PHOTO/ACPSD Communications Department
Aiken County Superintendent Dr. Sean Alford discussed the possibility of a sixth-grade school with sixth-graders at the superintendent’s Middle School Student Advisory Council meeting October 26.
One of four District recommendations families and stakeholders will hear during fall town hall meetings, which begin Monday, November 6, 2017, with a meeting at Leavelle McCampbell Middle School at 6:30 p.m., includes a proposal to restructure Aiken Middle School as a sixth-grade only intermediate school.
In addition to creating a focused and advantageous instructional program, this proposal would accomplish the District goals of establishing clear feeder programs between Area 1 elementary, middle and high schools, and providing a better student demographic balance for Area 1 middle schools.
Much of the national educational debate surrounding sixth grade student success has emphasized placement. Do sixth grade students achieve more when they are included in an elementary school environment, or a middle school context? On that, there have been no clear, concise answers. A third option – sixth grade only intermediate schools – may offer unique benefits unavailable to either elementary or middle school constructs.
The proposal for a single sixth grade only school in Area 1 would include the following benefits for students:
- Community-oriented philosophy for transition year between elementary and middle school.
- Intellectual growth: transition from concrete to abstract thinking.
- Focus on building student confidence and teamwork.
- Social-emotional development and support.
- Age- and developmentally appropriate activities, including those specifically designed activities for sixth graders who are not eligible to participate in middle school athletics.
- Elimination of social influence of older students.
There are two sixth-grade only intermediate schools in the Palmetto State – CrossRoads Intermediate School in Lexington/Richland School District 5, and J. Paul Truluck Intermediate School in the Florence 3 School District. CrossRoads Middle School is located in Columbia, and opened as a sixth-grade only campus during the 1998-99 school year. Meanwhile, J. Paul Truluck Intermediate School, located in Lake City, transitioned to a sixth-grade only school for the 2014-15 school year.
CrossRoads Intermediate School Principal Jess Hutchinson says his school has benefited from a narrowed focus on a single grade level, and administrative stability.
“The level of collaboration that you are able to have is just incredible,” Hutchinson stated. “When you have 10 people in a math department meeting those are all sixth grade (level) and when you have that many people brainstorming and working together you have some pretty high-quality instruction taking place, and that’s certainly been helpful. We have been here a long time, we have had stability in our leadership, and that has been important. The teachers we have here have been here a long time. We have very little turnover. The teachers we have here have been in place a long time and have gotten good at what they do.”
The most recent state assessment data available shows students of CrossRoads Intermediate School of Lexington/Richland 5 outperforming state sixth grade student averages in science, social studies, math and English. J. Paul Truluck Intermediate School students outpaced state averages in social studies, but fell short of those same averages in science, math and English.
CrossRoads Intermediate School has also received numerous Palmetto Gold & Silver achievement awards and an “Excellent” rating since 2010. Palmetto Gold & Silver Award ratings have not been available since J. Paul Truluck Intermediate School transitioned to a sixth grade only campus.
“It’s a fantastic situation. We are just shy of 800 sixth-grade students, and we really focus on the sixth-grade learner and that experience. We are not just teaching them academics, but we are also teaching them how to be secondary learners, and how to be successful in the middle grades,” Hutchinson added. “We are training them up and getting them ready for when they move on to their seventh and eighth grade schools. Here all they have to do is worry about being a sixth-grader, and it has worked well for us.”
LINK TO DISTRICT PRESS RELEASE: 2017 PR SIXTH-GRADE ONLY SCHOOLS