Why Middle School Should Be Abolished

[teflepi]

They do a terrible job of educating kids, especially the ones who need it most.
America should do away with middle schools, which are educational wastelands. We need to cut the middle out of middle schools, either by combining them with the guidance and nurturing that children find in elementary school, or with the focus on adult success that we expect from our high schools.

For much as half of middle schools across the country, national statistics show substantial performance gaps, especially in math and reading achievement, between middle school and high school. It’s time to admit that middle school models do not work—instead, they are places where academics stall and languish.

From my experience as an educator for 28 years with the New York City Department of Education, middle schools are rife with academic dysfunction that causes irreparable harm to children in later years, when performance really counts. One challenge is the ill-prepared teacher. Chancellors and school systems have not focused enough on the fact that one can be a great teacher of elementary school, a star high school teacher, but still not be prepared to teach middle school. Too often in middle school the teachers have never received real professional development training to help students succeed in high school. And, more importantly, there is little to no time for teachers to focus on establishing strong relationships with their students, which has a tremendous impact on how students perform in the classroom, particularly for boys. A teacher’s ability to relate to his or her students is not icing on the cake of serious academics—I believe it is the whole cake.

Academic challenges coupled with a student’s emotional development are a recipe for failure. In middle school, hormones rage: kids show up in the principal’s office and burst into tears without knowing why. Peer pressure, more than any other time in students’ lives—pressure directly from classmates and friends or indirectly through pop culture and social media—can be overwhelming. For many students, their only goal is to feel included and accepted by their peers.

Academic challenges coupled with a student’s emotional development are a recipe for failure.
In these formative years, communication from peers can drown out the wiser voices of parents, teachers and mentors, trapping our young people—and especially our boys—in an echo chamber of voices as inexperienced and impulsive as their own. Students struggling academically may decide to give up, while the bright but under-unchallenged may conclude they don’t really need to learn how to study, because middle school seems to prove that they’re smart enough to wing it.

A 2012 Harvard University study of middle schools found that, compared to K-8 or K-12 schools, middle school students scored significantly lower on achievement tests – losses amounting to as much as four to seven months of learning. The research found that students who make school transitions at grade 7, a typical point of transfer from elementary school to high school, often experience real drops in achievement in math and reading. Likewise, students making the transition in sixth grade experience similar drops in reading and math achievement.

And when you factor in the massive costs to operate these generally stand-alone schools—from tax dollars, union contracts, etc.—there is a considerable financial benefit to eliminating middle schools. In fact, the public school costs for middle school can be as high as the most expensive private schools in the country.

Middle schools that do work have key factors in common: they set measurable goals on standardized tests across all grades, subjects and proficiency levels. They correlate an evaluation of teachers and principals with student performances. And they communicate to parents and students their mutual responsibility for academic success. The best performing middle schools place great emphasis on “future-focus”—on rigorous high-school curriculum.


So why not abolish middle schools altogether?

I know the benefits first-hand. When I was a high-school principal, it became clear to me that despite the extraordinary talent and commitment of our teachers and staff, four years of high school was simply not enough time to help students, particularly young men of color, succeed. We have to start with students earlier—giving more time to develop the skills and foster the character students need to succeed later in life. Think about it: The longer the runway, the more time the pilot has to get the airplane and all its baggage off the ground.

At the Eagle Academy, a network of public schools specializing in at-risk youth that I administer as CEO, we link middle school to high school to give teachers extra time to get to know our students and what they would need, individually, to succeed in high school. The process begins with our "summer bridge" program, three weeks in the summer before sixth grade, to introduce students to our school culture and make sure they were ready on the first day in the fall. We have extended school days where we combine rigorous academics with compelling extra-curricular activities to give students encounters with teachers who are as much their coaches as their champions. And we encourage parent-student “contracts,” for class attendance, homework submission and even extra-curriculum activities.

Today, in most middle schools, students have no tangible connection to past academic years or future performance goals. Dissolving middle schools, such as sending pre-teen students directly to high school, is going to take a large-scale effort. But it is our most important challenge to make a profound difference in the education of our youth, and therefore essential to our country’s future.

David Banks is the President of the Eagle Academy Foundation for Young Men, which operates five public schools in the New York-New Jersey area. Banks, who has spent nearly three decades as an educator, has a book on education reform coming out in September entitled “Soar”.

www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/07/12/why-middle-school-should-be-abolished.html

[IIOY]

My kids' school is elementary and middle combined.

[NewOrleans]

Jul 12, 2014 18:11:28 GMT -5 teflepi said:

 Dissolving middle schools, such as sending pre-teen students directly to high school, is going to take a large-scale effort.

6th and 7th graders don't belong in a high school with 11th and 12th graders.

[bugandbibs]

I prefer a K-8 system. I am not in favor of putting 12 year olds in with 18 year olds.

[AAM2012]

Jul 12, 2014 18:19:44 GMT -5 NewOrleans said:

Jul 12, 2014 18:11:28 GMT -5 teflepi said:

 Dissolving middle schools, such as sending pre-teen students directly to high school, is going to take a large-scale effort.

6th and 7th graders don't belong in a high school with 11th and 12th graders.

We had a combined middle and high school and it was no problem. It helped that they were on a slightly different class/bell schedule than the high school so they very rarely intermingled.

[teflepi]

I think it depends. Most schools don't interact with this much older, unless for a planned activity. At least, not in my experience.

[BicycleBride]

I do not understand this at all. High school students do better because they get to know their teachers? When I was in high school I only had one or two teachers more than once over four years. I don't get why it would be any different to just essentially have the middle school in the same building as the high school? I went to a k-8 school and I like that idea much better than putting 11 year olds in with 18 year olds.

[Deleted]

OUr school is a K-5 but then for middle we go to a K-8 school. I actually really like the idea.

[lizlemon19]

I don't like 8th graders in with kindergarteners or even 5th graders.

But I don't like the idea of 12 yo 's with 18 yo's. Maybe the problem is how the instruction is delivered.

[freshhell]

Our MS is 5-8, but split into two "pods" - 5th & 6th graders are together and 7th & 8th graders are together.

[joenali]

Ss goes to a k-8 and i can say as a kindergartner and now an Almost fifth grader, they rarely interact with the middle school kids, except for maybe buddy reading.

[joenali]

What about starting to offer trade education in middle school? I think that would be really helpful for some kids.

[rugbywife]

In our school board of 85 elementary schools we only have three 6-8 schools and two schools that are 7-12. The rest are all K-5, K-6 or K-8s. All new schools are built as K-8s, apparently parents prefer this set up in terms of older siblings caring for younger ones.

[Deleted]

Jul 12, 2014 19:08:07 GMT -5 joenali said:

What about starting to offer trade education in middle school? I think that would be really helpful for some kids.

That's one area that is sorely missing from today's middle school curriculum. When I was in middle school I took wood shop, home ec, art, music, typing (it became computers in 8th grade when the school switched from manual type writers to Apple IIes). Those classes were very useful to me. Some of my classmates did go to the Voke in 9th grade because they liked wood shop so much and academics not so much.

Why can't we have classes like that again? It doesn't need to be wood shop but what about an intro to computer programming or networking? or other more "modern" "trades". 

[WOT?*]

I like how they did it on XH's island. Kindergarten had its own school, 1-3 was in one elementary, 4-6 in a second elementary, middle was 7-9 and high was 10-12. Three years per school so the kids were all of a similar sized, age and education.

And ditto on the trades and ECs. I took sewing and leather and woodshop and crafts (which included jewelry making and soldering) in 7th and 8th (our middle was 7-8 when I was a kid) in addition to core classes.

[knufflebunny]

My high school was 8-12. Definitely not in favor of it - young 13 year olds with 18+ wasn't great. 8th graders had classes with only 8th graders, but they were not separate in any other way.

[erbear]

Jul 12, 2014 18:19:44 GMT -5 NewOrleans said:

Jul 12, 2014 18:11:28 GMT -5 teflepi said:

 Dissolving middle schools, such as sending pre-teen students directly to high school, is going to take a large-scale effort.

6th and 7th graders don't belong in a high school with 11th and 12th graders.

Word.

I've taught middle school (7th and 8th) for 14 years. I think, if don right, MS can be a great environment academically and socially for kids. Tons of schools do it wrong - they treat middle school kids like either old elementary schoolers or tiny high schoolers. Both wrong. They are their own breed and need specialized middle school educators who WANT TO TEACH MIDDLE SCHOOL and a dedicated administration who understands them.

/soapbox


ETA: my school is Pre-K and K, 1-4, 5-8 (middle school) and 9-12. We get the 8th graders into the high school for appropriate occasions (assemblies, some sports and activities). 

[Deleted]

I think the problem is that middle school is such a not so clear cut age for kids. My son is pretty mature so middle school works fine for him. He was ready to leave elementary school behind and be well, twelve I guess. His sister would do better if she could still hang out with younger kids on the playground. I'm actually kind of worried about how she will do in middle school because she is still firmly in doll territory.

[winnied]

During my middle school-aged years I attended both a K-8 and a traditional middle school. I found the K-8 to be much more appropriate and helped me transition well into a high school environment. The middle school I attended, though, was basically a squirrel farm.

[overture]

Am I the only one who didn't give any shits about academics in middle school? All I cared about was my friends and navigating the social minefield. I may as well have been picking crops for two years.

That probably would have been a better use of my time from 12-14.

[sushi]

Jul 12, 2014 18:19:44 GMT -5 NewOrleans said:

Jul 12, 2014 18:11:28 GMT -5 teflepi said:

 Dissolving middle schools, such as sending pre-teen students directly to high school, is going to take a large-scale effort.

6th and 7th graders don't belong in a high school with 11th and 12th graders.

Eh, it wasn't a problem for us. We had lower and upper school. Upper was 7-12. We only really crossed paths during assemblies.

When I was in 9th grade I was in a class with seniors. Is that problematic, too?

[Kristinmo]

Jul 12, 2014 21:36:46 GMT -5 overture said:

Am I the only one who didn't give any shits about academics in middle school? All I cared about was my friends and navigating the social minefield. I may as well have been picking crops for two years.

That probably would have been a better use of my time from 12-14.

DH taught Jr High for 3 years and this was his exact experience. He is so much happier back in a high school. 

[Jenniatonu]

Jul 12, 2014 20:03:31 GMT -5 WOT?* said:

I like how they did it on XH's island. Kindergarten had its own school, 1-3 was in one elementary, 4-6 in a second elementary, middle was 7-9 and high was 10-12. Three years per school so the kids were all of a similar sized, age and education.

And ditto on the trades and ECs. I took sewing and leather and woodshop and crafts (which included jewelry making and soldering) in 7th and 8th (our middle was 7-8 when I was a kid) in addition to core classes.

This is how my school system was set up, I loved it!

We had Elem. k-3, middle 4-6, jr. high 7-8, High School. We had 3 different jr. high schools then feed into the highschool. I really enjoyed it. The school I work in now is a 6-8. There is a HUGE difference in 6th and 8th graders. It's almost scary.

[WOT?*]

Jul 12, 2014 22:21:29 GMT -5 Jenniatonu said:

Jul 12, 2014 20:03:31 GMT -5 WOT?* said:

I like how they did it on XH's island. Kindergarten had its own school, 1-3 was in one elementary, 4-6 in a second elementary, middle was 7-9 and high was 10-12. Three years per school so the kids were all of a similar sized, age and education.

And ditto on the trades and ECs. I took sewing and leather and woodshop and crafts (which included jewelry making and soldering) in 7th and 8th (our middle was 7-8 when I was a kid) in addition to core classes.

This is how my school system was set up, I loved it!

We had Elem. k-3, middle 4-6, jr. high 7-8, High School. We had 3 different jr. high schools then feed into the highschool. I really enjoyed it. The school I work in now is a 6-8. There is a HUGE difference in 6th and 8th graders. It's almost scary.

Unless you're Augie S. and dating Lydia whatever-her-last-name-was. Shaving and boobs in the 6th grade. I was sure they were high-schoolers sneaking onto the kid campus.  Just as the folks in high school thought I was sneaking in from the elementary school across the street my freshman year.  High point of my high school career (except for falling out of the truck after homecoming parade) was getting asked if I was a junior instead of the typical "who are you visiting from X elementary?"

[Jenniatonu]

Jul 12, 2014 22:24:41 GMT -5 WOT?* said:

Jul 12, 2014 22:21:29 GMT -5 Jenniatonu said:

This is how my school system was set up, I loved it!

We had Elem. k-3, middle 4-6, jr. high 7-8, High School. We had 3 different jr. high schools then feed into the highschool. I really enjoyed it. The school I work in now is a 6-8. There is a HUGE difference in 6th and 8th graders. It's almost scary.

Unless you're Augie S. and dating Lydia whatever-her-last-name-was. Shaving and boobs in the 6th grade. I was sure they were high-schoolers sneaking onto the kid campus.  Just as the folks in high school thought I was sneaking in from the elementary school across the street my freshman year.  High point of my high school career (except for falling out of the truck after homecoming parade) was getting asked if I was a junior instead of the typical "who are you visiting from X elementary?"

Well, our biggest difference is that the 6th graders still want to "please" their teachers. The 7th and 8th want nothing to do academically with school, but the 8th will do enough to not fuck up their high school placements. School is only about flirting and sexting for the older kids.

[NewOrleans]

hmm. A bunch of you are saying it works fine. I personally would not be comfortable with my tween/early teen in a high school. But I don't know of any public schools around suburbia that do this, so maybe it seems weird because places around here don't do this and I'm just not used to it.
.

[NewOrleans]

Don't worry, though-- Common Core and testing will fix any problems with middle schools!

[WOT?*]

Jul 12, 2014 22:32:04 GMT -5 Jenniatonu said:

Jul 12, 2014 22:24:41 GMT -5 WOT?* said:

Unless you're Augie S. and dating Lydia whatever-her-last-name-was. Shaving and boobs in the 6th grade. I was sure they were high-schoolers sneaking onto the kid campus.  Just as the folks in high school thought I was sneaking in from the elementary school across the street my freshman year.  High point of my high school career (except for falling out of the truck after homecoming parade) was getting asked if I was a junior instead of the typical "who are you visiting from X elementary?"

Well, our biggest difference is that the 6th graders still want to "please" their teachers. The 7th and 8th want nothing to do academically with school, but the 8th will do enough to not fuck up their high school placements. School is only about flirting and sexting for the older kids.

Oh, I know it. I'm very active in our elementary PTA, including chairing the Humanitarian committee. We have a coin drive every year challenging the middle school we feed into and every year we won until last year, when we had a local catastrophe to galvanize the kids and the mom who started the coin drive went from our school to the middle school. Everything I heard over the past year with the moms that had kids in both schools was 6th cares, 7th is meh and 8th couldn't care less.

Reminds me of back when I was in school.

[Deleted]

Jul 12, 2014 22:33:50 GMT -5 NewOrleans said:

hmm. A bunch of you are saying it works fine. I personally would not be comfortable with my tween/early teen in a high school. But I don't know of any public schools around suburbia that do this, so maybe it seems weird because places around here don't do this and I'm just not used to it.
.

I really think that's it because honestly, the argument that 6th graders don't belong in the same school as an 11th grader could be made about kindergartners in the same school as 6th graders. In either case, the grades couldn't be more different from each other developmentally and thus why the schools that place them in the same building tend to make sure those groups have very little interaction.

[NewOrleans]

Can I just say that middle school should be abolished on account of it SUCKING so much? Gah, those 2 years were miserable and awkward.