Dialogues in Middle Level Education Research Volume 2

INTRODUCTION 1. Building and Broadening the Middle Level Education Knowledge Base PART 1: Studying the Schools to Watch Program 2. Reflection on Illinois Horizon Schools: Initial Findings from the Illinois Schools to Watch Program 3. Illinois Horizon Schools: Initial Research Findings from the Illinois Schools to Watch Program 4. Findings from the Illinois Horizon Schools: Validating the Present, Looking to the Future PART 2: Community School Reform 5. Community School Reform and Middle Level School Culture and Community: This We Now Believe 6. Exploring the Impact of a Community School Reform Initiative on the Literacy Achievement of Middle Level English Language Learners 7. Exploring the Possibility of Creating a Community School in a Rural Setting in the Deep South PART 3: Teacher Agency in Curriculum Processes 8. Better Together: Implications for District and School Leadership Instating a Collective Model that Includes Teacher Leaders as Curriculum Designers 9. Teachers as Curriculum Designers: Inviting Teachers into the Productive Struggle 10. The What Informs, the How Transforms: Middle Grades Pedagogy Theory to Practice PART 4: Social-Emotional Learning and Character Development in the Middle Grades 11. Revisiting "It's Not All or Nothing: Exploring the Impact of a Social-Emotional and Character Development Intervention in the Middle Grades" 12. It's Not All or Nothing: Exploring the Impact of a Social-Emotional and Character Development Intervention in the Middle Grades 13. Whatever It Takes to Help Middle Level Students PART 5: Music Education Research in the Middle Grades 14. Considering Young Adolescent Intrinsic Motivation in Music Learning: The Exploration and Choice Dialectic 15. Music Teachers' Perceptions of General Music as a Required Middle Level Course 16. The Continuing Conundrums of Music Learning and Teaching in Middle Schools CONCLUSION 17. Sailing the Stormy Seas Together: Diverse Perspectives on Middle Level Education Research