Korean Educational Development Institute(KEDI)

An Analysis of the Growing Process of Middle School Students: Focusing on schools, families, and communities (Ⅰ)

This study was conducted to understand the life and growth that middle school students go through in post-2010 era. To specifically and comprehensively reflect dynamics and contextuality of the youth group, a 4-year long qualitative longitudinal study will be conducted. This report illustrates results of the first-year study which focused on designing qualitative termination study and identifying characteristics behind backgrounds of research participants based on their development prior to their middle school years. The participants were categorized into 4 different groups depending on the neighborhood at which their middle school is located. Students whose middle schools are in 1) urban low-income neighborhood, 2) urban middle-class neighborhood, 3) urban high-income neighborhood and 4) rural neighborhood students (Hereinafter Group A,B,C, and D respectively). Each group was designed to include at least 6 male and female students, and interviews with a total of 52 students and their parents were conducted.