ABSTRACT
Middle school is a spatial and temporal phenomenon. It is located as a bridge between elementary or primary school and the senior years of schooling, offering passage from childhood into adolescence. It refers to a site and a period of transition, often characterized by separate institutional arrangements and pedagogies that help organize the movement of young people through school. National systems have adopted different forms of middle schooling, from special programs within secondary schools, to curriculum innovations, to physically and institutionally separate sites (Knipe, 2007). Although the model of separate middle schools is common across the United States, it is by no means universal. Nevertheless, since the 1970s, the middle-school years have commanded increasing attention among education systems, researchers, parents, and teachers (Carrington, 2006,) constructed as a time of need and a place of intervention, promising solutions to perceived challenges in educating adolescents.
