"Middle Grades Education: A Reference Handbook" explores the distinctive middle school approach to helping adolescents develop as human beings and citizens as well as students, with coverage that ranges from the conceptual foundations of the middle school model, to research-based best practices, to sample lesson plans and activities.

Edited by Pat Williams-Boyd, with contributions from experienced, frontline educators, the book showcases a number of places where the ideal middle school has become reality, where individual talents are nurtured, families are involved, teachers serve as...

During the last decade of the 20th century, the United States entered a new era of educational leadership. The seat of educational authority shifted from the district office to the individual school, from the principal-as-manager to the stakeholders: students, teachers, families, community members, school boards, politicians, and corporate and philanthropic foundations.

In "Educational Leadership," educator Pat Williams-Boyd traces these changes from their roots in the 19th century to the present day. She shows readers what leadership looks like when it is distributed throughout a...