Which is the better model: Middle School or Jr High?

Classic Jr High's date back to the early 1920s, and most commonly have weaved students in grades 7, 8, and 9. In more modern times between the 80s and now, some Jr highs might be grades 8 and 9.

Classic middle schools date back to the mid 1980s, when school districts transitioned their school grade set-ups to different models depending on population increases in their district boundary zones, how many buildings were available, and with the interest in changing the age gap by about a year at either end. They are usually grades 6, 7, and 8. Some districts might keep 6th graders in elementary school and then do only grades 7 and 8 in middle school; it is common for many preteen tv sitcoms to follow the 7th/8th grade middle school model to make airtime shorter in anticipation of cancelations of certain TV shows, and the Disney Channel has often popularized this method.

My school district adopted transitioned their junior highs 7-9 to middle schools 6-8 in the mid 1980s, and I attended a K-8 school up until 7th grade, followed by transferring to a traditional middle school just for their final offered grade of 8th grade (due to bullying and poor admin, lack of student resources and poor staffing, I wanted the true Big School Experience before going into an overcrowded high school atmosphere).

There is only one school district in my region that I know of that still exercises the Classic Jr High 7/8/9 model, and I dont know much about it, but maybe their district admins are just bull-headed and super stubborn, avoidant of change, and they want to remain the odd one out.

So what is your opinion on the middle grades being in a separate school program/building from high school and elementary school? What kind of middle school or Jr high did you attend, with what grades available from start to finish?

If you were the principal of an independent middle grade school, without gvmnt or district red tape locking in the grades/philosophies/curriculum/rules, what grades would you offer at your school? 5-8? 6-8? 7-8? 7-9? What would be your endgame for how students finish their final school year, what do they get out of the Jr high or middle school experience?

Submitted March 26, 2023 at 10:27PM by bebespeaks https://ift.tt/KrUWd94