Pilot program for Atlanta's sixth-graders eases them into middle school

By Kristina Torres

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Breasya Jenkins started sixth grade this year without the hectic schedule most new middle school students face as a rite of passage. She didn't run around Atlanta's Coretta Scott King Young Women's Leadership Academy changing classes several times each day. Instead, she simply stayed at her desk or took all of four steps to the room across the hall.

"It's an easier transition," the 11-year-old said of her schedule and the classrooms' proximity.. "We're right in front of each other."

While the Atlanta system and its supporters point to the city's much-touted effort to turn around its high schools by making them smaller, officials this year have quietly begun a program they hope creates a similar experience for middle-schoolers.

Four Atlanta middle schools are piloting the program, which is aimed specifically at sixth-graders -- the youngest on campus.

Instead of reporting to four different teachers for regular academic subjects like science and social studies, these students report to only two. Instead of a bell schedule with classes lasting less than an hour, a "block" schedule increases the amount of time students spend on each subject. So while a typical class period might be 55 minutes elsewhere, sixth-graders at Breasya's school spend, for example, 80 minutes in math.

The idea is to ease the passage as students go from being king of the hill on one campus to a peon on another that also has higher academic expectations. It's now in place at Coretta Scott King, Inman, Price and Kennedy middle schools.

"In elementary school, they have one teacher for all their core academic subjects. They come to middle school and it's a huge change," said King teacher Sarah Grant, who teaches both sixth-grade math and science in the new program. "In middle school, a lot of the onus is on the student. They become responsible for their own work. Sometimes that can be overwhelming for them."

Atlanta officials said they shaped the program out of "lessons learned" during their other reforms, including converting large high school campuses into smaller academies or learning communities, and a decade-long overhaul of elementary schools. Both efforts meant, among other academic changes, an intentional turn toward "a more nurturing learning atmosphere," city schools spokesman Keith Bromery said. Successes over the last 10 years include a 33 percent increase in graduation rates and now one in three elementary students not only meets but exceeds state standards.

Now, officials hope to see a similar blossoming among their sixth-graders. Starting next school year, the program will be expanded citywide, although Bromery points out that it "will be tailored to the needs and circumstances of the specific middle schools; it will not be a ‘one size fits all' initiative."

It also will not happen overnight. This past summer, the system expanded training for teachers involved with the pilot program and found itself challenged, King Principal Melody Morgan said, to find "dually certified" middle school teachers who could teach two subjects to students instead of the usual one.

In turn, teachers have shared resources and planning strategies. They said the program means a bigger workload and requires good time management and multi-tasking. King teacher Chris Adams, who taught sixth-grade English/Language Arts last year, added sixth-grade social studies to this year's lesson plans. He had experience in a similar effort in California but was out of practice "going back and forth with two textbooks and trying to make sure everything is really challenging," he said.

Still, Adams and Grant both said they believe students benefited from the change.

"In comparison, it seems to be a smoother transition," Grant said, adding that the arrangement also allows " a chance to build these relationships."