National Middle Grades Research Project on Common Planning Time

Common planning time (CPT) is widely accepted by middle school educators as an essential component of middle grades education. CPT is defined as “a regularly scheduled time during the school day when teachers who teach the same students meet for joint planning, parent conferences, materials preparation, and student evaluation” (Kellough & Kellough, 2008, p. 394).

Thus, the Middle Level Education Research Special Interest Group (MLER SIG) of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) developed a white paper that described a plan to expand the research on common planning time and interdisciplinary teaming in middle level schools across the nation (Mertens, 2006). The aim of this project was for researchers from different areas in the country to investigate teachers’ understanding, use, and perceptions of CPT (Mertens, Anfara, Flowers, & Caskey, 2011). Specifically, the driving force behind the project was the need for a greater amount of middle grades’ studies to “expand the existing research and knowledge on common planning time and serve to fill the gaps in our research base” (Mertens, Flowers, Anfara, & Caskey, 2010, p. 5).