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Strengthening Transitions
Between School Levels
Michelle Pedigo was selected NASSP's national Middle Level Principal
of the Year in 2000. She offered these comments about strengthening transitions
from elementary to middle to high school on the MiddleWeb educators discussion
listserv.
Hello folks!
As middle levelers, we must constantly remind ourselves that we are not
in a vacuum but in a PRE-K through 12 system, and we are smack-dab in the
middle!
However, this is one of the hardest areas I am trying to work with in Barren
County. Because we are just a 7-8 school, we see a real need for our sixth
grade teachers (in six feeder elem. schools) to understand the middle grades
philosophy. To propel this, we have meetings in the fall and spring with
sixth and seventh grade teachers. Sometimes we do "writing portfolio
training" and sometimes we just talk about expectations and curriculum
gaps. This is supported at the district level, and now we have learned that
we should meet at a "neutral site", not BCMS to foster collegiality,
not control.
We also do many things to help "orient" the sixth graders to BCMS
in the spring before they come in the fall. The entire class visits on a
day, tours the building, has seminars, and eats lunch. Two sixth graders
from each school visit BCMS for a full day and report back to their peers.
We send our newsletter to sixth grade homes the last three months of the
school year, and our seventh graders answer sixth grade questions in letter
format. We also hold a huge Back to School Bash prior to school starting
with a mini-schedule, etc., and our 21st Century Community Learning Center
invites sixth graders to our building by providing transportation to and
from the elementaries anytime it is open.
Regarding the high school, Barren County High School formed a freshman "school
within a school" about five years ago because students were having
such a hard time transitioning from BCMS to block scheduling with no after-school
tutoring or support. The "Fresh Start" program has been phenomenal
in reducing barriers to learning and in improving attendance, grades, and
discipline. We also hold vertical collaboration meetings with our eighth
and ninth grade teachers twice a year, in the same format as the sixth/seventh
grade meetings. Then the information is brought together by the seventh
and eighth grade meetings in a content meeting.
The problem I have with the whole communication piece across schools is
that our schools are not sure, still, about the middle school concept. Our
high school teachers want us to "get them ready for high school,"
and I don't buy into that philosophy, but I do buy into a "kid-centered
philosophy," which isn't at the high school. So, how can we allow high
school teachers to have vertical conversations with our teachers when all
they want to talk about is how we need to "get tougher to prepare the
kids for high school"? I guess it is just our job to better educate
the HS folks about a true middle school philosophy around academic excellence,
social equity, and developmental responsiveness, as well as organizational
supports.
Sorry this is so long!
Michelle Pedigo
Barren County Schools
Glasgow, KY
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