Part of EdSource's Middle Grades Action Kit for Superintendents and Principals, these survey tools can help you take stock of your existing foundation for improvement and get people talking about the practices discussed in the Middle Grades Playbook. 

Click the green download button above to download a single PDF with the two survey tools plus a 2-page guide to using them. Or click the links below to download them separately. 

• How To Use the Survey Tools

• Principal Survey

• Teacher Survey

These survey tools are part of a larger Middle Grades Action Kit for Superintendents and Principals that also includes:

• A Middle Grades Playbook that describes how the classroom, school, and district levels each can contribute to stronger middle grades education—including self-assessments and a compendium of actionable practices.
• Nine school profiles that describe how selected schools from the Gaining Ground study are thinking about, undertaking, and improving their practice.
• A PowerPoint presentation that district and school leaders can use to start the conversation.
• A CD with electronic versions of all the materials, plus the original study documents.

   Back to Middle Grades Action Kit for Superintendents and Principals

EdSource thanks the Stuart Foundation for its generous project support of the development, design, and dissemination of the Middle Grades Action Kit.

Read the Research

• Gaining Ground in the Middle Grades: Why Some Schools Do Better - This EdSource study, released in 2010, is based on survey responses from 303 principals, 3,752 English language arts and math teachers in grades 6-8, and 157 superintendents. The study was designed to identify practices and policies that differentiate higher- from lower-performing middle grades schools that serve similar student populations.
• Improving Middle Grades Math Performance - This follow-up analysis to EdSource's landmark Gaining Ground in the Middle Grades study inquires further into the study data to provide a more in-depth look at middle grades mathematics practices and policies. The centerpiece is an empirical exploration of grade 8 Algebra I placement, based on longitudinal data linking the mathematics CSTs that students took in grades 7 and 8.