Education
Education

Should Georgia go back to K-8 model and dump middle schools?

By Maureen Downey
Sept 23, 2016

Is middle school a muddle?

Research continues to suggest students fare better in K-8 schools rather than in the far more common elementary and middle school sequence that most Georgia districts use.

The reason appears to be that children lose academic ground in transitions from one school to another, which may be why top ranked private schools go from kindergarten to high school.

Writing today about his research in the AJC Get Schooled blog, Georgia State University’s Ross Rubenstein says, “We found strong evidence that students attending K-8 schools had larger test score gains between 3rd and 8th grade than did students in schools with other grade spans. For students who made transitions, earlier was better. In other words, changing schools between 6th and 7th grades is worse than changing between 4th and 5th.”

To read more, go to the AJC Get Schooled blog.

About the Author

Maureen Downey has written editorials and opinion pieces about local, state and federal education policy since the 1990s.

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