The Reference Desk, using available evidence and research, provides quick-turnaround responses to questions submitted by education stakeholders around the Northeast and Islands Region. Every Friday, REL-NEI highlights one or two questions submitted to its Reference Desk.
Question of the Week
How Do Middle-School Grade Configurations Impact Student Achievement and Behavior?
The REL-NEI Reference Desk has received a variety of questions from school districts throughout the Region about school size, class size, and grade-configuration models and research on their impact on student achievement. In the past, this Digest has featured questions on class size and school size. This week’s entry addresses the research on grade configurations for the middle grades, and next week’s will look at the research on high-school grade configurations.
Question
What research exists on middle-school grade configurations and their impact on student achievement and behavior?
Research Synthesis
Reference Desk researchers found a number of resources suggesting that students in the middle grades at K–8 schools have higher academic achievement than students attending traditional middle schools (Renchler, 2002; Byrnes, 2007; Juvonen, 2004; see below). However, Renchler qualifies those general findings by noting, “The sheer number of variables that come into play when measuring grade-span effectiveness complicates efforts to understand this important component of education.” Furthermore, research summaries available on the National Middle School Association website (see below) emphasize that the quality of program implementation for middle grades is of greater importance than the actual grade configuration.
Publicly Available Resources
- School Organization: Grade Span. Trends and Issues. Renchler, R.; 2002; Eugene, OR: ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management, University of Oregon; ERIC Document # ED472994; 6 pages.
From the abstract: “This paper examines grade spans (grade configurations) and their importance in community school systems. Research has shown that geographic location often dictates the kind of grade configuration districts use. Furthermore, every grade configuration has strengths and weaknesses, and school officials must focus on developing the positive potential within any given grade span. The sheer number of variables that come into play when measuring grade-span effectiveness complicates efforts to understand this important component of education. For example, in one of the few empirical studies on grade span, researchers found that 8th-graders in elementary settings (K–8, K–9, 3–8) outperformed 8th-graders in other grade configurations. But the question as to why they learned better remains unanswered. Many current grade configurations can be traced to historical developments, such as passage of child-labor laws, meaning that such configurations had little to do with educational efficacy. Research shows that grade span can work in subtle and not-so-subtle ways to affect student learning.”
- Comparing Achievement between K–8 & Middle Schools: A Large Scale Empirical Study. Byrnes, V. & Ruby, A.; 2007; Baltimore, MD: Center for Social Organization of Schools, Johns Hopkins University; 56 pages.
From the abstract: “Using administrative data on public school students in North Carolina, [the authors found] that sixth grade students attending middle schools are much more likely to be cited for discipline problems than those attending elementary school. That difference remains after adjusting for the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of the students and their schools. Furthermore, the higher infraction rates recorded by sixth graders who are placed in middle school persist at least through ninth grade. An analysis of end-of-grade test scores provides complementary findings.”
- Should Sixth Grade be in Elementary or Middle School? An Analysis of Grade Configuration and Student Behavior. Cook, P. J., MacCoun, R., Muschkin, C., and Vigdor, J.; 2007; Durham, NC: Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy, Duke University; Working Paper Series SAN07-01; 33 pages.
From the Abstract: “Using administrative data on public school students in North Carolina, [the authors found] that sixth grade students attending middle schools are much more likely to be cited for discipline problems than those attending elementary school. That difference remains after adjusting for the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of the students and their schools. Furthermore, the higher infraction rates recorded by sixth graders who are placed in middle school persist at least through ninth grade. An analysis of end-of-grade test scores provides complementary findings.”
- Focus on the Wonder Years: Challenges Facing the American Middle School. Juvonen, J., Le, V., Kaganoff, T., Augustine, C., and Constant, L.;. 2004; Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation; 155 pages.
From the summary: “Research suggests that the onset of puberty is an especially poor reason for beginning a new phase of schooling, inasmuch as multiple simultaneous changes (for example, the onset of puberty and school transfer) are stressful for young adolescents and sometimes have long-lasting negative effects. Furthermore, the few studies that compared schools with different grade configurations suggest that young teens do better in K–8 schools than in schools with configurations that require a transition to an intermediary school.”
The Reference Desk also found this organization and these resources to be helpful in learning more about
middle-grade configurations:
- National Middle School Association (NMSA)
The NMSA website provides a number of research briefs on middle-school issues, including these ones about grade configurations:
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