If you’re a middle school parent or teacher, find out more about middle school students, research and free resources. Sites listed also feature helpful ideas from fellow middle school teachers and subject matter links.

General sites
Subject matter sites
Published articles
Research
Listservs

General sites

Middle School Chatboard

Middle School Malaise
Research on Health -- a must read for teachers and parents

Middle School Net
“For teachers by teachers” says it all. Site includes a newspaper and curriculum ideas.

MiddleWeb
A large site with links, a blog, current research and tips

National Middle School Association

REC Feature Archive
Get resources about discipline, classroom management, lessons, assessment and hundreds of other subjects at this search engine. 

Top of page

Subject matter sites

AKC Middle School Lesson Plans

Articles Related to Middle School Lesson Plans

Incredible Junior High and Middle School Lesson Plans

Language Arts

Middle School Lessons
Links by subject matter

Middle School Resources
This large link site covers most elements of middle school from curriculum to discipline.

Middle School Science

Online Middle School Economics Lessons

Social Skills for Middle School Students

A Teacher’s Guide to the Holocaust Middle School Lesson Plans

Middle School Curriculum Resources
Online resources by subject matter

Virtual Middle School Library
Resources on a variety of topics with some interesting links
 

Published articles

Building Bridges between Middle Schools and High Schools
A short article dealing with the how principals and teachers should help with this transition

European League for Middle Level Education
A good site to review what is happening around the world

Middle School vs. Junior High

Middle Years of Schooling Association
From Australia, a site that has recent developments about middle school

MindLink Magazine
This digital magazine designed for students ages 8-18 is a high interest site, but requires a lot of bandwidth.

Where Does Sixth Grade Belong
Article with some excellent links

Top of page

Research

Are Middle Schools Getting a Bum Rap?
This essay from Education World defends middle schools and provides insights into the better ones.
 
Focus on the Wonder Years: Challenges Facing the American Middle School
A large, printable monograph about the challenges middle schools face today. Sophisticated, but nothing you really didn’t know before.
 
In the Middle: Characteristics of Public Schools with a Focus on Middle Schools
This printable report describes how middle schools have changed over time and compares middle schools with elementary and secondary schools.
 
Middle Grades Reform
A Kappan special report

Middle Level Leadership Center
The center develops and disseminates current knowledge about best practices in school leadership and supports school improvement initiatives at the middle school, junior high school and intermediate school levels.

State Policies to Support Middle School Reform: A Guide for Policymakers
This document describes what those dealing with middle schools can do to encourage restructuring.
 

Listservs

MIDDLE-L
This list is for those interested in middle level education and children from ages 10 to 14.
To subscribe, address an e-mail message to:  listserv@postoffice.cso.uiuc.edu
In the message body type:  subscribe middle-l, your first and last name
 
*PROJECTS-L
To subscribe, address an e-mail message to: listserv@postoffice.cso.uiuc.edu
In the message body:  subscribe projects-l, your first and last name