The transition from 8th to 9th grade, from middle school to high school, is considered one of the most challenging experiences in an adolescent's life. Ninth-grade transition programs, often referred to as freshman academies, have been developed and implemented over the last decade to address the needs of 9th grade students. The purpose of this…

Researchers have found that middle school students undergo developmental changes that require unique educational structures and support. As a result, experts have suggested a number of specific strategies for organizing middle schools in order to best meet students' needs. This Information Capsule summarizes middle school redesign initiatives that…

Understanding the developmental responsiveness of secondary school environments may be an important factor in supporting students as they make the transition from one school to the next. Students' needs may or may not be met depending on the nature of the fit between their basic and developmental needs and secondary school structures at the middle…

The transition to middle school is often associated with negative effects on academic achievement, motivation, self-esteem, and psychological well-being. Educators at a Grade 6 through 8 middle school in the northeastern United States observed students struggle with the adjustment to middle school. Research suggests that developmentally responsive…

Policymakers nationwide continue to wrestle with a basic question: At what grade level should students move to a new school? In the most common grade configuration in American school districts, public school students make two school transitions, entering a middle school in grade 6 or 7 and a high school in grade 9. This pattern reflects the…

The transition from elementary to middle school is a significant period of change for adolescents and is remarkable for several reasons, including the opportunity for new experiences and the potential for other developmental changes to occur simultaneously. Existing literature on transition includes both positive and negative outcomes for…

Describes strategies to smooth students' transition to middle school, listing programs and activities prior to the school year, during the summer, and during the school year. Considers adolescents' changing developmental needs. (JPB)

Young adolescents entering high school look forward to having more choices and making new and more friends; however, they also are concerned about being picked on and teased by older students, having harder work, making lower grades, and getting lost in a larger, unfamiliar school. For middle school students, including those who have been labeled…

Young adolescents entering high school look forward to having more choices and making new and more friends; however, they also are concerned about being picked on and teased by older students, having harder work, making lower grades, and getting lost in a larger, unfamiliar school. For middle school students, including those who have been labeled…

There are those in the school community who believe that the anxious feelings and heightened sense of anxiety experienced by sixth graders as they transition from elementary to junior high school constitute a rite of passage. Teachers and school administrators in the Indiana Area Junior High School in Pennsylvania believed differently. During the…

Camp Armstrong is a summer program which provides rising sixth grade students with a thorough orientation to their new middle school. Activities develop students' familiarity with the school's physical layout and provide hands-on cooperative learning in academic and recreational subjects. A workshop for parents of rising middle school students is…

The experiment of a "conceptual" middle school raised the possibility of separating the program from the building. The school district in which this innovation has been carried out consists of five elementary schools and one comprehensive high school which service a 400 square mile area. The district includes nine separate towns in western…

This study examined how 14 Hispanic adolescents either with or without learning disabilities fared academically and socially during the transition from elementary to middle school. Students had been in a sixth grade consultation/collaboration inclusive classroom. Findings suggested that both groups of students experienced the transition similarly…

Respondents to a questionnaire about the elementary-middle and middle-high school transition experience respectively were 173 sixth grade students, 83 parents, and 12 teachers, and 320 ninth grade students, 61 parents and 17 teachers. Results revealed that school transitions posed both challenges and opportunities for students. Parents and…

The project described in this paper focuses on researching approaches to ease the student's transition from elementary to middle school. The method presented equips teachers with an eight-step strategy for helping students think through everyday decisions and stressful situations. The materials target situations that children face while…