Study examines depth of middle school slumps

On Board Online • April 9, 2012

By Gayle Simidian
Research Analyst

One of the most troubling trends in public education is the decline in academic achievement once students are in middle school. Researchers have been looking at many aspects of this phenomenon, including:

• How pronounced is this problem?
• Do results differ by grade configuration (K-5, K-8, etc)?
• What can be done about it?

Florida students who transition to middle school in sixth or seventh grade “dramatically” drop in math and reading performance, according to a new study by Martin West of Harvard University and Guido Schwerdt of the Munich-based Ifo Institute for Economic Research.

These drops in performance “amount to between 3.5 and 7 months of expected learning over the course of a 10-month school year.”

West and Schwerdt built on the work of Jonah Rockoff and Benjamin Lockwood, who found a decline in academic achievement upon the transition to middle schools in New York City. Using a database from the Florida Department of Education that houses state scores on math and reading ,West and Schwerdt examined the importance of grade school configuration (i.e. K-5, K-8) on school transitions and tried to quantify long-term effects of middle school slumps.

West and Schwerdt reviewed three sets of data pertaining to (1) the influence of middle school entry in sixth or seventh grade, (2) the lasting influence, if any, of declines in performance associated with the transition to middle school and (3) for comparison, the influence of high school entry in ninth grade, on performance over time.

Students who entered a middle school in either sixth or seventh grade scored lower in math and reading than students who attended a K-8 school.

The learning losses have long-term consequences. Students who enter middle school in grade six have a greater “probability of early dropout by 1.4 percentage points (or 18 percent).”

Students who attend K-8 schools perform less impressively in math and reading in grades 3-5 than students in K-5 and K-6 elementary schools. But they are less at risk of early dropout.

The researchers also looked at the high school transition. Is the transition to middle school in sixth or seventh grade more or less likely to be followed by a drop in academic performance as compared to entering high school in eighth or ninth? According to this research, the transition to middle school is more risky. While both transitions give way to a drop in academic performance, the transition to high school in eighth or ninth grade gives way to a dip that isn’t as long-lasting, while, in comparison, the earlier transitions resemble more of an academic decline.

How does the transition affect poorer performing students? Apparently, not well. For those “students whose third grade scores were below the statewide median, [there were] substantially larger declines in math scores at both the middle- and high-school transition points than higher-achieving students.” This larger decline holds true for “traditionally disadvantaged subgroups,” too.

While this decline is more evident in cities, it’s still pronounced in suburban and rural areas too.

West and Schwerdt explore why this long-term decline for Florida middle school students takes place. They examined features of three types of schools: elementary, middle, and K-8. In general, they found that Florida middle schools have more students per grade than K-8 schools and they “spend 11 percent less per student and have higher student-teacher ratios than K-8 schools.” There were no apparent differences among the attributes of teachers or teacher salaries.

They conducted further research to see if there were differences between the influence of middle and K-8 schools in terms of  “school quality.” No academic performance issues could be attributed to resource discrepancy, class size, or policy or practice.

However, the results of one of their surveys did show that “overall school climate for student learning is worse in middle schools than in schools that serve students from elementary school through the 8th grade.” West and Schwerdt think this finding means that being the older kids in a K-8 school may promote resiliency for students by providing them with more chances to take on leadership positions. This interpretation can account for both the gains in academic achievement of students in fifth and sixth grade prior to the middle school transition and the comparatively high performance of students in K-8 schools versus students who transition to middle school.

Are there ways to ease the middle school transition? “We should in general be skeptical about our ability to ease the middle school transition, only because we do not yet have a definitive explanation of its causes,” West told On Board. “Moreover, the fact that the achievement of students in middle schools continues to decline (relative to students in K-8 schools) through grade 8 suggests that the transition itself is not the only concern.”

“That said, some common sense steps might include having elementary and middle schools share more detailed information about students as they change schools, dividing middle school students into smaller learning communities within their much larger grade cohorts, and ensuring that middle schools maintain high academic expectations for all students. Some districts I have worked with are considering having a guidance counselor make the transition with each cohort of students from elementary to middle school.”