Project ASSIST: A Comprehensive, Systemic Change Initiative for Middle Level Schools

Abstract

From 1996 through 1998, the first two-year ASSIST cohort of eight elementary schools, eight middle schools, and nine high schools attended bi-monthly work sessions at the university. The sessions were designed to build the various teams' knowledge of best educational practice and processes for leading change when they returned to their respective schools. The second two-year cohort of schools began in the fall of 1998 and concluded in the summer of 2000. The second cohort included 12 middle schools from across the state of Missouri. The shift to middle schools only was congruent with the goals of the MLLC and its primary focus on middle level leadership. The findings and discussions presented in this paper are drawn from the 1996-1998 and 1998-2000 Project ASSSIT cohorts.