson Gooey Poem a/N..0 Nemo. Mated . tom doct meat do not eacemaeN rtmeeael ateCW OERI oemoon or Me., , z,.: : 2 Bulletin .0112II 13 III3OM 119 Board Te tin Educational AssessmentDances to a New Beat PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS 3 MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY Resources C.tovvilve By Holly Holland 6 iip until a few years ago, there wasn't much con- *0 THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES Teaming NFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)." fusion about testing in schools. Teachers served their subjects, then scheduled a day to 8 gauge how well their students had retained it. Reviews Once or twice a year, students filled in the bubbles on standardized tests to show how they stacked up 10 against others. Snapshots Today, in the high-stakes climate of edu- cation reform and accountability, testing has become a hotly debated topic from coast to coast. 11 Showcase New-wave testing has attracted more groupies than a rock-and-roll band and spawned its own vernacular, including authentic assessments, port- 12 folios and performance events. If Torn Wolfe were Monday Morning writing a book about the topic, he'd probably call it the Electric Kool-Aid Critical-Thinking Problem- Solving Teamwork Acid Test. 13 So what's a poor middle school teacher Power in supposed to do with all the changes? Make like the Middle parents of the Beatles generation: Listen and learn. You may not like the tunes, but you'll have a tough 14 time avoiding them. Fax Back According to a recent issue of R&D Review, published by the Council for Educational 16 Development and Research, every state is investi- Megaphone gating or has implemented alternative assessment strategies, which aim to measure how well stu- dents apply knowledge. The trend stems from the concern that traditional, norm-referenced, multiple- Stud,..* responses to "Think about the choice tests while relatively inexpensive and tete:, ers and the kinds of things you do in your classroom. Draw a picture of one of your easy to administer do not evaluate the full range teachers working in his or her classroom." of students' knowledge. Norm-referenced tests Student cfrawings provided by the Center for the Study of Testing, COVER STORY continued on p. 4 Evaluation ond Education Policy at Boston College. Middle Ground Spring 1995 1 EST COPY AVAILABLE2 Taking School Reform into the Community With funding from several foundations, the Boston-based Institute for Responsive Education will work with teams in five U.S. schdbl districts over the next three years to develop community-based school reform projects. "What we are offering is not an answer to the questions, 'What's wrong with education, and How can we fix them,' but a way a structured procedure for people to answer these fundamental questions themselves at the community level," said Tony Wagner, president of the institute. "This is not top-down reform carried out by 'experts' or bureaucrats, but grass- roots restructuring, carried out by local people in their own schools." The Responsive Schools Project will involve schools at all grade levels in Chicago; Boston; Las Cruces, NM; Harts, WV; and Flambeau, WI. The participating middle-grades schools include Woodrow Wilson Middle School in Boston, Vista and Picacho middle schools in Las Cruces and Flambeau, a district that has 759 students K-12. "It is clear by now that without public support, education reform simply isn't going to happen," Wagner said. "...parents want better education for their children, but from Colorado to Connecticut, they are rejecting one reform effort after another." Free WANTED Math-yid \osOffered Througha from theNationaLScience Foundation Foundation, STUDENT WRITERS FOR NEW PUBLICATION fiAdv r--- cement inciett2s5mci-Ed offering 5,001 \ catio (FASE) The Scholastic Network on America training kitsto math and is 7-12. The science teache kit"MIng)Conneictions," in grades Online has a new online multimedia mag- that help studentnneetfitath clue hands-onactivities azine written for and by middle and high to futurecareers. The lessonsare based on FASE'ssuccessful school students. Online issues of "Press with JaimeEscalante." series, "FUTURES Each workshop Return" include fiction and non-fiction, tion to theworkshops, kit contains two FUT a video orienta- tions, handouts URES episodes, and each article is accompanied by a and teachers' workshop instruc- guides. Applicants they would must specify photograph of the contributing author. use the kit forin-service how training and Ping charge. pay an $8.95 The premier issue of "Press Return" ship- To receivean application, included a story about "Denture Man," a Wilshire contact FASE Blvd., Suite Productions,4801 215, LosAngeles, local character in Teaneck, NJ, written by 7440. TEL: CA 90010. 213-937-9911. F. 213-937- Jonathan Sprance, a seventh-grader at Benjamin Franklin Middle School. Courtney Romanofski, an eighth-grader at Windsor Middle School in Windsor, NY, Middle Ground is published periodically by National Middle wrote a poem called "I See So Many School Association, 2600 Corporate Exchange Drive, Suite Things." And Cong Phem, an eighth- 370, Columbus, OH 43231-1672. Editorial offices are at 4004 grader at St. Athanasius School in Alton Road, Louisville, KY 40207, TEL 502-899-1924, FAX 502-899-1961. Middle Ground is a benefit included in all lev- Evanston, IL, wrote about life in Dalat, els of NMSA membership. Copyright © 1995 by NMSA. All Vietnam, where he was born. rights reserved. Teachers and students must have a Sue Swaim, Executive Director membership in the Scholastic Network to Holly Holland, Editor participate. The cost is $7 a month. April Tibbles, Production Manager For more information, send messages to Katie Sullivan, Designer [email protected]. 2 Middle Ground Spring 1995 Home-School Collaboration Studied RESOURCES The Educational Research and Services Center, a The National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools and group of special education researchers in De Kalb Teaching (NCREST) has published four case studies docu- Illinois, recently completed a three-year national menting the impact of alternative assessments in high study that focused on the impact of homework, schools. Copies are $8 for each report from NCREST, Box grading and testing policies and general education- 110, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY al practices on disabled students and their families. 10027. TEL: 212-678-3432. Research included focus groups, interviews and "A Practical Guide to Alternative Assessment" (stock no. 611- national surveys of administrators, teachers and 92140) is $10.95 and "Assessing Student Outcomes: families of disabled students. Performance Assessment Using the Dimensions of Learning With the trend toward inclusionmainstream- Model" (stock no. 611-93179) costs $13.95 from the i. ing special-education students into general educa- Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, tion classroomsmore disabled students are 1250 N. Pitt St., Alexandria, VA 22314. TEL: 703-549-9110. receiving a large portion of instruction outside self- contained classrooms. The researchers wanted to Center for the Study of Testing Evaluation and Educational