A Year of Physical, Emotional Passage

The pendulum seems to be swinging again. Now, in about a dozen American cities -- including Baltimore and New York -- administrators are trying to eliminate middle schools and reverting to K-8 schools, said Prof. Paul George, an expert on middle schools at the University of Florida. (In the District, Superintendent Clifford B. Janey has said he likes the K-8 model and will start to review the organization of grades next year.) George, however, said he is skeptical of the trend.

"There are so many unknowns, and I'm afraid in these dozen school districts, where admittedly good middle school programs are not commonly found, that they are going to do K-8 the same way they do 6-8, and that is with ignorance," he said.

Still, superintendents such as Paul Vallas in Philadelphia are proceeding with the transformation, saying that middle-level students will do better in a smaller, more nurturing environment and that he is pumping in enough resources to make the transition effective.

Vallas, who is guiding a reduction of 46 middle schools to eight by 2008, said that studies in Philadelphia show that sixth-graders in the elementary environment perform better on standardized tests than sixth-graders in middle schools. He is also being driven by new research (by the nonprofit Philadelphia Education Fund in conjunction with Johns Hopkins University) showing that almost half of high school dropouts can be identified as early as the sixth grade, based on four variables: low attendance, poor behavior, failing math and failing English grades.

"The sixth grade, now that's when the physical, emotional and psychological changes really accelerate," he said. "And to move them from the quasi-tranquillity of that K-5 school and suddenly place them in a middle school building, which normally, in urban areas, has 800 to 1,000 kids from eight or nine neighborhoods -- that's an absolute disaster."

There are, predictably, partisans of other grade configurations.

At Mann Elementary, students and teachers say they like the K-6 model, allowing sixth-graders -- who are mostly 11 or 12 years old, the space to test their wings in a comfortable environment. There they see a number of teachers but spend most of their time with one.

"They are aspiring to be teenagers, but they are not there yet," said teacher Terri Kominers. "They still have their innocence, and there's nothing wrong with trying to maintain that."

Bogdan Loukanov, 11, agreed. "The more you can put off the change, the better."

But over at Swanson, Sandy Hart, 12, said he is glad to be out of elementary school. "I really like the freedom" of middle school, he said in science class as he was cutting cardboard to make a model of an energy-efficient kitchen.

Swanson Principal Chrystal Forrester said a high-performing middle school with grades 6-8 "is a good bridge" between elementary and high school, and offers students an appropriate transition.

Her sixth-grade program is geared to helping students adjust to the demands of a new, larger school, where the kids have gone quickly from being the oldest to the smallest and youngest.

Sixth-graders attend classes together in one wing of the school, changing classes every period, with new teachers. There are more choices -- clubs, sports, after-school activities -- and students are expected to operate more independently. Ultimately, she said, sixth grade is about growing up -- for the kids and their parents.

"The hardest thing for parents is that sometimes we have to let our children fail, make a mistake in a safe environment," she said. "So hopefully in a less safe situation, they will make the right decision."