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Sorry, yeah, that was what I meant. I don't use the terms "junior high school" and "middle school" interchangeably because I do believe that there is a difference. Junior high schools (which have mostly gone by the wayside across the country) were nothing more than miniature high schools. Middle schools were a slight change in the grade configuration to better reflect the stages of child development and to institute sweeping philosophical changes to education more catered to that age group (like teaching teams, advisory periods, etc.).
Still, the fact remains that kids do better in k-8 environments. Middle school is just preferred over jr high but that doesn't mean either ever was a good idea. Kids seem to do best with a gradual year over year progression from k-8.
Still, the fact remains that kids do better in k-8 environments. Middle school is just preferred over jr high but that doesn't mean either ever was a good idea. Kids seem to do best with a gradual year over year progression from k-8.
I think that's up for debate. Some research I've read indicates that school configuration is mostly irrelevant--it's what's going on inside of the schools that actually matters.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katiana
So you could possibly have kids in 4 different schools, on 4 different schedules? Whew!
Some districts around here have a PK-4/5-6/7-8/9-12 split.
I tend to favor configurations that allow for smaller neighborhood primary schools. The above setup is conducive to that and also has an upper elementary/lower middle aspect that still focuses on the needs of fifth and sixth graders.
I have a question: What does a K-8 school normally look like?
Are the students still sort of separated by age, maybe into different wings?
Are the older students staying in one classroom, or are they using lockers and switching like their older peers?
Are the gathering/release times staggered for different ages?
There are some of the ideas that my local district is proposing for their K-8 campus sites. To me, this sort of sounds like an elementary school and a middle school that simply happen to share the same grounds.
That is what our K-8 magnet schools look like in Evanston or at least it was when my kids were young.
I am not sure that this is what they look like now though.
There are two magnet schools in Evanston that are k-8
In April of 2011, the school board approved the Dr. Bessie Rhodes Magnet School as a School of Global Studies. The mission for the school is to:
Equip young people with the skills to become good global citizens who will contribute to and thrive in a dynamic and diverse world.
The school is K-8 school, with two classes of approximately 20 students in each class, allowing for the feel of a small school environment.
King Lab is a K-8 magnet school honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.. Our school’s curricular program boasts strong underlying fine arts and technology themes. The K-8 experience is an added benefit, promoting community.
They do have a different bell schedule for middle school students (6 to 8) than they do for elementary students. It is definitely bigger than the Bessie Rhodes school.
Some districts around here have a PK-4/5-6/7-8/9-12 split.
I tend to favor configurations that allow for smaller neighborhood primary schools. The above setup is conducive to that and also has an upper elementary/lower middle aspect that still focuses on the needs of fifth and sixth graders.
That's the configuration we have, but... all the schools are huge. This is Texas and they don't do small.
We ended up with a four-tiered system because they built one new building, a high school. Then they made that 10-12, made the former high school the junior high with 8-9, the former junior high became the middle school with 6-7, and the elementaries became K-5. They have full mixed classes with lockers starting in 6th grade. 5th graders do some switching. It was efficient use of existing buildings. To go to a K-8 system would require massive new construction.
I went through a 1-8 private school. Many smaller towns have K-8 arrangements.
I guess for me the advantage(or not) that my school environment was smaller. Oldest kid's junior high experience is much what I percieve HS to be like....running from class to class, more independence expected from kids when not all might be able to handle it.
IMO the junior high is way too big...but otherwise has been a positive experience.
We lived in Arizona until this school year when we moved to St. Louis. In Arizona both the district that I taught in and the district that my kids were K-8 districts. I taught 7th and 8th grade Social Studies. I attended a 7-8 junior high as did my stepson. My initial experience in teaching at the K-8 school was that the middle school kids were less mature and more silly than what I experienced in junior high and what I say when my stepson attended. There is a general sense of peer pressure to act "cool" and not embarrass yourself when you go to the new campus, with kids from other elementary schools. When all the middle school kids you go to school with are the same ones you've known in the earlier grades there is not as much peer pressure to "grow up". So I don't know that there are more discipline problems at middles schools I just think they are different. In middle school you get more serious problems like drugs, weapons, fighting. In the K-8 you get more silliness and immaturity.
One point I'd like to make is that I was of the opinion when I started teaching that middle school was better as a transition to high school. I felt that K-8 students would lag in maturity once they reached high school. I've since changed my mind. I saw an incredible jump in maturity when my former students came back to visit my as 9th graders. I now think that age (13-14), is the more appropriate age to make that transition.
The school we are at now in a suburb of STL has a unique set up. The elementary schools are K-5. Then all the students in the district go to a "6th Grade Center" for 6th grade before attending the 7-8 middle school. This is a relatively small district with one middle school, one high school, the 6th grade center, and then 6 elementary schools. At first I thought this was a great idea to ease the transition to middle school during that 6th grade year. I've found it in reality to be a case where even younger kids (6th graders) are asked to make that transition. My daughter has had more issues with peer pressure, gossip, and such than she's ever had before. The kids are all dating in 6th grade because they are opened up to this whole world with more kids and such.
In closing I'd say that in my opinion from both a teacher and parent perspective, K-8 schools are much better than having middle schools/Junior Highs.
I worked in a K-5 building last year and this year we combined with a middle school to form a k-8. It's not terrible or anything, but I personally would prefer to work in just an elementary and I'm sure the middle school teachers would say the same about working in a middle school. Some things I have noticed
- Increased bullying- younger kids learn from the older kids- this is a much bigger problem in the lower grades this year than it was in our k-5
-Some positive upper/lower school interactions. Upper school kids have "buddies" in the lower school grades and they are generally great with their buddy. However, I have noticed that this only translates to their specific buddy and they're still quite willing to pick on other younger kids.
-Hallway behavior has been out of control. Middle school kids are used to being able to walk around freely, as that's the norm in middle school. However, the elementary kids have to walk in lines as usual. So when they're out in the hallway together it's mass chaos while the middle school kids are all over and the elementary teachers are trying to keep their kids in a line while unsupervised middle schoolers walk by and push them, make fun of them for being in a line, etc.
- I miss some of the "cute" school wide things we used to do as an elementary- these have been abandoned because they're "too young" for the middle school kids. For example, we used to have a big stuffed animal mascot that went to the cleanest classroom at the end of the week and lots of other little things like that.
- I am not aware of what the behavior was like in the middle school last year, but the MS teachers report that their students misbehave more often in order to "act cool" or "stand out" more than usual since they're in an elementary building and feel that they have to prove themselves/separate themselves from the elementary kids.
- Since teaching still happens in individual classrooms, I can't say academics have been affected as much. We may seem some positives here as years go on and kids don't have to transition between elementary/middle. On the other hand, this can be hard for the MS teachers to really get their kids to understand that a lot more is expected of them academically and maturity/responsibility wise now that they're in MS. Since they didn't really transition, I could see it being hard for them to really make that distinction going from elementary to middle.
-I've observed that teacher attitudes in elementary and middle school are very different, including views of kids and goals. It can be really hard to work on the same page as a cohesive staff when there is an elementary mindset and a middle school mindset.
I think that's up for debate. Some research I've read indicates that school configuration is mostly irrelevant--it's what's going on inside of the schools that actually matters.
Some districts around here have a PK-4/5-6/7-8/9-12 split.
I tend to favor configurations that allow for smaller neighborhood primary schools. The above setup is conducive to that and also has an upper elementary/lower middle aspect that still focuses on the needs of fifth and sixth graders.
What goes on in K-8 schools is different than elementary/middle schools. When kids make the jump from being the big fish in the pond in elementary school to being the little fish the pond in middle school, there's a mindset shift. The younger kids now emmulate the older kids, in a bad way (trying to be the cool kids) and the older kids now pick on the younger kids (to prove they're the cool kids). In the K-8 environment, you don't see this. The 6th graders aren't the new kids to the school so there's no reason to pick on them and no reason for them to struggle to figure out how to fit in in a new school because it's not their new school. They get a gradual transition from kingergarten to 8th grade before the make a major jump.
There are so many issues surrounding moving from elementary school to middle school that the schools around here have segregated the 6th grade to avoid the problems. Problems you don't see if you have a k-8 school. Each grade has it's own hall and 6th graders have their own lunch period. Even when dd was in 7th grade and taking 8th grade classes, she was harassed. Dd#1 went to a k-8 school and the kids just weren't harassed. In fact, the older kids took care of the younger ones.
We've also segregated 9th grade but that's for academic reasons. They found that our 9th graders didn't have the skills they needed to do well in high school so they started the 9th grade academies to address the issue.
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