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Home > Blogs > Springfield Schools News and Issues > Archives > 2008 > December > 16 > Entry
Sixth grade: Elementary or middle schoolers?
Springfield could return, on some scale, to kindergarten through sixth grade elementary schools after several years of a K-5 structure under two proposals currently before the district facilities committee.
Many people in the committee meeting last night seemed to feel this would be a better structure; the real debate seemed to lie in whether to apply it to all buildings or just five of the 10 elementary schools to minimize the impact of possibly closing Clark Middle School and turning it into central office and a preschool center.
Middle schools have been a subject of debate for a couple years now. The New York Times produced a series on middle schools in 2007 that pretty well examines the issues.
The series argues that the middle school years are critical but it’s also a period when you see a slump in learning.
The state report cards for Ohio over the last two years back up that thought. In 2006-07, Ohio met 19 of 30 indicators. Five of the 11 missed indicators were in grades 6-8 and 3 were in fifth grade.
In 2007-08, Ohio met 18 of 30 standards; 4 of the 11 missed indicators were in grades 6-8 and 4 were in fifth grade.
Fifth and eighth grade were the big trouble spots. Both of those grades had new tests added in the last couple years and performance is typically low in the inaugural year of a new test.
In many of the the highly-rated suburban Ohio districts, the middle school years tend to be the few indicators they struggle with each year.
A few schools systems, particularly in the east, have closed middle schools, choosing either to keep students in elementary schools longer or enter students into high school earlier.
There’s quite a bit of research out there that backs up a plan to move sixth graders back to the elementary schools, said Interim Superintendent Don Thompson. He cited a recent Standford search that I’m not familiar with but if you’re interested, here’s a 2007 study out of Duke University that has similar findings.
Essentially, researchers found that sixth-graders at elementary schools perform better academically and have fewer disciplinary infractions than sixth-graders in middle school.
Disciplinary numbers in Ohio tend to be much higher in the middle grades than elementary or high school.
On the flip side, there are some that feel that being grouped with older students makes the younger students look forward to things like preparing for college earlier than they would in elementary school settings and gives them older role models to look up to.
At last night’s meeting one person called the switch to middle school a “rite of passage” that some city schools’ kids would miss out on if the plan were implemented in only half of the district.
Do you think sixth graders should be in the elementary school or at the middle schools?
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Comments
By Enough already..
December 16, 2008 12:24 PM | Link to this
Why cant we go back to the old days. K-6;7-9;10-12. We push these kids to grow up too fast…one reason they dont know their place!!By fred
December 16, 2008 2:26 PM | Link to this
What ever the decision, why can’t it be the same for the entire district? Why does the south side have to change again and the north side remain stable? A district decision should be applied to the entire district not just the south side.