The Encyclopedia of Middle Level Education is designed to be a comprehensive overview of the field. This publication will include seven anchor essays (5000 words) that will over the following topics: the history of the middle school movement; academically excellent curriculum, instruction, and assessment; developmental responsiveness in relation to young adolescents; social equity in middle grades schools; teacher and administrator preparation and professional development; middle school reform models; and future directions in relation to the movement, practices, and policy. Authorship of the anchor essays is by invitation only. In addition to these anchor essays, the encyclopedia will contain alphabetically organized entries (short entries approximately 500 words; long entries approximately 2000 words) that address important concepts, ideas, terms, people, organizations, and seminal publications related to middle level education. A tentative listing of entries and their corresponding lengths can be found at http://www.rmle.pdx.edu/. Contributors to the encyclopedia will be expected to provide enough information so that the reader can place the idea, concept, person, etc. into its proper context in the history of the middle school movement. Entries are meant to be introductory; after an overview of the essentials of the topic the reader will be guided to more extensive sources for further investigation. Where appropriate, the reader should be directed to electronic sources such as websites where additional information can be retrieved.