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The term Middle school, also known as Junior High school, most commonly used in the United States of America, is a school in the secondary educational system that usually bridges the gap between elementary and High school. In America, the exact organization varies from state to state, but most often middle schools consist of sixth, seventh and eighth grades, students usually being between the ages of 12-14.

Variations of middle schools exist in education systems around the world, although sometimes there is no designated bridge between elementary and high school.

Origin

In 1888 Harvard University president Charles Eliot launched an effort to reorganize primary and secondary schooling. At that time, as state after state enacted compulsory attendance laws, eight-year elementary schools and four-year high schools were the most common types of institutions. But Eliot and his colleagues on the National Education Association's Committee of Ten on Secondary School Studies argued that young adolescents wasted time in the last years of elementary school and should be introduced to college preparatory courses such as algebra and Latin at an earlier age. The committee recommended reducing elementary schools to six grade levels (1 - 6) and increasing secondary grades to six grade levels (7 - 12). They also recommended that the new secondary schools be designed to allow talented, college-bound students to be promoted quickly so that they could complete the six years of secondary school in as few as four years.

As grades seven and eight began to be considered junior or introductory high school grades rather than elementary grades, intermediate schools (grades 7 - 8), junior high schools (grades 7 - 9), and junior-senior high schools (grades 7 - 12) began to appear. These new secondary schools were seen as a way of offering young adolescents a curriculum that was more substantial and more differentiated than that offered in elementary schools, while also addressing common practical problems such as the overcrowding of K - 8 elementary schools and high rates of students leaving school after grade eight. In addition to giving college-bound youths earlier access to college preparatory work, educators in these schools sought to entice greater numbers of noncollege-bound youths to stay in school at least through grade nine by offering them commercial, domestic, and vocational curricula. By 1920 the number of junior high schools in the United States had grown to 883. By the 1940s more than half of the nation's young adolescents attended a junior high school, and by 1960 four out of five did so.

The enduring contributions of junior high schools to middle-level education in America are many. These schools introduced a broader range of exploratory, tryout courses and activities in order to assist young adolescents to discover and develop their interests and abilities. Junior high schools were also the source of other educational innovations, including homeroom and teacher-adviser programs, extracurricular activities, and core curriculum approaches emphasizing the correlation of subject areas and the integration of learning across disciplinary boundaries.

The emergence of middle schools

Despite the innovations and successes of junior high schools, these schools became the target of increasing criticism for tending to adopt the curricula, grading systems, large size, schedules, regimentation, and impersonal climate of senior high schools. Ironically, some of the key organizational changes that the early promoters of junior high schools believed would meet the special needs of young adolescents - departmentalization, teacher specialization, and school buildings as seventh- and eighth-grade programs. The ninth-grade program and curriculum were constrained by Carnegie unit requirements for high school graduation and college entrance. Because these requirements affected scheduling and staffing decisions, they often strongly influenced the educational programs offered to seventh and eighth graders in junior high schools as well.

Fifty years after the first junior high schools were established, educators began to call for middle schools - new schools that had a different grade organization and a more developmentally responsive program - in order to provide a more gradual and appropriate transition between the elementary and high school years. In the 1950s Alvin Howard became one of the first to advocate the creation of a 6 - 8 school that would remove the limitations imposed by Carnegie units, have a more stable school climate than a 7 - 8 school, and would recognize the earlier onset of puberty of young adolescents in the second half of the twentieth century. William Alexander and Emmett Williams, in 1965, recommended the creation of 5 - 8 middle schools featuring interdisciplinary teaming, small learning communities, a teacher advisory program, and special learning centers where students could catch up on needed skills or branch out into further exploration. For example, Alexander and Williams suggested the creation of wing units (interdisciplinary teams of teachers to jointly plan curriculum and deliver instruction to 100 students). Each wing unit would join with wing units from the other grade levels in the school to form a "school within the school." The special learning centers would be open during the school day, after school, and on Saturday, and would include a library, a reading laboratory, a home arts center, a typing and writing laboratory, a foreign language laboratory, an arts and hobby center, a music room, and a physical education/recreation center.

In 1966 Donald Eichorn, a school district superintendent, wrote the first full book promoting the creation of 6 - 8 middle schools. The book attempted to apply Piaget's theories regarding early adolescent development in designing a suitable educational program. For example, Eichorn proposed that middle schools offer frequent opportunities for active learning and interaction with peers. He suggested eliminating activities that might embarrass late maturers or place them at a competitive disadvantage (e.g., interscholastic athletics and prom queen contests) and replacing them with less competitive activities that welcome and affirm all students regardless of their current level of physical or cognitive development (intramural athletics and physical education programs and flexible self-selected projects that allow all students to pursue personal interests and develop further interests while making frequent use of a well-equipped resource center). He proposed flexible scheduling to allow for extended learning opportunities and flexible groupings of middle school students for instruction (e.g., by current cognitive functioning or interests) rather than just by chronological age or grade level. He called for a curriculum that featured frequent use of interdisciplinary thematic units that reflected the interrelated nature of different content areas and that balanced traditional academic subjects with cultural studies, physical education, fine arts, and practical arts.

Growth and maturation of the middle school movement

In 1965 only 5 percent of middle-grades schools in the United States were 6 - 8 or 5 - 8 middle schools, and 67 percent were 7 - 9 junior high schools. By the year 2000 these percentages were reversed: only 5 percent of middle-grades schools were 7 - 9 junior highs and 69 percent were 6 - 8 or 5 - 8 middle schools. The number of middle schools grew rapidly - from 1,434 (23%) in 1971 to 4,094 (33%) in 1981; 6,168 (51%) in 1991; and 9,750 (69%) in 2000.

Although the number of middle schools grew quickly during the 1960s and 1970s, according to William Alexander, writing in 1978, most of these new schools displayed "limited progress toward the objectives of the middle school movement" (p. 19). In fact, John Lounsbury noted in 1991 that the first comparative studies of the new middle schools and the old junior high schools revealed that the schools "were surprisingly alike in actual practice" (p. 68). Changes were restricted largely to the names of schools and the grades they contained.

One reason for the lack of progress in implementing a set of distinct practices was that many middle schools were established for reasons of expediency. For example, the new grade arrangements helped some districts reduce overcrowding in elementary schools, poor utilization of buildings, or racial segregation. Through the 1970s little empirical research was conducted on the consequences of implementing or ignoring the lists of recommended practices. Thus, there was no scientific evidence to persuade educators to change their programs and practices.

By the 1980s the debates between educators about the best grade structures for young adolescents began to die out, as both middle school and junior high school advocates realized that the typical middle-grades school, regardless of grade organization, was still failing to meet the needs of its students. "Junior high and middle school proponents and practitioners began to coalesce into a single cause - the cause of improving early adolescent education" (Lounsbury, p. 67). This new unity of purpose and vision was also fueled by the emergence of a strong and respected literature on the characteristics of early adolescents, and by research indicating that the transition to middle-grades schools was associated with declines in academic motivation and performance.

Research also indicated that students perceived their middle-grades teachers as more remote and impersonal than their elementary teachers, and that they were less certain that their middle-grades teachers cared about them or knew them well. Furthermore, student work completed in the first year of the middle grades was often less demanding than in the last year of elementary school, academic expectations in middle-grades schools were generally low, and students had few opportunities to learn important new concepts and apply them to real-world problems. This research along with case studies and empirical analyses of the effects of recommended practices on the quality of school programs and on the learning, motivation, and development of young adolescents all gave further impetus to the calls for the reform of middle-grades schools.

As practitioners, researchers, and scholars began speaking with one voice about the continuing shortcomings of middle-grades education in the United States, middle-grades reform began receiving unprecedented national attention. That is, at the end of the 1980s, states and foundations that had been focusing their educational reform initiatives on pre-school and early elementary education or on high school improvement and dropout prevention, began to recognize that the middle grades might be central to helping more students succeed and stay in school. California was one of the first states to produce a task-force report calling for middle-grades reform. California's 1987 report, Caught in the Middle, was followed by a long line of reports from Florida, Maryland, Louisiana, and at least fifteen other states. At about the same time, foundations such as the Lilly Endowment, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, and the W. K. Kellogg Foundation began advocating and funding middle-grades reform initiatives.

These efforts helped solidify the consensus on the kinds of supportive structures and responsive practices needed by students in the middle grades (e.g., the eight principles outlined in 1989 by the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development in Turning Points). At this time, research in the middle grades by a wide variety of researchers began to show that schools serving early adolescents, especially middle schools, were increasingly implementing educational programs that were based on these recommended practices for the middle grades. Fewer schools were middle schools only in name.

Accomplishments of the middle school movement

Anthony Jackson and Gayle Davis noted in 2000 that "structural changes in middle-grades education - how students and teachers are organized for learning - have been fairly widespread and have produced good results" (p. 5). Changes in practice that ensure each student in a middle-grades school has more support from (and more meaningful relationships with) caring adults at the school have reduced the negative shifts in students' motivational beliefs during the middle grades. Schools-within-schools, looping (assigning teachers to the same students for two or three years), semidepartmentalizion (assigning a teacher to teach two subjects to three class sections rather than one subject to six class sections), and interdisciplinary teaming with a common planning period for the teachers on a team are examples of structural reforms that have been made in many middle-grades schools. Such reforms have been found to increase students' well-being and perceptions that their teacher cares about them and their learning, and to strengthen teacher - student relationships. In turn, when middle-grades students perceive their teachers care about them and their learning, they are more likely to report that they try to do what their teachers ask them to do and give their best effort in class, and they are less likely to engage in risky behaviors.

In sum, many middle-grades schools have succeeded in changing their climates and structures to become what Joan Lipsitz and colleagues, in 1997, called "warmer, happier, and more peaceful places for students and adults"(p. 535). However, as David Hamburg noted in 2000, changes in climates and structures "are necessary but not sufficient for major improvement in academic achievement" (p. xii). That is, while modest achievement gains may result from changes in school organization - such as semidepartmentalization, team teaching, or creating smaller learning environments - major achievement gains are obtained only in schools that have implemented both changes in school organization and in curriculum, instruction, and professional development changes that assist teachers to "transmit a core of common, substantial knowledge to all students in ways that foster curiosity, problem solving, and critical thinking" (Hamburg, p. x). For example, in a 1997 study by Robert Felner and colleagues of a group of thirty-one Illinois middle schools, those schools that had made both structural and instructional changes that were consistent with Turning Points recommendations achieved substantially better and displayed larger achievement gains over a two-year period than did similar schools that had implemented at least some of the key structural changes outlined in Turning Points, but not changes in curriculum and instruction. Another study suggesting the critical importance of going beyond just structural changes in improving achievement was conducted by Steven Mertens, Nancy Flowers, and Peter Mulhall in 1998, and involved 155 middle-grades schools in Michigan. When these researchers analyzed outcomes in schools that had one of the key structural changes in place (interdisciplinary teams that were given high levels of common planning time), they found that achievement gains were much higher among the subset of these schools that had a received a grant from the Kellogg Foundation that made it possible for their teachers to engage more regularly in staff development activities focused on curriculum and instruction. In fact there is even evidence from this study that staff development may be more important than common planning time in facilitating achievement gains. Schools whose teams had inadequate common planning (but had a grant that made frequent professional development possible) showed more achievement gains than did schools without grants, even those whose teams had high levels of planning time.

Unfortunately, high-performing middle schools are still rare, because "relatively little has changed at the core of most students' school experience: curriculum, assessment, and instruction" (Jackson and Davis, p. 5). Although structures and practices that are in keeping with the best of the middle-grades reform documents are an essential foundation for middle-grade reform, dramatic and sustained improvements in student performance occur only if teachers also provide all students with markedly better learning opportunities every day.

Also notice these acomplishments vary and some middle schools have made no acomplishments and have uncaring staff, however most middle schools are making an attempt.

Problems

One particularly vexing problem that plagued junior high schools and continues to plague middle schools is what Samuel H. Popper termed being "a school without teachers" . Because of the lack of teacher education programs and licensure that focus on the middle school level, the majority of young adolescents are taught by teachers who prepared for a career as an elementary or high school teacher. Fewer than one in four middle-grades teachers have received specialized training to teach at the middle level before they begin their careers. As a result, teachers who wind up teaching in middle schools, even those who discover that they enjoy teaching middle school students, find themselves woefully unprepared to work with this age group. Thomas Dickinson commented in 2001 that these instructors enter middle schools "unschooled in appropriate curriculum and instruction for young adolescents, and ignorant of the place and purpose of middle school organizational practices and the complex role of the middle school teacher" . This is clearly one reason why curriculum and instruction in the middle grades continues to show little improvement over time.

There is a growing consensus to support specialized teacher preparation at the middle-grades level. Numerous studies show that middle-grades teachers and principals favor specialized teacher preparation of middle-grades teachers. Similarly, the National Middle School Association, The National Association for Secondary School Principals, and the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform have all called for the specialized preparation of middle-grades teachers. Perhaps the only solution to this enduring problem is for states to establish mandatory requirements for middle-level licensure that do not overlap significantly with licensure for elementary school or high school teachers. This will serve as an incentive for colleges and universities to establish specialized programs that prepare practicing and future teachers to work effectively with middle school students, curricula, and instructional practices, and also as an incentive to teachers to pursue this specialized training.

Unfortunately, there is also a lack of middle-school principal preparation. "Preparation to lead a school based on the tenets of the middle school concept is even more rare than middle school teacher preparation programs. The same can be said for the licensure of middle school principals" .

The National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform declared in 2000 that high-performing middle schools are "academically excellent, developmentally responsive, and socially equitable" . If such middle schools are going to become the norm rather than the exception, both middle school teachers and principals need more specialized preparation and continuing professional development to support and sustain their trajectory toward excellence.Thus in some governmental and institutional contexts, "Middle school" may be used as no more than an alternative name to "junior high school," or it might imply a pedagogical shift away from primary and secondary school practices. The concept of the name junior high dates back to 1909, with the founding of Indianola Junior High School in Columbus, Ohio. The concept of the name "middle school" dates back to 1950, from Bay City, Michigan.

Asia

Afghanistan

In Afghanistan education often does not last until middle school. Under the Taliban, girls were not allowed to attend school. Now, both boys and girls are allowed to attend school, but many families elect to have their children work at home, rather than send them to school.

People's Republic of China

In the People's Republic of China, junior middle schools (chuzhong or 初中) refer to years 7–9. It covers the last 3 years of the 9-year compulsory education, which is subject to fees. At the end of the last year, the college-bound students take exams to enter high school (gaozhong or 高中) others wishing to continue their training may enter technical high school (中学专科/中专) or vocational school (职业学校).

Japan

In Japan, junior high schools, which cover years seven through nine, are called chū gakkō (中学校, literally, middle school). They are referred to as "junior high schools" in most conversations in English and are referred to by MEXT as "lower secondary schools." (See Secondary education in Japan.)

South Korea

In the Republic of Korea, a middle school is called junghakgyo (중학교, 中學校, also literally meaning "middle school") which includes grades 7 through 9.

Indonesia

In Indonesia children go to school at the age of 3. They start from pre-school and kindergarten. At the age of 6 they go to SD 1 (grade school). They spend six years here then continue to Junior High School (SMP) for three years. After Junior high they go to Senior high for three years. After 12 years of completing grade school, it's up to them to continue college or university in what they prefer.

Taiwan

Taiwanese junior high schools (3-year) were originally called chuzhong (初級中學, 初中; "primary middle school"). However, in August 1968, they were renamed guozhong (國民中學, 國中; "citizen middle school") when they became free of charge and compulsory. Private middle school nowadays are still called chuzhong. Taiwanese junior high schools are attended normally by those older than twelve. Accompanied with the switch from junior high to middle school was the cancellation of entrance examination needed to enter senior high school.

Australia/Oceania

Australia

In most regions of Australia don't have middle schools as students go straight from primary school to secondary school.

In 1996 and 1997 a national conference met to develop what became known as the National Middle Schooling Project, which aimed to develop a common Australian view of

• early adolescent needs
• guiding principles for educators
• appropriate strategies to foster positive adolescent learning.

The first middle school established in Australia is The Armidale School, in Sydney. Schools have followed this trend such as The King's School.

As of 2007, the Northern Territory has introduced a three tier system featuring Middle Schools for years 7-9 (approx ages 12-15) and high school year 10-12. (approx ages 15-18)

New Zealand

In New Zealand intermediate schools cover years 7 and 8 (formerly known as form 1 and 2, with children aged 11-12) in areas where the local primary schools teach year 1 to year 6 students. Many primary schools however, do teach year 7 and 8. These primary schools may have a relationship with a nearby intermediate school to teach manual training classes such as woodwork.

Recently, however, Junior High Schools covering years 7-10 (the four years between primary and NCEA, the national secondary qualification) have been established. The first was [http://www.ajhs.school.nz Albany Junior High School in Albany, Auckland.

Europe

Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia

In the countries of former Yugoslavia, srednja škola (literally translated as Middle School) refers to age between 14 and half - 15 and 18, and lasts 2-4 years since elementary school (which lasts 8 or 9 years). The final four years of elementary school are actually what would be called junior high school in USA. Students have up to 12-13 different subjects in each school year (most of them only two 45-minute class periods per week). For example, 8th grade students do not have one subject called Science but three separate subjects called Chemistry, Physics and Biology.

France

In France, the equivalent period to middle school is collège, which ends with the Troisième (the equivalent of the Canadian and American Grade 9). Upon completion of this grade, students are awarded a Brevet des collèges if they obtain a certain number of points on a series of tests in various subjects.

Italy

In Italy, middle school (which is "scuola media" in Italian) refers to age between 10-11 and 13-14, lasting 3 years. At the end of the third year, students have to take a final test due to complete this grade. Middle school in Italy is the last compulsory year; however, starting to work at the age of 14 is actually illegal, so, even students who don't wish to keep studying anymore, usually take a short professional course (two years). Students who decide to end school at the age of 14, can either get a sabbatical or start working illegally.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, some English Local Education Authorities introduced Middle Schools in the 1960s and 1970s. The notion of Middle Schools was mooted by the Plowden Report of 1967 which proposed a change to a three-tier model including First schools for children aged between 5 and 8, Middle Schools for 8–12 year-olds, and then Upper or High Schools for 12–16 year-olds. Some authorities introduced Middle Schools for ideological reasons, in line with the report, while others did so for more pragmatic reasons relating to the raising of the school leaving age in compulsory education to 16, or to introduce a comprehensive system.

Different authorities introduced different age-range schools, although in the main, three models were used:

• 5–8 First Schools, followed by 8–12 Middle Schools, as suggested by Plowden
• 5–9 First Schools, followed by 9–13 Middle Schools
• 5–10 First Schools followed by 10–13 Middle Schools, or Intermediate Schools

In addition, some schools were provided as combined schools catering for pupils in the 5–12 age range as a combined first and middle school.

Around 2000 middle and combined schools were in place in the early 1980s. However, that number began to fall in the later 1980s with the introduction of the National Curriculum. The new curriculum's splits in Key Stages at age 11 encouraged the majority of Local Education Authorities to return to a two-tier system of Primary and Secondary schools.

Under current legislation, all middle schools must be deemed either primary or secondary. Thus, schools which accept pupils up to age 12 are entitled middle-deemed-primary, while those accepting pupils aged 13 or over are entitled middle-deemed-secondary. For statistical purposes, such schools are often included under primary and secondary categories "as deemed". Notably, most schools also follow teaching patterns in line with their deemed status, with most deemed-primary schools offering a primary-style curriculum taught by one class teacher, and most deemed-secondary schools adopting a more specialist-centred approach.

Some Middle Schools still exist in various areas of England. The are supported by the National Middle Schools' Forum. A list of Middle Schools in England is available.

In Scotland a similar system was trialled in Grangemouth, Falkirk between 1975 and 1987.(See Grangemouth middle schools article) The label of junior high school is used for some through schools in Orkney and Shetland which cater for pupils from 5 up to the age of 16, at which point they transfer to a nearby secondary school.

North America

The definition of "middle school" is muddied somewhat because, in North American contexts, "secondary education" quite frequently means post-compulsory (High School level) education, encompassing such diverse institutions as "English as a second language" schooling, trade schools and certificate programs, as well as other intermediate options such as Junior colleges, four-year colleges and full universities.

Canada and the United States

As mentioned earlier in the article, the first junior high school was established in 1909. Advocated by groups such as the National Middle School Association, the middle school concept is a relatively new model for the middle-level grades, contrasted with the more traditional junior high concept. North American children at this level are educated either at junior high schools or at middle schools, depending on the philosophy and practice of the particular school.

Conceptual distinctions

Junior high schools were created for the purpose of "bridging the gap between the elementary and the high school," a concept credited to Charles W. Eliot, president of Harvard University. The faculty is organized into academic departments that operate more or less independently of one another. The middle school movement in the United States saw this model as inadequately addressing the intended purpose of transition by maintaining an emphasis on the high school model, as reflected in the "junior high" designation.

The middle school concept often involves a group of two to eight teachers from different disciplines working as a team with the same group of students of the same grade level, with each teacher teaching a different subject. This format facilitates interdisciplinary units, where part or all of the entire team teaches on the same general topic from the perspective of different disciplines. The middle school philosophy also advocates assigning students in each team to a homeroom. By having homeroom daily for various discussions and activities, middle schools try to foster a sense of belonging in students to ease social and emotional difficulties during adolescence.^{[citation needed]}

Configurations

Middle school (sometimes abbreviated MS)is often used instead of junior high school when demographic factors increase the number of younger students. Middle schools are usually grades 6, 7, and 8 (i.e. around ages 11-14), varying from area to area and also according to population vs. building capacity. Another common model includes grades 5-8.

The middle school format has now replaced the junior high format by a ratio of about ten to one in the U.S. In Canada, the junior high concept is primarily seen in Western Canada, while middle schools to US-standards are generally only seen in Ontario and parts of Atlantic Canada, where they are sometimes called senior elementary schools. Many people also call middle school "junior high school." Middle school does not exist at all in Quebec, where primary school comprises grades 1 to 6, secondary school comprises grades 7 to 11, and those latter are named "secondary 1" through "secondary 5."

Mexico

In Mexico, the middle school system is called "secundaria" ("secondary") and comprises grades 7-9 and is completed after primary (1-6) and before preparatory (10-12).

Professional organizations

The National Middle School Association (NMSA) was founded in 1973. It now claims over 30,000 members representing principals, teachers, central office personnel, professors, college students, parents, community leaders, and educational consultants across the United States, Canada, and 46 other countries. An equivalent organisation operates in the UK under the name of The National Middle Schools' Forum.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Arnold, J. "Needed: A Realistic Perspective of the Early Adolescent Learner." CLEARINGHOUSE 54:4 (1980).
• Atwell, Nancie. "In the Middle: New Understanding About Writing, Reading, and Learning." Boynton/Cook Pub (1987).
• Beane, J. "Dance to the Music of Time: The Future of Middle Level Education." THE EARLY ADOLESCENT MAGAZINE 2 (September 1987):18–26.
• Beane, J. A MIDDLE SCHOOL CURRICULUM: FROM RHETORIC TO REALITY. Columbus, Ohio: National Middle School Association, 1990a.
• Beane, J. AFFECT IN THE CURRICULUM: TOWARD DEMOCRACY, DIGNITY, AND DIVERSITY. New York: Teachers College Press, 1990b.
• Cross Keys Middle School. A PLACE OF OUR OWN. Florissant, Missouri: Florissant Public Schools, 1990.
• Jennings, W., and Nathan, J. "Startling/Disturbing Research on School Program Effectiveness." PHI DELTA KAPPAN 59 (1977): 568–572.
• Fenwick, J. (Primary Author) Taking Center Stage: A Commitment to Standards-Based Education for California's Middle Grades Students. Sacramento: California Department of Education, 2001
• "Why Middle Level Schools Are KEY to Young Adolescent Success" Westerville, OH: NMSA, 2003.

External links

• [2]
• Model Programs for Middle School Teacher Preparation
• The Transition to Middle School
• Integrating Literature into Middle School Reading Classrooms
• Middle School Education—The Critical Link in Dropout Prevention
• Integrated Curriculum in the Middle School
• Canada: Provincial Systems of Education
• National Middle School Association
• Collegiate Middle Level Association A pre-professional organization for students preparing to teach middle school.
• National Middle Schools' Forum (UK)
• UK Middle Schools
• Parents Against Change - large collection of research pro-Middle Schooling

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