From time to time, Education World reposts a previously published article that we think might be of interest to administrators. Before reposting, we update all links and add new resources to the article. We hope you find this archived article to be of value…
Should sixth grade be in the middle school? the elementary school?
a school all its own?
The trend is clear: A growing number of communities are moving sixth graders
out of K-6 elementary schools and into middle schools. Not every parent
or every community, however, endorses the move!
In Cupertino, California, more that 200 parents signed a petitiion opposing
a plan to convert junior high schools for seventh- and eighth-graders
into middle schools that include sixth-graders. "I want my kids to stay
young, to grow at their own pace," said Sherrie Karleskind, a parent in
Cupertino, California, quoted in a San Francisco Chronicle story.
Opposition to putting all sixth-graders in middle school also raised
alarm last winter in Austin, Texas. "Many sixth graders are ready for
middle school, but many are not," Diane Singleton, a parent, told the
Austin-American Statesman. Singleton and other parents voiced concern
that some sixth-graders were not emotionally mature enough to attend school
with older children.
Some parents also fear that their children will get the worst of it
in fights with older children who are more physically mature.
Another parent, Debbie Hanna, holds a different point of view. She spoke
of her fears when sixth grade was eliminated from her children's school.
"It was very difficult for me," she said. But, she continued, "I have
come to the conclusion that sixth-graders in middle school is a very age-appropriate
grouping. Physically, socially, and emotionally, the average sixth-grade
child is more closely aligned to an eighth-grader than to a first-grader."
Most educators and researchers would agree that sixth-graders are physically
and psychologically closer to seventh- and eighth-graders.
Have You Seen
These Articles
From the
Ed World Archive?
Grade Configuration: Who
Goes Where?
What is the best configuration of grades for K-12 schooling?
Is it an elementary school, followed by a middle school, followed
by a four-year high school? Or are there advantages to a K-8
school, followed by a four-year high school? Which middle-school
configuration better promotes social adjustment?...
A Smooth Transition
Can Mean a Smooth Year
Gone are the days -- thankfully -- when students were dropped
into middle or high school with a schedule and left to self-navigate
their way into the next level of academia. Sending and receiving
schools are working harder and more cooperatively to help
students make the passage from one school to another. Included:
Educators share their thoughts about easing transitions.
Yet many parents still ask the question: Are our sixth-grade children
ready to attend school with seventh- and eighth-graders? In the debate
over where sixth grade belongs, it is parents who often prefer that their
children remain within the protective walls of an elementary school.
Experts say many sixth-graders are ready for middle school and some
are not. But, these experts continue, the question of how schools should
be configured (K-6 and 7-8; K-5 and 6-8; or yet another configuration)
cannot easily be answered.
A report, Grade Span Configuration: Who Goes Where?, from the
Northwest Regional Educational
Laboratory, looked at eight different schools with seven different
grade configurations. The report zeroes in on communities' reasons for
particular configurations as well as the plusses and minuses of each approach.
(See the end of this article for information on how to obtain a copy of
the report.)
The report utilizes available research to conclude that the effectiveness
of various groupings varies from community to community and school to
school. Many factors, the report states, must be considered when determining
which grade configuration suits the needs of a community, including:
number of students;
transportation spending;
socioeconomic background of the student population;
school system goals for student achievement;
effects on other schools;
number of transitions for affected students;
school building design; and
effects on parent involvement.
The essential viewpoint of the report is that what is effective for
one community or in one school situation might not work well for another.
Each community has to examine the above factors and other relevant factors
to determine what grade configuration will work best.
PREPARING STUDENTS FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL
How the transition from elementary school to middle school is handled
will influence how well students make the transition, whether those students
are fifth-graders going into sixth grade or sixth-graders entering seventh.
But for fifth-graders entering sixth grade a smooth, helpful transition
is especially critical.
What makes the transition to middle school difficult includes these
changes:
academic demands tend to be tougher than in elementary school;
middle schools tend to be larger than elementary schools;
students are accountable to different teachers in each subject;
many students are experiencing the onset of puberty and awareness
of the opposite sex;
often students leave behind one group of friends to mix with a new
group;
students move from being the most oldest students in their environment
to being the youngest; and
behavioral standards are different than among elementary students.
"Kids go through more changes between the ages of 10 and 14 than at
any other time of their lives, other than the first 18 months," stated
Sue Swaim, executive director of the Columbus, Ohio-based National Middle
School Association, in a Christian Science Monitor news story.
"What we're seeing is more schools developing a structured transition
program for the students and parents after seeing the success of it in
other schools."
To help students make the big switch with fewer problems, many middle
schools launch the transition beginning in spring of the previous school
year. In March, many middle school principals meet with sixth graders
in the elementary schools that will send students to the middle schools.
In August, a more nitty-gritty orientation occurs at the middle school,
where students can use the day to find their lockers and meet with teachers
and counselors.
Many middle schools also treat sixth-graders a bit differently from
seventh- and eighth-graders, having them eat lunch separately and work
with two or three different teachers instead of the five or six teachers
teaching each seventh- and eighth-grader.
TRANSITION FOR PARENTS
Sometimes, experts say, parents have more of a problem than their child
with the child's transition to middle school. Yet parents can play a key
role in their child's period of change. The following suggestions for
parents come from the National
Association of Secondary School Principals:
meet the school teachers, principal, counselors, and others who work
with their children;
help their children navigate around the new school; a larger building
may be intimidating at first;
make sure their children understand that they are held responsible
for knowing school rules and following them;
help their children realize that inappropriate actions in school have
consequences;
know their children's friends, and help them choose friends intelligently;
foster engagement in school activities;
make sure homework is being completed.
Yet there is more to middle-school adjustment than appropriate parental
involvement. A top-notch middle school, experts say, offers incoming students
more than just an orientation day in August or September. As Marian White-Hood,
principal of Kettering Middle School in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, told
the [set ITAL] Christian Science Monitor: "Getting students properly adjusted
requires constant monitoring throughout the year."
Making the Transition from Fifth to Sixth Grade
For ideas on making the transition from elementary to middle school, this essay offers a number of solid suggestions, from having fifth-graders spend a few hours at the middle school while eighth-graders are off on their field day to identifying students who may need extra help in sixth grade and having guidance counselors meet with them frequently throughout their first year in middle school.
Middle School Malaise
An analysis from the American Psychological Association examining "middle school malaise," or problems some students have in the transition from elementary to middle school. The paper discusses which students do the best and what parents can do to help.
Welcome to Sixth Grade
Middle school is a time of many changes for both students and their parents. The staff at Aplington-Parkersburg Middle School (Iowa) provide a structure to make the transition to middle school as smooth as possible.
Grade 5 in the Middle School
Most studies of school-transition target grade 6 for the sample population and do not address the appropriateness of grade 5's inclusion in elementary or middle schools. Aside from district considerations of building capacities, zoning, and enrollments, research centers on the match between the developmental status of fifth/sixth graders and the setting of the host school, the effects of transition on the students, and school programs to familiarize the student with the new school environment.
The Transition to Middle School (ERIC Digest)
This Digest presents a brief overview of some of the issues involved in the transition from elementary to middle school and provides suggestions for transition programs and activities.
Transition to Middle School
Most schools provide some sort of transition program for students in their final year of elementary school consisting of a parent/student night, followed by a tour of the school for students sometime in the spring. These are excellent activities, but they do not address the questions and anxieties these students have.
That Transition Handbook
In this handbook, available for purchase, the authors compile what they found -- more than 500 research-based, teacher-tested, transition support strategies that have been proven to work for teachers, employment specialists, families, and students.
Originally published 04/13/1998
Links last updated 09/01/2006
