NASSP National Middle Level Studies

Recognizing the need for a comprehensive description of the status of education for young adolescents, a proposal for a national study of what has today become known as “middle level education” was written in 1978 by Jerry Valentine at the University of Missouri-Columbia with university-based seed money for junior professors. The proposal was to conduct a comprehensive study of the leaders and programs of all schools dedicated specifically to serving students in grades five through nine or any combination thereof. In other words, the proposal was designed to encompass schools typically serving the “junior high years,” which at that time usually meant grades 7–8–9, grades 7–8, or grades 8–9 and the “middle school years,” which usually meant grades 6–7–8 or grades 5–6–7–8. The proposal was presented to the National Association of Secondary School Principals’ (NASSP) Director of Research, Dr. James Keefe, in February 1979. Dr. Keefe and the association embraced the notion of the comprehensive study as a step in their continued efforts to periodically study secondary education.