There is a concern of moving 5th graders to the middle schools. Have the social issues that vary greatly within this age range been considered and/or studied thoroughly?
There have been studies about school grade configurations. The results are very mixed. The idea of moving the 5th graders into a middle school would be to expand curriculum offerings to the students. In many elementary schools, 5th and 6th graders begin attending classes by department, not within one classroom. It is difficult in a small elementary school to have teachers specialize in a curricular area as there are not enough teachers to cover the subject areas. In the middle schools, all staff members are specialists in a curriculum area. By placing the students in a school where all the staff members are specialized in a curricular area, the students receive better focused instruction on the subject matter. Most 5th 8th grade schools operate with 5th 6th graders in a portion of the facility while the 7th 8th graders are in another portion of the facility. Under this type of operation and offering quality programs, the schools are successful. Back to Top ———————– 21. I
