My associate editors and I thank Dr. Steven B. Mertens, Ph.D., Senior Researcher, CPRD, University of Illinois for guest editing this special issue of MGRJ. Dr. Mertens was among a group of presenters at a paper session sponsored by the Middle Level Education Research (MLER) Special Interest Group (SIG) at the 2006 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). We also thank the other presenters who chose to develop manuscripts for this issue from the papers they presented: Dr. Vincent Anfara, Dr. Penny Bishop, and Dr. Micki Caskey.
While attending this particular MLER SIG session, I became increasingly aware of the importance of addressing middle grades research methodologies in this fashion for a much broader audience. Therefore, the editors invited session presenters to submit manuscripts to Dr. Mertens for consideration of publication in this special issue. Again, thanks to all; you have contributed to a better understanding of the methodological issues associated with the study of middle grades education.
David Hough, Editor-In-Chief
October 2006
