Methodology
This study examined the history of how one district changed from a junior high model to a middle schoolphilosophy for educating young adolescents in a district of 18,000 students. An analysis of the transition highlights the process ofchange and the organizational strategies that fostered the evolution of middle schools in this district. An historical accountis important in educational research because“organizations cannot be understood apart from their history (Miles&Randolph, 1980, p. 72). Kimberly and Miles (1980) remind researchers that:
In every organization, there is a rich fabric of norms, values, and myths that help to shape and determine thebehavior of the organization. Focusing on the questions of where those structures came from and how they developed has implicationsfor an organization’s present and future structure and performance. (p.4).
Three major questions guided the inquiry: (1) What change process emerges from the district’s journey through second-order change? (2) What strategies facilitate and hinder theprocess of change? (3) What insights into organizational change can be learned from the perspectives of individuals who participated inthe transition from junior high schools to a middle school model?
The school district selected for this study had successfully implemented and institutionalized the middleschool philosophy in schools across the district. Numerous documents were examined and individual interviews and focus groupdiscussions were analyzed to reconstruct the process and strategies used during this district’s transformation to middle schools. Semi-structured interviews allowed us to probe deeper intoparticipant responses if additional data were needed. By including the voices of participants, we were able to weave a rich,historical fabric of past events and gain insight into what facilitates and hinders the process of comprehensive schoolreform.
After data were collected and transcribed, each interview was coded by research questions. Responses that werefrequently and consistently evident in the data were identified as themes. To ensure confidentiality, the identity of participants andthe district in which they worked remains anonymous (Creswell, 1994, p. 148).
Historical Context for Change
In 1909-1910, the junior high school emerged in America to provide schooling for adolescents in grades seventhrough nine. The“junior”high school was designed as a downward extension of high schools rather than a continuation of theacademic and social foundations developed by students in the elementary grades 1-6. School structures were similar to thosefound in high schools: academic departments, specialized electives, and rigid grouping and promotion standards for students. Courseinstruction was closely linked with students’future educational and occupational goals. Teachers individually taught in classroomsand students moved from class to class throughout the school day. For fifty years the junior high school model dominated the schoolexperiences of young adolescents in the United States.“By 1960, junior high schools had increased to the point where about four ofevery five high school graduates in the United States had attended a junior high school”(Alexander&McEwin, 1989, p.1). Today, the number of junior highs remains plentiful.