| Abstract: | As a new reform in Australian education, middle schooling has been gaining momentum. The rationale behind middle schooling
is to bridge the traditional primary-high school gap and provide a more developmentally appropriate educational experience
for young adolescents. Middle schooling in the USA has gone through a “boom-to-bust” cycle and is currently undergoing a “reinvention”
as research on practice and reporting of research on practice has, in the most part, been ad hoc and piecemeal. If Australian
middle schools are to avoid the boom-to-bust-to-reinvention cycle experienced in parts of the USA (Beane 2001), then a more
systematic approach to researching practice is required. Research-based criteria for systematic study and improvement of middle
school practice have been identified as (a) acceptance as part ofplanning alternative practice, (b)effectiveness as part ofimplementing alternative practice, and (c)sustainability as part ofevaluating alternative practice. |
