Bridges Project

In 1990, the federally funded Middle Grade School State Policy grant was awarded to the state of North Dakota by the Carnegie Corporation, called the Middle Grade School State Policy Initiative grant in order to fund the BRIDGES project. The purpose of the BRIDGES project was to transform the traditional junior high school model into that of the more modern version of a middle school (Backes & Becker, 1999). The project aimed to explore ways to provide young adolescents stronger “bridges” from childhood to adulthood. The project started with 24 schools across the state that would make the shift recommended by the 1989 publication of Turning Points: Preparing American Youth for the 21st Century (Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development., 1989). The BRIDGES project intended to improve and develop a newer curriculum that would better support the middle school model. With BRIDGES, changes would be made in not only the curriculum, but teacher attitudes, classroom management, school organization, as well as changes in school leadership, to become more developmentally appropriate. This project would be funded for nine years.