Framing a context for the study necessitated a documentation of the broad range of middle school issues and concerns. Examples of issues and concerns that are of both general and specific interest to middle school educators are described below. This middle school literature is revisited in the discussion (final) section of the report where issues and concerns are compared with middle school educators' STW efforts and associations' views of STW opportunities in the middle schools.
Broad Issues and Concerns
During the past three decades, there has been a growing awareness of the needs of the young adolescent. Even though this developmental stage is critical to students future academic and workplace success, until recently, little attention had been given to the unique educational needs of this group. In fact, "less attention has been paid to early adolescence than to either of two other developmental periods: the "ready to learn" years from birth to school age and the "ready to earn" years from late adolescence to adulthood" (Michigan League for Human Services, 1997, p. 4).
Since 1963, when the middle school concept was first introduced by William M. Alexander, educators have been searching for ways to embrace it. Middle school theory surmises that early adolescents' academic, social, and emotional needs are better served by an educational experience not found in the elementary or high school environments. Some middle-level schools have been restructured and transformed to provide the appropriate learning environment that assists young adolescents to meet their potential and provide a meaningful place for young people in an adult culture. Steps for accomplishing this change have been outlined in Turning Points: Preparing American Youth for the 21st Century by the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development (1989), and have been widely disseminated as a "blueprint" in restructuring efforts. These steps include the following:
The authors of Turning Points note that middle schoolers need to become "socially competent individuals" who are able to cope successfully with everyday life. They need to believe that they have promising futures and the competence to take advantage of societal opportunities when they arise.
Many middle schoolers "lose ground" academically during this period. Theory suggests the declining academic achievement that commonly plagues adolescents may be directly related to "the mismatch between the developmental needs of the students and the educational environment" (Mac Iver, 1989). In turn, providing young adolescents with a combination of both challenging and nurturing experiences in appropriate settings can strengthen the possibility of them becoming more effective academic and social participants. Substantial evidence can be found of a relationship between young adolescents' perceptions of the classroom environment and their achievement and attitudes (Dougherty, 1997).
The middle school concept addresses the need to maintain the academic standards found in a high quality education but also places emphasis on other areas of growth. Potential academic ability can be achieved through activities designed to promote the development of all aspects of growth: social, emotional, physical, and intellectual (Mac Iver, 1990). For example, the middle school curriculum may consist of thematic units developed from young adolescents' concerns about world issues. Students gather information, organize it meaningfully, evaluate its usefulness, form conclusions, and plan action in relation to a specific theme or concern. The long-term project can be a useful vehicle for developing both intellectual skills and an understanding of humankind (McKay, 1995).
According to Marshak (1995), the most important structural change that can be made in middle schools is to create structures that generate and foster relationships over time between the student and the teacher. Structures that encourage these qualities are as follow:
Focusing on what schools must do to be successful in meeting the needs of all early adolescent learners, Crocket (1995) offered a detailed view of the conditions that should exist. To be successful, the following school conditions should be present:
Most of these conditions parallel the blueprint for middle school restructuring advocated in Turning Points.
Curriculum and Instructional Issues and Concerns
Recent commentary about middle-level curriculum and instruction reflect some divergence in views of what the educational process should be. Reporting the results of a national survey of education in the middle grades, Becker (1990) noted commission reports "urged that schools put greater emphasis on active learning and higher order thinking so that students can learn how to write better, how to work more productively in groups, and how to learn" (p. 453). National survey results supported these concerns; it was indicated that "schoolwide instructional emphasis on higher-order thinking and active learning is still the exception than the rule in middle-grade education in the U.S." (p. 453). More recently, the Michigan League of Human Services (1997) noted that "there is a solid national consensus among educators, researchers, and youth advocates regarding the key features of effective middle-grades schools" (p. 18). They went on to say "all young adolescents require high academic and social expectations supported and modeled at school, at home, and within the community. Further, young adolescents need a strong academic setting with teaching tailored to developmental needs. These settings include curricula that integrate learning opportunities across subjects, and provide enhanced attention to reading and mathematics" (p. 18).
In Turning Points (Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development, 1989), it was emphasized that a tremendous mismatch existed between middle grade curriculum and the needs of young adolescents. As Felner, Kasak, Mulhall, and Flowers (1997a) stated, Turning Points provided educators with "comprehensive and researchable constructs and exemplars of those constructs to undergird their reform efforts" (pp. 521-522). In fact, the eight major recommendations for reform provided in Turning Points (cited earlier) served as a framework for the long-term evaluation of a model for high-performing learning communities (Felner et al., 1997b).
Middle-Level Career Development
The U.S. Department of Education (1990) conducted a National Education Study (NCES-NELS-88), which included 23,000 American eighth graders. Evaluation of the findings revealed some disturbing trends concerning middle schoolers and career development:
More recently, it was noted in a middle school curriculum document prepared by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (1991) that vocational education is viewed as being less significant at the middle school level than at the high school level. In response, vocational education at the middle school is often characterized by inconsistency between programs, significant "gaps" in course offerings, and an outdated and non-integrated focus, resulting in an unsuitable preparation program for work in the 21st century. It was also noted in the document that "[a] systematic examination of what educators are currently doing in the middle grades to prepare students for work is likely to show that little consensus exists about what role vocational education plays, or should play, at this level" (Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, 1991, p. 13).
Perhaps the most comprehensive treatise on adolescent development and the middle schools has been produced by the National Middle School Association (1995). In This We Believe: Developmentally Responsive Middle Level Schools, a comprehensive description of young adolescents' development characteristics is presented. The five developmental areas described include intellectual development, moral development, physical development, emotional/psychological development, and social development. Using these development areas as a frame of reference, the authors detail what developmentally responsive middle schools should provide to students:
These six major areas of emphasis collectively provide a meaningful view of what it takes to be a middle school that is developmentally responsive.
Inherent in providing middle school students with career development experiences is the defining of what career development actually is. Over twenty years ago Donald Super, one of the foremost authorities on this topic, viewed career development as a lifelong process characterized by a number of stages (Super, 1974). He noted that each stage was essential and included certain developmental tasks that individuals must achieve if they were to make career choices that led to satisfactory and productive lives. The middle school years include two career development stages: growth and exploration. Growth (birth to 15) characterized by the development of attitudes, interests, and needs associated with self concept, and exploration (age 14 to 25), a phase in which career choices are narrowed but not finalized.
Unfortunately, certain aspects of Super's (1974) theory have not been fully tested. This dilemma has caused some middle school educators to take sides either for or against Super's career development framework; others may just forget about career development altogether and make curriculum decisions based on personal feelings and emotions.
However, the need for middle school students to have meaningful career development experiences persists. Even though debate over the type of development experiences continues, guidance and direction for planning these experiences is available from many different sources. Several examples of the suggestions for planning middle school student career development experiences are provided below.
In an article titled "Career Awareness: Successful Strategies That Work," Hogan (1995) noted that the more students know about themselves and the world of work, the more likely they will be to make satisfying, realistic decisions about their future. Middle school students need the opportunity to investigate skills and abilities required for different occupations, and to assess their own abilities in relation to opportunities of interest to them.
Sears (1995) noted that many middle school students have preconceived notions of what they want to become based on things they have seen or heard from others or the media. What they need is the opportunity to explore and experience the large variety of potential job opportunities through career exploration activities and work-based experiences. Often, students must make choices about high school curricula regardless of their vocational maturity or readiness levels. When middle school students choose their high school educational course of action, they can limit or eliminate alternatives available to them in the future: "Without solid career planning programs at the middle school level, many students will make poor educational and career choices in high school" (p. 41).