… is the transition from eighth grade to ninth grade: middle school to high school.
Attending the National School Boards Conference this weekend, I’ve heard from some interesting folks, and learned a few things already (having only arrived at 5 a.m. EST — putting me in a rather sleep-deprived state).
In the transition from middle to high school, kids move from a task-oriented situation to one that is ability-oriented; it’s not just whether you do what you’re told, but how well you do it that matters. Simultaneously, they’re moving from being the uppermost echelon of their society, to being the lowest caste. All while their brains are undergoing a massive change, resulting in a very short attention span and irrational results.
Three studies using the Harter Student Self Perception Survey found that students’ perceptions of themselves declined between 8th and 9th grades in the following areas:
- Physical appearance
- Job competence (mowing lawns, babysitting, etc.)
- Romantic appeal
- Behavioral conduct
- Global self-worth
So, just as they’re going into a more socially and academically challenging situation, this group suffers a blow to their self-esteem: they perceive themselves as ugly, incompetent, unlovable, bad, and worthless. Gee, who would do well under those circumstances? It’s mostly a matter of brain chemistry, partly a matter of the transition taking place at a non-optimum time.
The things they tend to fear about moving to high school are:
- Being bullied
- Mean teachers (to a 14-year old, "mean" is synonymous with "gives a lot of homework")
- Getting lost
- Having time to get to their lockers
- Being late to class
- Finding a boyfriend or girlfriend
- Amount of homework
- Grades
- Graduation
- Extracurricular activities.
There was no difference found in any of the three studies between rural and urban students.
Finding ways to mitigate the emotional trauma is critical, because the US Department of Education’s own statistics show that, of students who fail one grade K-12, 40% do not graduate. Of those who fail two grades (K-12), 90% do not graduate. And, while it costs roughly $9,000 per year to educate a child, it costs about $40,000 per year to keep him incarcerated if you fail to educate him.
Of course, citing the problems was not the end of the session: some solutions were offered. However, I do think it was the clearest, most concise evaluation of our weakest link, and I do plan to pass along the information to the rest of the school board (as they do, sharing information from the sessions they attended).
“Simultaneously, they’re moving from being the uppermost echelon of their society, to being the lowest caste.”
You know where I’m going. Small schools, and this is alleviated to a great extent in a yes, K-12/PreK-12 environment. When an 8th grader in an all level small school enters high school the upperclasses above generally knows or is familiar with the class and members of that class. From being “down below” with them all two years ago. They are already integrated to a great extent. It really works in this day in age still. Experience.
I was raised the same way and although I understand where Jacket is coming from I tend to disagree with him. Integrating all grades is not the best solution since the maturity level of these children differ so much. I would not want my 4th grader in with a 11th grader.
Great summary, netmom.
Smaller schools would probably help. Teachers could spend more time with each student to detect and address the typical teenage neuroses in a timely manner. More frequent parent-teacher conferences during this period might do some good.
Ultimately, though, the reality you describe is best addressed by parents. It is at home that we learn the core values that underlie self-esteem, how to order our values, and empathy. The heavy emphasis that many parents place on academic achievment at this stage should not be allowed to displace the emphasis on healthy emotional development.
Ted Bundy graduated from the University of Washington, where he was an honors student. His academic success didn’t prevent him from being a major cost to society. Maybe we, as parents and as a society, need to emphasize other aspects of human development and maturity in our children.
You’re right about smaller schools causing less of a problem; school within a school and 9th grade academy were mentioned as strategies that are helpful for larger schools.
One of the conference attendees noted that in their high school (Oregon, I think), students are assigned to the same homeroom teacher throughout their four years of high school. I’m not sure how that works exactly — perhaps homeroom is a separate class, not affiliated with a subject matter class.
There is no magic bullet, no single factor causing kids to fail, but understanding the risk factors is essential to building the best program we can.
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I was lucky to do it the way that I did. I attended what would become a K-12 magnet school (when I started, it was in its early years, and it was 5-12). I was at the same school, same building, same classmates from the 5th grade to the 12th grade. Does a lot to alleviate the whole 8th-9th grade transition.
However, it also takes away a bit of the sense of achievement. Sure, I’m in high school now, but its no different essentially from 8th or 6th, just different classes (many of the same teachers, even).
We had homeroom classes that were as you described them, ideally. The homeroom would be the base, we’d head there for 15-20 minutes in the morning, they’d read the announcements (and eventually when the whole “channel 1” thing took off, we’d watch that garbage). Homeroom would be segregated by schools (middle and high would have separate homerooms, so a 8th grader would be in there with 5th, 6th, and 7th, high schoolers would be the same way). If there were team building exercises, or special events, they’d be done in homeroom. While I didn’t have the same homeroom teacher every year, I was supposed to (as the school grew, accomidations had to be made).
I don’t know that that’d work for Oak Ridge, but I’ve always felt fortunate to have had the school experience that I did.
“I would not want my 4th grader in with a 11th grader.’
They are not “in with each other”. Yeah, they are in the same building to a certain extent, but they are on different wings, with different schedules. They rarely mingle with one another except at an assembly or all school meeting.
What you do have when they come into contact is a high schooler assisting an elementary school student, maybe in tutoring, or a simple act of tying a shoe.
In over 40 years of contact with a K-12 school, I have never seen or heard of a high student causing a huge problem with the younger kids. It is more positive than negative. It was so positive that this school got involved with the Annenburg Community Schools Trust. The grant was huge, nearly 3 million in private money, for four schools. The grantors wanted to review the K-12 schools rather than the stand alone high school. They were impressed.