Students entering middle school in 6th grade are showing more behavior problems than those entering in 7th. They are also 1-3% less likely to graduate.

Educational Structure

Education is broken into four sections:

• elementary
• junior high
• high school
• college

This has not changed much over generations. However, the middle school concept has come into vogue with various formats.

• 5-8
• 6-8
• 7-8
• 6-7 and 8-9
• 7-9.
• European Style

Schools that have adopted the 5-8 model, divide the students into 5-6 and 7-8, allowing the two groups to mix very little or not at all. Educators agree that developmentally the two groups are very different--physically, emotionally, and mentally.

The question is now being asked, "How have the various structures of middle school affected the students?"

Research

A recent study found some interesting data. Students entering middle school in grade 6 seem to have more problems than students entering one year later. The study was named, Should 6th grade be in elementary or middle school? An analysis of grade configuration and student behavior. NBER Working Paper No. W12471. Philip Cook, Robert MacCoun, Clara Muschkin, and Jacob Vigdor conducted the study featured in Research Brief for ASCD, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Surprising Data

North Carolina schools are now at 90% for the grade 6-8 middle school model. Researchers wanted to gather data to see what effect this has had on the youngest students in this format. Based on 2000-2001 data, the team focused on behavior statistics. Because the pool of schools with elementary schools still having 6th grades was not large, the panel limited the study to 344 schools with 46,942 students. How did the two groups compare? 6th graders in the middle school setting had "triple" the office referrals of counterparts in the elementary setting.

Next Stage

The researchers now began assessing this data and dividing the students according to

• socioeconomic status
• number of students in the grade
• gender
• race
• parental education
• type of school attended
• academic ability

After controlling the above variables, the team found that 6th graders in a middle school setting were

• 2.3 times more likely to have at least one infraction
• 1-3% more likely to not graduate
• twice as likely to have a violent infraction
• 4.8 times as likely to have a drug-related infraction

Students entering middle school in 7th grade did not have these behaviors in this range and neither did students remaining in an elementary setting. [Dan Laitsch, ascd.org, May 30, 2007]

Long-Term Effects

The research team studied the long-term effects and learned that the behaviors continued throughout middle school and through 9th grade.

Questions

The reasons for these behaviors remain unknown with more questions than answers.

• Is the pre-teenage brain not ready to absorb the complexities of a middle school setting?
• Do middle schools report office referrals more consistently leaving a better paper trail?
• Are students negatively influenced by older peers and more likely to misbehave because of poor example?
• Is student frustration with the middle school model and expectations showing itself in negative behaviors?

Hopefully, more research will be done in this area to answer these questions.

Related articles: The Future of Education, School Truancy, No Benefits To Retention

Read previous articles on Educational Issues.

Copyright article 2007 Barbara Pytel. All Rights Reserved.