ABSTRACT
It is the second day of the new school year at Lookout Middle School, located in a working-class area of a midwestern city of nearly 200,000 people. An ethnically and racially mixed group of 58 sixth graders file into a double classroom, where they are greeted by their two teachers, Ms. Bryant and Ms. Reed. Both teachers are assigned to their respective departments: one is in language arts-social studies and the other in math-science. The students will be in this class for five four-hour block periods each week.
