Improving the transition to secondary school

At the start of a new school year, teachers are often amazed at the transformations students have undergone over the summer. At no other developmental stage is this more evident than in early adolescence, the beginning of a period characterized by hormonal surges. and significant physical, cognitive and emotional growth.

“They are undergoing physical, cognitive, psychological and social-emotional changes at a pace only exceeded by the experience of infancy. Their brains and bodies are changing dramatically, and they don’t always understand what’s happening to them,” said Katie Powell, director of middle-level programs at the Association for Middle Level Education and a former sixth-grade teacher.

These changes are a big reason why the transition from elementary to middle school can be so difficult for so many students, experts say. But just as the beginning of this intense period of growth varies significantly from child to child (ranging from ages 10 to 14), so does the beginning of middle school itself.

Many high schools consist of grades 6 through 8. Some districts place 5th graders in high school. Others limit high school to 7th and 8th graders. Still others skip high school altogether, opting for a kindergarten or 1st-through-8th grade configuration.

There is no clear consensus on how best to group students who fall into this age range. Many experts say that it is not necessarily how you organize the classes that make up high school that matters, but how you approach this level, especially for young adolescents transitioning from elementary school.

“It’s not so much about moving to a building for grades 5-8 or 6-8, but more about understanding that children in early adolescence are unique and that schools need district-level support to have the autonomy to design their school day accordingly,” Powell said.

Simply lumping all students transitioning from elementary school into a traditional middle school model, with its greater complexity and demands, probably won’t work well for most new high schoolers. Experts explain why, and offer strategies for creating a smoother transition to this next level.

Mismatch: Early Adolescence and the Sudden Increase in Demands of High School

Lisa Carey, a child development expert, describes a scenario that students sometimes experience during an abrupt transition from elementary to middle school.

“I’ve always noticed that you see kids in fifth grade who are doing really well, then in sixth grade they fall apart, and there’s a lot of crying and a lot of confusion in the first few weeks of the school year,” said Carey, associate director of the Center for Innovation and Leadership in Special Education. at the Kennedy Krieger Institute and former sixth grade special education teacher.

Carey attributes these types of scenarios to “stage environment mismatch,” a research term that, when applied to the school environment, describes an uneven matching of demands within a given learning environment relative to students’ developmental stage.

“We don’t do a very good job of being developmentally appropriate for that age group, and that’s where we see them fall apart a little bit,” Carey said. She points to the sudden jump in responsibilities and complexity that sometimes comes with middle school — from having to use a locker to navigating multiple classrooms and teachers whose expectations can differ.

Powell of the Association for Middle Level Education agrees that recent high school graduates sometimes bear an unfair amount of responsibility for their own challenges.

“Often, administrators ask, ‘What’s going wrong in high school that causes the data (on academic achievement or behavior) to lag behind other levels?’ And probably what’s really at stake is the unique developmental challenge of early adolescence,” she said.

Powell adds that no matter how the middle grades are merged, administrators must recognize and advocate for the unique needs of children in early adolescence. Some middle schools are working hard to do just that, as evidenced by the structures and practices they have put in place to ease students’ transitions to the next grade level.

Using a team approach

Dave Dershin, principal of Randy Smith Middle School in Fairbanks, Alaska, describes an approach where students work in teams across grade levels as an effective way to make middle school more manageable.

“Our sixth grade team consists of English, math, science and social studies teachers who work together to help sixth graders adjust to their new environment,” said Dershin, the 2024 principal of the year at the Alaska High School.

All of these teachers are working on strategies to help students develop the skills they need for success in high school and beyond: social skills, organizational skills, and time management skills.

“The team taught the required, non-content skills accurately. If something went wrong with the students, they revised the expectations and support before moving on,” Dershin said.

Practical Strategies for Success: Parental Consent, Locker Room Drills, Peer Mentoring

Lynn Jennissen has spent most of his teaching career in middle school, by choice. The current assistant principal at St. Michael-Albertville Middle School West in Albertville, Minn., which serves grades K-11, is part of an administration that has implemented a number of simple ways to reduce new students’ stress levels and help them adjust to their new environment. It starts before they even enter high school.

The first step is to communicate with the parents. According to Jennissen, they sometimes find it scary that their children from group 5 are in the same school as children from group 8.

“If you get the parent on board, who is already reassuring the child at home before the year starts, then the child thinks, ‘I trust my parents to say it’s OK, so yes, I can probably do this,’” said Jennissen, the 2024 assistant principal of the year for the Minnesota high school.

Students also begin practicing how to open locker combinations about a month before the end of grade 4. There is more built-in practice when high school begins, and also during a special open house evening at the beginning of grade 5.

Grade 8 mentors, selected through a rigorous application process, are on hand in the early days of high school to help newcomers find locker combinations or help them find their next class.

Once students start class, they can expect consistency from all of their teachers. Each fifth-grade teacher posts the same list of expectations on a prominent poster in the classroom, titled Team Five Expectations. This uniformity of expectations makes for an easier transition for students as they move from just one or a few teachers to multiple teachers, Jennissen said.

Maintaining relationships

According to experts, new high school students can benefit from building a bond of trust with their teachers.

“Relationships are the foundation of just about everything in high school,” Powell said. “Unless we really create a space for dialogue about the human experience, kids may not know that what’s happening to them (during adolescence) is completely normal.”

Assigning students to an advisory group can help build these relationships. Typically, advisory groups consist of a staff member (usually a teacher) and a small group of peers who meet on a consistent basis throughout the high school years, perhaps daily or weekly. It is the role of the adult in the advisory group to foster healthy relationships with this group of students, guide their academic performance, and promote social-emotional skills.

“The best thing we can do for high school students is to humanize our students,” Powell said. “We often forget what it’s like to be 12.”