Interesting article
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| Wed, 01-17-2007 - 9:51am |
This is on our local radio's website & I thought I'd throw it out there because I'm getting to run off to a meet at 10. I found it interesting because our county is in the process of institution MS reforms w/input from parents & educators.
-- Ang
Research: Middle Schoolers Do No Better in K-8 Schools
Jan 17th - 8:18am
BALTIMORE (AP) - New research at Johns Hopkins University has found that expanding elementary schools to sixth, seventh and eighth grades -- instead of having separate middle schools -- doesn't help adolescents academically.
The study of Philadelphia's newest schools for kindergarten through eighth grade didn't find any significant difference in academic performance between those students and ones who went to middle schools of sixth through eighth grades.
"District after district is getting misled by thinking our K-8 schools are doing better than our middle schools," Douglas Mac Iver, a Hopkins education researcher who has studied middle schools for more than a decade, told The (Baltimore) Sun.
Searching for ways to improve academics, Baltimore has moved students at some schools from traditional middle schools into K-8 schools.
Philadelphia and Baltimore made the changes because of tests showing their existing K-8 students scored better on tests.
Linda Chinnia, the Baltimore schools' chief academic officer, said test data from the city's schools was dramatic.
For example, 54 percent of sixth-graders in the established K-8 schools passed the state reading test, compared with 36 percent in the traditional middle schools.
K-8 schools also had better attendance and fewer behavior problems, she said.
However, Mac Iver and his wife, Martha Mac Iver, said the data on the established K-8 schools could be skewed. In Philadelphia, he said older schools are in slightly more affluent areas of the city, and they tend to be able to attract and retain better teachers.
Educators have debated where students between the ages of 11 and 14 should be taught. They are at a difficult age because of the physical and emotional development between those years.
The Mac Ivers' research looked at more than just test scores from one grade at a middle school compared with the same grade at a K-8 school. The research looked into how good a job middle schools did in educating the students over three years. The researchers looked at the growth students achieved in their three middle school years.
The research could help guide administrators deciding how to reform middle schools in their districts.
Mac Iver said the research shows that the quality of the teaching, the curriculum and other factors matter just as much.
(Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)


My kids go to a K-8. The 6th, 7th, and 8th grade kind of operate separately--like a middle school. They all switch rooms and teachers for every class. Hannah is in 7th and my son is in 4th. I REALLY like having them both in the same school. To me, that is a big PLUS. Their school is a Catholic school also. I don't know that I've heard of a Catholic middle school that is separate from K-5, at least that doesn't happen around here.
I guess I'm not clear on how one would be better academically than the other. What are the factors that affect that?? Anyone know?
Karin
I agree there are so many factors that would go into it. I guess if you get enough data, though, all that stuff should not end up mattering. However, I do have a problem with them only judging the "study" on test scores. There is so much more to learning at this age than a test score can indicate.
I don't know how they would qualify any other factors, but it would be interesting to see how K-8 students vs middle school students are emotionally, maturity, and other factors.
Although any of those results would also depend on more than what grades are in the school, I think, anyway.
Karin