New Horizons for Learning: Teaching and Learning Strategies

POLICY ISSUE: RESTRUCTURED GRADE LEVELS

DESCRIPTION OF ISSUE
Grade level configurations have traditionally followed an elementary, middle and high school grouping. Restructuring would allow for different configurations or clusters of grades.

PRESENT SITUATION in Leon County
Leon County has one K-8 school, one pre-K school, a number of alternative and special schools that include various grades (Lively, TAPP, ARC, Everhart, PACE, etc.). The remaining regular schools are Pre-K or K-5, 6-8 and 9-12.
PRESENT SITUATION in other Florida school Districts/other states
The majority of the schools in Florida are pre-K or K-5, 6-8 and 9-12. There are some variations depending on school and district size with more smaller districts or rural areas having K-8 or 7-12, and other variations are to be found in districts under desegregation plans. Across the country the majority of states have moved toward the middle school concept with rural areas remaining K-8 rather than K-12 of the past.
INTENDED OUTCOME - Affect on District Capacity Needs
Flexibility in grade configuration may allow relief to overcrowded middle schools by keeping students for an extra year at elementary schools with space, or relieving high schools by keeping students at middle schools with space. New construction of K-8 schools might permit the delay for the need for an additional elementary or middle school if sufficient student stations are available to meet anticipated needs.
COST CONSIDERATIONS
School Site
Capital
K-8 schools may require a gymnasium and science rooms beyond that which would be necessary for a K-5 school. Because students are bigger the size of rooms may be required to be above elementary minimums. This would not be as critical a problem for K-6 schools.
Operating
No additional coat per student anticipated
District Level
Capital
No additional cost per student anticipated.
Operating
No additional cost per student anticipated.
Transportation
No additional cost per student anticipated.
Food Service
No additional cost per student anticipated.
Maintenance
No additional cost per student anticipated.

ACADEMIC CONSIDERATIONS
Programs
Research has shown significant differences in program practices and policies between junior high schools, middle schools and schools with elementary middle combination. The latter tends to have more interdisciplinary team teaching, peer tutoring, cross-age tutoring, flexible scheduling and exploratory programs.
Larger middle schools are able to offer more advanced or gifted courses or provide for acceleration to high school courses than smaller K-8 schools. A move toward more heterogeneous classes would reduce the differences. Lack of some facilities, such as vocational education or science labs restrict program offerings in some schools.
PERSONNEL CONSIDERATIONS
Classroom Teachers
Elementary teachers are certified to teach grades K-6 and would handle a K-6 school and the majority of a K-8 school staffing. Secondary teachers are certified for grades 7-12 and would need middle school endorsement to teach grade 6 or otherwise be restricted to 7th and 8th grades.
Academic Support Staff
Administrative

Administrative Support Staff

Other Support Staff

STUDENT CONSIDERATIONS
Research on sixth grades show that students for low social backgrounds tend to benefit the most from the elementary school setting in K-6 or K-8 schools than the highly tracked and departmentalized middle school.
Results are inconclusive related to student learning, attitudes, behaviors, adjustment, truancy and teacher performance, but grade structure does effect other variables such as teacher commitment to middle-level philosophy, curricular programs and administrative support. One significant study by Lee and Smith (1993) controlled for socioeconomic status and found that restricting schools to middle grades, with larger numbers of students in the grade, had negative consequences on both engagement in learning and achievement, with the effect larger for lower ability students. They found that smaller schools and K-8 schools had many advantages for the early adolescent especially being more personal and less isolated.
PARENTAL CONSIDERATIONS
Parents of students of high ability who seek special programs or accelerated instruction resist the perceived limitations of an elementary-middle grade configuration. Many parents, however, had positive personal experiences with K-6 or K-8 schools and are more comfortable.
COMMUNITY CONSIDERATIONS
K-6 or K-8 schools tend to build a greater sense of community due to their usually small size and the 7-9 years( or more if there are siblings) involvement with the school.
POTENTIAL BARRIERS
The most significant barrier to increasing capacity is that the elementary schools with space usually are not feeders to overcrowded middle schools, or middle to high schools. Another barrier is that a K-8 school of a reasonably small size (600-900) would draw students from a limited area which may or may not reflect the racial and socioeconomic diversity of the larger school district.
POLICY IMPLICATIONS
The School Board has the authority to determine grade level structures, which would affect school plant specifications and surveys of capital outlay needs.

Draft May 23, 1995

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