But you can also do some other things, and should do some things, that are developmentally responsive to young adolescents. You can change the grade configuration of a school all day long. With a K-8 school you have potentially more students in the school because you have all the way from 5-year-olds to 13- and 14-year-olds.Īn effective middle school, or middle grades, program needs to go beyond the grade configuration change. Our research shows that when the school is made to feel smaller, that's when young adolescents flourish more. What do you think about the idea of K-8 schools as opposed to the traditional 6-8 middle school set up? Illustration by Lara Tomlin/Courtesy of Dru Tomlin Director of Middle Level Services Association for Middle Level Education.
