"Intermediate" (Upper Elementary) Schools - Thoughts?

[compSciGuy]

I was in a school that had just 4th-5th grade in one school. I thought it was good. The kids got split up for Math & English into skill-based groups (which might not be socially acceptable or politically correct these days). In 4th grade, we had 8 different levels for math, for 5th grade, when they built a new 4-5 school, we only had 6 levels. For English I think there were 4 levels.

[tvdxer]

The school I went to (for 11 out of my 13 K-12 years) was configured like this, one physical building each:

K-3: Elementary School (1950's/60's vintage, single-story)
4-8: Middle School (1930/40's vintage, two stories)
9-12: High School (1980's vintage, two stories)

High school classes were originally held in the middle school, and I'm guessing that the elementary school went up to grade 5 or 6. Grades 4 and 5 are "upper elementary" and take place in a separate wing of the school. Grades 6 through 8 have the standard "one teacher per subject" model and take place in different wings.

[BuckeyeAtHeart]

I personally feel that this tighter breakdown in grade levels does benefit the kids, especially when you look at situations when multiple classes are together -- lunch, all-school programs are a couple in particular. Some schools may assign short lunch times so that individual grades can eat together, but then they are almost too short and hurried. Much easier to have a couple of longer ones with only a couple of years difference among the kids' ages.