D.C. Mulls A Return To Pre-K-8 Schools

Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee is considering an expansion of some Washington elementary schools to include students up to the eighth grade. (By Jahi Chikwendiu/Post)
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The conversion to middle schools was prompted by growing recognition in the 1970s, '80s and '90s that junior highs were not meeting the emotional and academic needs of adolescents, experts say. Middle schools enrolled sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders, instead of seventh- through ninth-graders. The idea was to offer a more nurturing environment by dividing students into small groups and keeping them with their classmates and the same teachers all three years.

But few urban middle schools succeeded because districts didn't have the money to hire the additional teachers to maintain the recommended student-teacher ratio and to provide teachers with specialized training, said Barbara Byrd-Bennett, an early advocate of middle schools. As chief executive of the Cleveland school system from 1998 to 2006, she led the conversion from middle schools to pre-K-8 schools.

"All of us who spent two decades as proponents of middle schools were unwilling to say, 'This really ain't working,' " said Byrd-Bennett, now an executive with the local office of New Leaders for New Schools, which trains teachers to become D.C. principals. After making the switch, she said, test scores for middle-grade students rose dramatically.

Byrd-Bennett said she has advised Rhee on pre-K-8 schools. Rhee also is relying on the experience of three former Cleveland school officials -- Lisa Ruda, Tracy Martin and Sherry Ulery -- whom she has hired for senior-level positions in the D.C. system.

Although many urban districts are experimenting with conversions, little empirical evidence "shows 10- to 15-year-olds do better in a middle school or a K-8 school," said Jack Berckemeyer, assistant executive director of the National Middle School Association, based near Columbus, Ohio.

More study is needed on pre-K-8 schools to determine what happens "when you bring sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders into an elementary school," he added. "What are you teaching them, and how are you teaching them?"

Over the years, the District has had a dizzying array of grade configurations, reflecting the education trends and leadership that have come and gone. The system has had schools enrolling students in K-9, fourth to seventh grade, K-3, K-7 and K-5. Unlike most other school systems, the District's was unable to make a complete conversion from junior highs to middle schools because many parents were unwilling to put their sixth-graders in a middle school and their ninth-graders in a high school, said Mary Levy, director of the Public Education Reform Project for the Washington Lawyers' Committee.

Smith, the special assistant to the deputy mayor for education, said the converted elementary schools would get teachers certified to instruct middle-grade students and would house older and younger students in separate parts of the building.

Still, parents and teachers said they are wary.

"I love the school the way it is," said Velle Perkins, whose two sons attend Barnard Elementary. "The influence [the older students] can bring in the school will not be positive."

Carmen Jenkins-Parris, a visual arts teacher at Clark Elementary, which is among the schools that could be closed, agreed. Jenkins-Parris, who also teaches at Fillmore Arts Center, at Backus Middle School in Northeast, said the older students often set poor examples for the younger students visiting the center.

The middle school students "show a lack of respect to adults and to younger students. . . . They run through the hallways and use vulgar language," Jenkins-Parris said.

"I can only imagine what it will be like in the pre-K-8 schools."

Staff researcher Rena Kirsch contributed to this report.