At the start of a new school year, educators often marvel at the transformations that students made over the summer. At no other developmental phase is this more evident than early adolescence—the beginning of a period marked by surging hormones and striking physical, cognitive, and emotional growth.
“They’re going through physical, cognitive, psychological, and social-emotional changes at a rate second only to the experience of infancy, their brains and bodies are changing dramatically, and they don’t always understand what’s happening to them,” said Katie Powell, director of middle grades programs at the Association for Middle Level Education and a former 6th grade teacher.
These changes are a big reason why the transition from elementary to middle school can be so difficult for so many students, experts say. But just as the beginning of this intense period of growth varies considerably from one kid to the next (ranging anywhere from 10 to 14 years of age), so does the start of middle school itself.
Many middle schools consist of grades 6 through 8. Some districts place 5th graders in middle school. Others limit middle school to 7th and 8th graders. Still others bypass middle school altogether, opting for a kindergarten- or 1st-through-8th-grade configuration.
There’s no clear consensus around how best to group students who fall into this age range. Many experts say that it’s not necessarily how you configure the grades that make up middle school that matters, but rather how you approach this level—especially for early adolescents transitioning from elementary school.
“It’s less about saying that we’re moving toward a 5-8 or 6-8 grade building, but more that we’re coming to a better understanding that kids in early adolescence are unique, and that schools need district-level support to have the autonomy to structure their school day accordingly,” said Powell.
Simply lumping all students transitioning from elementary school into a traditional middle school model, with its greater complexity and demands, isn’t likely to work well for most new middle schoolers. Experts explain why, and offer strategies for creating a smoother transition to this next level.
Mismatch: early adolescence and suddenly increasing demands of middle school
Lisa Carey, an expert on child development, describes a scenario that sometimes befalls students during an abrupt transition from elementary to middle school.
“It’s always been striking to me that you can see kids be really proficient in 5th grade, get to 6th grade and fall apart, and you have a lot of crying the first few weeks of school and a lot of confusion,” said Carey, assistant director of the Center for Innovation and Leadership in Special Education at Kennedy Krieger Institute and a former 6th grade special education teacher.
Carey attributes scenarios like this to “stage environment mismatch,” a research term that, when applied to the school setting, describes an uneven pairing of demands within a given learning environment relative to students’ developmental stage.
“We’re not doing a very good job of being developmentally appropriate for that age group, and that’s where we see them kind of fall apart,” said Carey. She points to the sudden jump in responsibilities and complexity that sometimes comes with middle school—from having to use a locker to navigating among multiple classrooms and teachers whose expectations may vary.
Powell, of the Association for Middle Level Education, agrees that newly minted middle schoolers sometimes bear an unfair amount of responsibility for their challenges.
“Often, district administrators will ask, ‘What’s going wrong in the middle school that the data [on academics or behavior] is lagging behind other levels?’ And really what that is likely speaking to is the unique developmental challenge of early adolescence,” she said.
Powell adds that, regardless of how the middle-level grades are banded together, administrators need to recognize and advocate for the unique needs of kids in early adolescence. Some middle schools are working hard to do that, as evidenced by the structures and practices they’ve put in place to ease students’ transition to the next stage.
Taking a team approach
Dave Dershin, principal of Randy Smith Middle School in Fairbanks, Alaska, describes a grade-level team approach as an effective way to make middle school more manageable.
“Our 6th grade team is made up of English, math, science, and social studies teachers working together to help the 6th graders acclimate to the new setting,” said Dershin, Alaska’s 2024 Secondary School Principal of the Year.
Each of these teachers work on strategies to help students strengthen skills needed for success in middle school and beyond: social, organizational, and time management skills.
“The team taught these required non-content skills with fidelity, and when things slipped with the students they would revisit expectations and supports before moving on,” Dershin said.
Practical strategies for success: parental buy-in, locker practice, peer mentorships
Lynn Jennissen has spent the bulk of his education career in the middle school grades, by choice. The current assistant principal at St. Michael-Albertville Middle School West in Albertville, Minn., which runs from 5th grade through 8th grade, is part of an administration that’s implemented some simple ways to lower new students’ stress levels and get them acclimated to their new environment. It starts before they even get to middle school.
The first push involves communicating with parents, who Jennissen says sometimes balk at the idea of their 5th graders being in the same school with 8th graders.
“If you can get the parent on board, who’s reassuring the kid at home before the year even starts, then the kid’s like, ‘Well, I trust my parents saying it’s a good thing, so yeah, I can probably do this,’” said Jennissen, 2024 Minnesota Middle Level Assistant Principal of the Year.
Also, about a month before the end of 4th grade, students begin practicing how to open locker combinations. There’s more built-in practice when middle school begins, as well as during a special open house night at the start of 5th grade.
Eighth grade mentors, chosen via a rigorous application process, are on hand in those early days of middle school to help newcomers navigate locker combinations or find their next class.
Once students get to class, they can expect consistency from all their teachers. Every 5th grade teacher posts the same lists of expectations on a highly visible poster in the classroom, titled Team Five Expectations. This uniformity of expectations creates an easier transition for students as they go from having just one or a few teachers to several, Jennissen said.
Nurturing relationships
New middle schoolers can benefit by building trusting relationships with their teachers, say experts.
“Relationships are the foundations of just about everything in middle school,” said Powell. “Unless we’re really creating spaces for dialogue about the human experience, kids may not know that what’s happening to them [during adolescence] is entirely normal.”
Assigning students to an advisory group can help build these relationships. Typically, advisories consist of a staff member (most likely a teacher) and a small group of same-grade peers who meet on a consistent basis throughout the middle school years, perhaps daily or weekly. It’s the adult’s job in the advisory group to foster healthy relationships with this set of students, guide their academic achievement, and foster social-emotional skills.
“The best thing we can do for middle schoolers is to humanize our students,” said Powell. “We often forget what it’s like to be 12.”
