The Wall Street Journal just reported on a study analyzing effective ways parents can help middle-schoolers.  The article says:

“The best way to promote achievement in middle school isn’t to help student with their homework, or even to volunteer for school fundraisers. Instead, middle-school students posted the best results in school when their parents stepped back a bit and moved into more of a “coaching role,” teaching them to value education, relate it to daily life and set high goals for themselves, says the study.”

The article also contains a link to the study.

It’s also worth looking at the comments on the article. There are over fifty of them.