Despite the growing diversity in our nation’s schools, many teacher educators avoid discussions on diversity issues for myriad reasons. As a result, numerous preservice teachers lack quality learning opportunities to become well versed on issues of diversity in meaningful ways that can translate to P-12 practice. This article elaborates on instructional practices and resources used by teacher educators who, grounded in an understanding of diversity awareness and identity development as well as culturally relevant pedagogy, are actively preparing the next generation of teachers who are culturally responsive.

The middle school concept, aimed at creating a more developmentally responsive learning environment for young adolescents, gained a stronghold in the later part of the 20th century. Proponents of this concept have argued continually for the holistic implementation of its six key characteristics if its benefits are to be realized. These characteristics include: (a) a challenging, integrative, and exploratory curriculum; (b) varied teaching and learning approaches; (c) assessment and evaluation that promote learning; (d) flexible organizational structures (i.e., including the physical space, scheduling, and grouping of students and teachers); (e) programs and policies that foster health, wellness and safety; and (f) comprehensive guidance and support services. Recently, Ellerbrock, Falbe, and Pomykal Franz identified key middle school organizational structures of people, place, and time as being interconnected and integral to effective middle school practices. Main also demonstrated the interconnected nature of these key characteristics and how organizational structures of people affected the successful implementation of other characteristics. Thus, how these organizational structures can and are being implemented has implications for our understanding of the effectiveness of other middle school practices. In this paper, researchers from both the United States and Australia examine and compare literature published between 2000 and 2018 addressing ways in which middle school/middle years organizational structures have been reported and categorized by structures of people, place, and time in these two countries. Pertinent literature related to organizational structures of middle schools in the United States and to middle years education in Australia was examined. Findings from studies and evaluations from each country are reported to provide an international perspective on the organizational structures of middle schools/middle years education across the two countries. Overall, since 2000, the body of knowledge about middle schools/middle years organizational structures has been surprisingly limited in comparison to their perceived importance in the field. This lack of research is concerning in the midst of educational reform in both countries, resulting in questions about the impact of school organizational structures on young adolescent development and learning.

This qualitative case study highlights the ways a novice middle school mathematics teacher established an adolescent-centered community of care that set the stage for responsive middle level mathematics teaching (RMLMT). Findings revealed that fostering caring school-based relationships supports the establishment of a responsive classroom environment. This can be achieved through an early and ongoing purposeful focus on teacher-student and student-student relationship development and through nurturing emotional safety. Further, holding a student-centered teaching approach is a way to respect, value, and advocate for young adolescents. This can be achieved by celebrating diversity, supporting academic and personal development, and fostering persistence. Fostering a responsive classroom environment and respecting, valuing, and advocating for young adolescents is foundational to establishing an adolescent-centered community of care in any middle school classroom, especially in a mathematics classroom. Placing an acute focus on culture and community is essential to establishing an adolescent-centered community of care that sets the stage for RMLMT to take place.

In this article, the authors explain the need for clinically rich middle school STEM teacher preparation. They describe how one university and school district with an established partnership collaborated to meet this need. The result was the formation of a residency program that aims to prepare high quality middle school STEM teachers who can fill the district’s vacancies. The residency program is centered around clinical experiences where the triad—consisting of a preservice teacher, collaborating teacher, and university supervisor—is the nexus of learning. The authors share the takeaways from their experiences, highlighting the perspectives of the members of one triad. They conclude with an examination of the residency program’s effectiveness in meeting its intended aim.

In response to the demand to produce highly qualified teachers to fill teacher vacancies in high-need middle school areas while simultaneously strengthening the teacher preparation process, this article highlights how an innovative partnership with a very large school district and multiple colleges within a metropolitan university resulted in a collaboration to rethink and retool teacher preparation for the next generation of middle school STEM teachers.

Middle level education as a field of study has expanded during the last 30 years to include a growing, international knowledge base. The primary purpose of this review essay is to highlight trends in the extent to which refereed scholarship in the field of middle level education has reflected international content and perspectives during the last 30 years. To accomplish this task, the authors conducted a chronological review of the major refereed publications of the Association for Middle Level Education, Adolescent Success, and the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Middle Level Education Research (MLER) SIG as well as Middle Grades Research Journal and Middle Grades Review. The authors also examined AERA conference programs between 2010 and 2019 for international content and perspectives in MLER SIG sessions. While the authors' primary aim was to understand trends in the geographic scope of scholarship in the field, they also gleaned tentative insights about research approaches, theoretical frameworks, and editorial bias that informed a set of recommendations they offered to advance future international work in middle level education. The recommendations include (a) expanding and strengthening worldwide networks of middle grades scholars; (b) building consensus around a middle grades research agenda that has an international dimension; and (c) promoting and engaging in more international scholarship that is theory-driven, uses rigorous, appropriate comparative methodologies, and draws on perspectives from cultures and countries not well represented in the literature.