K-8 School Configuration in Massachusetts? (Boston, Cambridge: home, middle schools, closing)

[Newa]

Which cities and towns in Massachusetts have a K-8 grade configuration? If you do, how is it going?

[smarty]

What do you mean K-8 grade configuration? Do you mean K-8 in the same building? If this is the case, I think only Brookline has that.

[pjscdn]

Originally Posted by Newa

Which cities and towns in Massachusetts have a K-8 grade configuration? If you do, how is it going?

Individual towns determine the structure of the grades in the physical school buildings. It's usually based on shifts on population. Most districts, to my knowledge, do not follow a K-8 format. I cannot think of any off the top of my head.

[Newa]

Yes, K-8 in the same building. There are several I know of - including Malden, Brookline, Boston, Cambridge, Holyoke, Lawrence, Somerville. Any others out there? Many cities throughout the country are looking at eliminating the middle schools and bringing back K-8 (or have already done so) - including Providence, New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cinncinnati, Denver, Chicago, Baltimore.

[smarty]

My town does not have that configuration. However, what is your concern about it?

If you don't have it in your town currently, it is unlikely it will be change to that configuration. One of the reason why moving to elementary schools and middle school configuration is because of economics. Reducing the number of local schools reduces adminstrative cost. Of course, one advantage of keeping kids in the same school is that teachers and adminstrators know the kid really well. Kids feel a lot more comfortable being in the same school after years of being there.

[Newa]

North Adams is looking to close its middle school and convert its K-5 elementary schools to K-8's. This would reduce the number of facilities, but would require some facility rehabilitation and add-ons to the elementary schools. The reasons to do this include what you mentioned. Others are lower absenteeism, reduced drop-out rates, greater parent support, better student behavior, higher student self-esteem, and mentoring benefits to younger students.

[Parsec]

Many of the larger cities in the nation that are converting their K-5, 5-8 structure to a K-8 structure are doing it being they are seeing a drop in student enrollment within the city limits. Boston public schools have had dropping enrollment rates for many years now too, but there are still only a handful of K-8 schools here.

[septimus]

Cambridge has a k-8 configuration. It has its pluses and minuses... it keeps the kids kids longer, but I fell like they are probably missing out on some of the "traditional" middle school classes that you need a mass of students to offer like home ec, wood shop, etc... but then again maybe most schools don't offer those classes anymore because of NCLB

[smarty]

Very interesting...

There must be a drop in student population in your town to consolidate schools. Most school in the Boston area grew in student population in the past few years. Class size had to go up in order to accomodate them. According to census, student population is highest currently in 7-12 grade then there will be a dip. Many predict there will be school closing in about 10-15 years due to reduce student populations.

My thoughts about the other benefits to moving K-8 configuration is not real. School cannot do everything.... especially fixing community problems....

[Parsec]

Most schools grew in population in the Boston suburbs because many families are fleeing from the city of Boston when their kids reach school-age. There was a lengthy (something like 8 pages) article about this on boston.com a month ago. Good read.