This section lists articles and links which may be of interest. They're listed in order of submission, so an easy way to find one in your topic area is to select from the "Categories" list on the right side of the page. Click on the area of interest, and you will get a new list of just those articles in that category. Some of the articles are for the general public, often from newspaper or magazine orticles, while others come from journals or professional publications. A short summary at the top of each listing, as well as the first few paragraphs of the article should help you decide if you want to read it in its entirety. Some listings have links to the orignal article, and you can download some of the articles as well.
Summary A new study of Florida schools suggests the critical transition problem may happen years before, when students enter middle school.
Author Sarah Sparks
Citation Education Week
Link http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/11/28/13structure.h31.html?tkn=PZOFBMVVtnzWtyPj1wiCC0aHamqjYQ8yb2Ui&intc=es
While policymakers and researchers alike have focused on improving students’ transition into high school, a new study of Florida schools suggests the critical transition problem may happen years before, when students enter middle school.
The study, part of the Program on Education Policy and Governance Working Papers Series at Harvard University, found that students moving from grade 5 into middle school show a “sharp drop” in math and language arts achievement in the transition year that plagues them as far out as 10th grade, even risking thwarting their ability to graduate high school and go on to college. Students who make a school transition in 6th grade are absent more often than those who remain in one school through 8th grade, and they are more likely to drop out of school by 10th grade.
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Posted by Mr. Bilides on November 28, 2011.
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Transitions •
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Summary Transitioning to middle school is hard and takes adjustments from parents, too.
Author Beth J. Harpaz
Citation Seattle Times, 15 September 2010 (Associated Press)
Link http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/living/2012893009_webparent16.html
Transitioning to middle school is hard. Kids go from being bigshot fifth-graders in a school where they knew everyone, to being pipsqueak sixth-graders in a school where they don’t know anyone. They have six teachers instead of one, locker combinations they can’t figure out, and nobody to sit with at lunchtime.
“It’s such a traumatic time, even for a well-adjusted elementary school student,” said Joyce Stallworth, senior associate dean at The University of Alabama’s College of Education. “They are coping with everything from changing classes to physical changes and hormones to increased academic expectations.”
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Posted by Mr. Bilides on September 16, 2010.
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Start of School •
Transitions •
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Summary The transition from elementary to middle school can carry a lot of fears in incoming students. School officials in Texas were solicited for their ideas on getting through this challenging period.
Author Claudia Feldman
Citation Houston Chronicle, August 9, 2010
Link http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/main/7146229.html
Do not walk in holding hands with your mother.
Make sure you are not wearing undies with pictures of princesses or Elmo.
Do not hang around guys who look as if they’d like to beat you up or girls who could star in the next mean-girl movie.
These are just a few suggestions for 11- and-12-year-olds about to make the giant leap from fifth to sixth grade — and elementary to middle school.
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Posted by Mr. Bilides on August 13, 2010.
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Start of School •
Transitions •
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