Leadership
Christine Deitz, Chair, University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Wendy Miner, Chair Elect, Truman University
Patti Drapeau, Convention Program Chair, University of Southern Maine
Marla Capper, Communications Chair, University of Virginia
Jamie MacDougall, Newsletter Editor, Sycamore School at Indianapolis, Indiana
Mission
The Middle Grades Network recognizes the unique needs of gifted middle grades learners and educators. Middle school is the level at which gifted students face great challenges to full development of their potential and is a time when a large number of gifted students, particularly girls and minority students, begin to underachieve in response to perceived societal and peer pressures. The Network recognizes the need to develop appropriate strategies for working with these students. To address these concerns, the Network works in the areas of curriculum, instruction, research, and communication and dissemination, to assist students, teachers, and administrators as they endeavor to make the middle school years a positive and challenging experience for gifted students.
Join Now!
If you like what you've read and want to be a member of the Middle Grades Network, we'd love to have you! You must be a member of NAGC before you can become a network member, so click here to find out how.
Newsletter Archive
Some of our "Middle Matters" newsletters sent to network members:
October 2010
April 2008
August 2007
April 2007
More Information
From NAGC's ERIC Digest Archives:
"Helping Middle School Students Make the Transition into High School "
"Gifted Learners and Middle School: Problem or Promise? "
Full List of the ERIC Archives
Position Statements
"Meeting the Needs of High Ability Learners in the Middle Grades"
Competitions
Future Problem Solving Program has both competitive and non competitive events which give students the opportunity to think creatively to solve difficult problems in unique ways.
Let's Get Real Competition helps students gain experience working on real business problems.
National History Day Competition is designed to provide an opportunity for students to conduct authentic historic research using a history topic of interest to create a long term project.
Future City Competition is a fun and exciting educational engineering program for 7th and 8th grade students where they are challenged to present their vision of a city of the future.
Science Olympiad is a "rigorous academic interscholastic competitions...between various science disciplines of biology, earth science, chemistry, physics, computers, and technology".
Destination ImagiNation focuses on problem solving, team work and divergent thinking.
Math Counts is a national math enrichment, coaching and competition program that promotes middle school mathematics achievement
Miscellanous
Rubistar, the rubric generator.
MiddleWeb links and info on middle school students and middle school reform.