According to a 2007 New York Times article, certain districts are beginning to eliminate middle schools from their school systems because middle schoolers score lower on standardized tests than their preceeding and subsequent age groups. Instead, these districts are introducing K-8th grade or 6th- 12th grade schools, eliminating middle school altogether and hopefully, the low test scores. This article seems a bit dated, but according to a 2010 article titled, “Stuck in the Middle”, this information is still very relevant. This article recalls the evidence found when researchers followed students in NYC schools from 3rd through 8th grade- some attending middle school and some attending K-8th grade schools. According to the researchers, “the simple fact is that students who enter public middle schools in New York City fall behind their peers in K–8 schools.” This decline in success is observed in both Math and English, and plummets even further starting from 6th through 8th grade. The researchers also noted a drop in attendance in the students who attended middle schools. They averaged attending about two less school days than the students in the K-8 schools; a seemingly small, but significant difference.
None of the research supports that class size, funding, or age gaps are the cause of these differences. It does support the reasoning that middle schools combine classes from multiple elementary schools, making the transition more difficult and sudden for students and simply, creating a larger cohort of students.
” We estimate that an 8th grader who attends school with 200 other 8th-grade students will score 0.04 standard deviations lower in both math and English than he would if he attended a school with 75 other 8th graders, the average cohort size for a K–8 school.”
Although K-8 grade schools seem to show their advantages, what about the disadvantages? The New York Times article points out that some students enjoy these schools because they feel more secure around other students and teachers whom they have gotten to know through the years. Students are also more likely to be in school with their siblings and experience that sense of security as well. However, some older students do not enjoy being in the presence of kindergardeners and students who are much younger than them. It creates a less independent atmosphere and they are robbed of those crucial transitioning experiences.
Another question arises about high school education. Will students in K-8 schools be ready for the transition from K-8 to high school? Will test scores instead, plummet from 9th grade on?
I think the idea of these K-8 and 7-12th grade schools is interesting. As a student who attended a public middle school after elementary school, I realize that the transition process from elementary to middle school can be daunting, but is also necessary in making new friends and breaking out of little cliques that formed in elementary school. After K-8 schools, students will be lacking experience in this aspect at a time when they could benefit the most from a smooth transition. However, the K-8 schools could also allow students to build more quality relationships to promote more peer support and pro-social behavior throughout high school. This model of education is interesting and I would be intrigued to hear more about it as more research is introduced.
Sources:
http://educationnext.org/stuck-in-the-middle/
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/22/education/22middle.html
A rather unusual idea. I agree with Alissa that the lower scores on the standardized tests may be coming from a place other than the students being in the middle. I think that since the students are just going through puberty and are just beginning to become of the world around them, they are not as interested in the tests because they feel that they don’t matter.
I think that a lot more research needs to be done on the matter before any real conclusions are drawn, as this doesn’t seem to be a really well-researched topic. Also, I think that these are the types of things that we can start thinking about after we’ve improved many other facets of education, like inner city public schools not having books and funding for arts education and our inability to keep up with other countries in areas like math and science. Once we figure out these huge issues related to education, then we can start thinking about things like this, that will take a lot of money and reconstruction.
This seems a little odd to me. I think it is difficult to spilt kids like that and that the age gaps will be too much. Students tend to become restless when they have no where to progress to, or at least that is how I felt when I was in sixth grade and junior high was the following year. I think there are a lot of other factors that could be causing problems on standardized tests during middle school such as the changes in mind and body that occur with puberty and stuff. I think even if you separate schools more, there will still be the same test scores.