Best Spot for 6th Graders

This week’s article summary is Sixth Grade is Tough. It Helps to Be Top Dog.

This article went viral when it was published earlier this week, especially among K-8 schools which are always on the look out for evidence that their school model is preferable for young children and adolescents.

I liked the findings of this study that determined in what school model do 6th graders fare best in, but I was a  bit surprised that the study didn’t not include Trinity's pre-6th model. 

The study’s conclusion is that it’s optimal for 6th graders to be as close to the 'top dogs' of a school as possible, with the 6-12 model being the least effective option for 6th graders.

If you’ve taught middle schoolers in either 6th, 7th, or 8th grade, you know firsthand that social matters and peer pressure dominate those years for young adolescents. For kids are searching for their 'sense of self and belonging,’ it’s natural that peer approval and social standing become paramount concerns. Middle schoolers still hope for good grades, yet fitting in and belonging preoccupy their thoughts, wishes, and actions, which can manifest themselves in exclusion and in the extreme meanness and cruelty. 

From my experience teaching those grades, the height of the ‘lemming years’ where fitting in is of uber  importance is most prevalent in second half of 6th grade through the first half of 8th grade. (Most first semester 6th graders are still young and innocent and the majority of second semester 8th graders have ‘matured’ enough to see that individuality is something to be proud of.)

At Trinity we all see the tremendous social and personal growth of children during the 6th grade year. Being the ‘top dog’ gives 6th graders ample opportunities to be leaders and role models and to develop strong character habits like responsibility. 6th graders at Trinity carry themselves in a more self-assured, empowered, and self-confident manner than 6th graders in other school models. 

My hypothesis is that by having 6th grade be the ‘top dog’ of elementary school, we prolong the start of the lemming years a little longer and allow 6th graders that extra time to become surer of themselves, more empathetic and inclusive of others, and a little less prone to the negative aspects of peer pressure. 

The study below illustrates the benefits of K-8 over K-12 or 6-12 models.  

But we know at Trinity that the ideal is for 6th graders is to be the ‘top dog’ of elementary school!

Joe

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Oh, middle school. Mean girls who won't let you sit with them in the cafeteria. And, these days, cryptic taunts posted on social media, where parents and teachers can't always see them.

Middle schoolers report higher rates of bullying and fights than students in any other grade span, and their academic performance also tends to dip. But, things could be a little better — if we just got rid of middle schools, according to a big new study.

The study looked at the experiences of sixth- through eighth-graders in New York City at schools with different grade spans: K-8 vs. 6-8 and 6-12.

In the K-8 schools, those tweens and young teens were the "top dogs" — the oldest, the most comfortable and familiar with the school.

But, in traditional middle schools and 6-12 schools, sixth graders were the "bottom dogs.”

In the three-year study, the researchers drew from a group of 90,000 students in more than 500 schools. They found that when students were not the "bottom dogs," they reported feeling safer, less bullying, less fighting and a greater sense of belonging. And their grades and test scores were better, too.

There's been a lot of research already supporting what's called the "top dog/bottom dog" hypothesis. But this study is the first to find that position in the school affects experiences.

For example, the negative effects of being a bottom dog don't just come from being new to the school: The students who transferred into a K-8 school in sixth grade still had better experiences than students who started at a 6-8 school.

Today the prevailing practice nationwide is for middle schoolers to go to, well, middle schools. So, should this research motivate a wave of school reorganization?

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