This multi-faceted project looked at how middle schools manifest caring and how middle school students defined and demonstrated caring. Data for this study were collected in an urban and a suburban school that was part of a school desegregation plan. A tension existed, in many teachers' minds, between caring and control and between caring and academics.
Principals provide leadership in setting a caring agenda for a school.
Nearly all of the over 100 students interviewed gave clear, multi-dimensional definitions of caring. Few gender, grade, or racial differences existed in understanding of caring. Helping was seen by most as evidence of caring. Caring, as described by students, most often occurs in relationships. Opportunities to help or car for other students were rare and often offered to those with stronger academic skills.