Making Effective
Transitions To and
From the Middle Level
Patti Kinney
www.pattikinney.com
AMLE Webinar
May 7, 2014
tran· si· tion
tranˈziSHən
Noun
The process or a period of changing
from one state or condition to
another.
Verb
Undergo or cause to undergo a
process or period of transition.
Isaac Asimov
Referring to young adolescents…
At no other time in the life cycle are
the chances of finding one’s self and
losing one’s self so closely aligned.
Erik Erickson
Key Point to Remember
Young adolescents are not only undergoing
developmental transitions (physical,
emotional, social, cognitive) but are also
transitioning into a new academic
environment and structure, whether from
elementary to middle level or middle level
to high school.
Something to think about...
What are 5 words you would use to
describe incoming 6th graders?
What are 5 words you would use to
describe outgoing 8th graders?
Who are the Transescents?
Mary Compton
Girls who play with Barbie dolls and girls who could compete in the
Miss Teenage America contest…
Boys who look like short playing cards turned sideways and boys
who already look like grown men…
Girls who don’t know where babies come from and those who are
experimenting to find out “for sure”…
Boys who play with toy dump trucks and those who can operate real
ones…
Who are the Transescents?
Mary Compton
Youngsters who play with Tinker toys and those who can dismantle,
repair and reassemble an automobile engine…
Those who believe their parents are the smartest people in the world
and those who wonder how such stupid, old-fashioned people have
survived so long…
Kids who can’t read their own names and those whose noses seem
to be always in a book…
Youngsters who rate the opposite sex somewhere between spinach
and milk of magnesia and those who are “on the make”…
Who are the Transescents?
Mary Compton
Those who munch chocolate bars and those who pop
amphetamines…
Those who guzzle cokes and those who will soon be incurable
alcoholics…
Those who meet the world with easy smiles and contagious laughter
and those who are already being propelled by unbearable
pressures toward the taking of their own lives…
These are transescents.
Key Point to Remember
To ensure that transitions to and from the
middle level are successful for students, it’s
critical that the programs, practices, and
policies at your middle level school are
based on what research and best practices
tell us is most effective for young
adolescents.
Points to Ponder...
Do your school practices take into account that cognitively…
•Middle school students have unique intellectual
characteristics that distinguish them from both elementary
and high school students?
•Young adolescents learn best in cooperative, flexible settings
where they are constantly interacting with materials and with
each other?
•Any given classroom will consist of students with a wide
range of intellectual abilities?
•Learning takes time?
Points to Ponder...
To provide for physical development, does your school…
•Have a comprehensive health and physical fitness program
that is designed for their abilities and capabilities?
•Give all students opportunities to experience physical
success?
•Vary the pace of lessons and allow for movement?
•Help your students understand young adolescent
development?
Points to Ponder...
To provide for differences in emotional growth, does your staff…
•
•
•
•
•
Understand and appreciate the uniqueness of this age
group?
Serve as honest, available role models?
Practice active, attentive listening?
Avoid the use of sarcasm?
Help their students feel skilled and competent?
Points to Ponder...
To promote social growth, does your school…
• Provide school-based social activities?
• Help students feel accepted by both their peers and
adults?
• Allow students to work in groups and learn from one
another?
• Provide opportunities for students to work and interact
within diverse groups?
• Give students opportunities to be involved in their
community?
Key Point to Remember
The transitions into and out of
middle level schools must be
viewed as a process, NOT
simply an event or a series of
events and activities!
A Framework for Developing a
Transition Process
• Culture and Community
• Leadership and Organization
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
Based on This We Believe: Keys to Educating Young Adolescents (AMLE, 2010)
Culture and Community
What do Students REALLY want
to know?
• Will there really be that much more homework?
• Will I be able to open my locker?
• What happens if I’m late to class because I can’t find my
classroom?
• Will the older kids beat me up?
• Will I really get stuffed in a locker?
• What if I don’t know anyone in my classes?
• I heard that…
Where do your students get their information?
My friend’s
brother’s friend
told us that…
My mother went
to that HS and
said that the
teachers…
My social studies
teacher said
that when we
get to HS…
Sally’s brother
said that
when he…
My 5th grade
teacher said…
A Personalized Transition
Most students are simultaneously excited and concerned about
transitioning to a new school: capitalizing on that excitement and
addressing their concerns will help personalize the experience for
students. Strategies include:
• Ensure that all educators understand the physical, emotional,
social, and cognitive development of the students they are
sending or receiving.
• Help students form a realistic expectation of what middle or high
school will be like. Many students base their expectations on
misinformation from friends and family.
• Give students a voice in preparing transition activities.
Assess yourself – at your school...
• Do teachers understand the physical, emotional, social and
cognitive development of the students they are sending
and/or receiving?
• Is the school helping students form a realistic expectation of
what middle school or high school will be like?
• How will adults in the school provide a positive and successful
first impression of the school?
• How have students been given a voice in preparing transition
activities?
Leadership and Organization
Collaboration is Essential
Collaborating with schools in your feeder or attendance pattern will
increase the probability that students will make a successful transition to
their new school. Strategies include:
• Middle level teachers meet with upper-level elementary teachers— and
high school teachers meet with middle level teachers—to give and gain
a better understanding of each other’s programs.
• Create a culture that supports the idea that all students belong to all
schools. In other words, graduation begins in kindergarten!
• Involve parents and students in planning transitions and gather their
feedback about how the process is working.
• Establish a transition-planning committee that includes representatives
(teachers, students, and parents) from both the sending and receiving
schools.
Speaking with one voice...
Send the message to students that their schools are
working in harmony by banishing statements such as:
 “Do you know what will happen if you do that in
middle school?”
 “Just wait until you get to high school—you’re
going to be in for a rude awaking”
 “You’re in high school now...where everything
counts!”
Assess yourself – at your school...
• How well do 4/5th grade teachers understand the middle level
program?
• How do high school teachers describe your middle level
school?
• Are students seen as belonging to “all” schools or simply
belonging to the school they are currently attending?
• What type of data is shared between schools and how is it
being used?
Curriculum, Instruction, & Assessment
Curriculum, Instruction, & Assessment
Facilitating cross-school conversations among teachers regarding
expectations and practices in this area is an important step in helping
prepare students for a successful transition to the next level. Strategies
include:
• Develop and implement an articulated K–12 curriculum that identifies
the essential knowledge and standards for mastery in all subject areas.
• Ensure clear communication between sending and receiving schools
regarding students’ academic strengths and needs.
• Hold data retreats for all three levels of schooling to guide the
alignment of the curriculum across grades and to identify strands to
emphasize in reading, writing, and mathematics.
• Create vertical teams in key content areas to develop a scope and
sequence of content and vocabulary. Meet regularly to assess and
adjust the scope and sequence as needed.
Assess yourself – at your school...
• Does an articulated curriculum exist that identifies the
essential learnings for each grade level?
• Are all teachers aware of the scope of the articulated
curriculum?
• What opportunities exist for cross-school communications
between teachers and principals?
• Are teachers aware of instructional and assessment practices
that are frequently used in the sending/receiving schools?
Strategies to Consider
No practice is
truly a best
practice unless
it works for the
individual
learner.
~ Carol Ann Tomlinson
Transition Activities: Incoming
• Build relationships with elementary teachers
– invite them to shadow a student
– teachers trade positions for a day
– hold “share” sessions for subject areas
– ask elementary teachers to prepare “info” cards
on incoming students
– attend special assemblies, visit during lunch time,
be visible
Transition Activities: Incoming
• Build Relationships with Parents
– 5th grade newsletter
– invite them to MS events
– be visible, attend elementary events when possible
– hold a meeting for parents of incoming students at
the elementary school
Transition Activities: Incoming
• Build Relationships with Students
– Invite elementary students to visit the middle
school in the spring to meet the staff and students.
Let middle school students serve as guides.
– Visit elementary classrooms/schools to answer
questions, share information and get acquainted.
– Invite them as special guests to attend an open
house event in the spring.
– Have the first day of middle school in the fall be
just for students new to the school.
Transition Activities: Outgoing
• Build relationships with high school teachers
– invite them to shadow a student
– shadow a 9th grade student
– trade positions with a high school teacher for a
day, a half-day, a period…
– MS teachers prepare “info” card on outgoing
8th graders
– hold “share” sessions for subject areas
– Invite high school students to special events at
the middle school
Transition Activities: Outgoing
• MS and HS Collaboratively Build Relationships
with Parents
– Include positives about the HS in your newsletters
– invite high school administration and staff to
attend special events at the MS
– Keep parents informed of registration deadliness
and other transition activities that are happening
for 8th graders
– Hold joint student/parent meeting for incoming 9th
graders
Transition Activities: Outgoing
• Build Relationships with Students
– Visit middle school to answer questions, share
information and get acquainted – bring 9th graders
along to share their success, or lack of
– Invite middle school students to visit the high school in
the spring to meet the staff and students – identify
their advisors if possible
– Bring HS staff to MS to have one-on-one conferences
with students as they return scheduling paperwork
– Invite them as special guests to attend an event in the
spring
– Have the first day of high school in the fall be just for
students new to the school
“Homework” Assignment
• Categorize the elements of your transition
plan into the three areas – Culture and
Climate; Leadership and Organization;
and Curriculum, Instruction, & Assessment.
• If you have over-emphasized one or two
areas or if you have left out an area or
two, it’s time to revisit your transition plan.
Remember...
Effective transitions occur only when schools
and educators collaboratively orchestrate
transitions for the success of each student!
Patti Kinney
www.pattikinney.com