Rethinking K-8 schools

So many Milwaukee students never advance beyond the ninth grade that MPS has a name for it-”The Ninth Grade Parking Lot.”

Many Milwaukee elementary schools converted to kindergarten through eighth grade (K-8) schools because we thought K-8s were superior to middle schools. This was well supported by research. John W. Alspaugh of the University of Missouri and others concluded that the fewer transitions between schools the better. So students who transitioned only once to high school do better than students who transition twice-from elementary to middle school, then to high school. 

But in the last few years Alspaugh has concluded that students are transitioning far too late and now supports K-6 and 7-12 over the K-8 and 9-12 school configuration. Other researchers are coming to the same conclusions. Parents may feel that K-8s are protecting their children from the evils of high school, but research shows that students coming into 7-12 or 6-12 schools work out transition problems by the time they reach grade nine and continue to advance. However, students coming from K-8 or middle schools/junior highs are more likely to struggle in high school and “park” themselves in the ninth or 10th grade.

Following these findings, New York has converted 38 schools to 6-12; Pittsburgh has converted four schools to 6-12. A third of Cincinnati’s high schools are now 7-12. Other urban schools are doing the same.

In Milwaukee, Audubon and Northwest Secondary are already becoming 6-12 schools. Morse and Fritsche-Bay View will follow next year. Milwaukee’s School of Languages has been a 6-12 school for years. On the far south side, Wisconsin Conservatory of Lifelong Learning has gone one step further with a single K-12 school. Neither of these last two schools has the ninth grade parking lot problem.

Should we abandon our K-8 schools in favor of 6-12 schools? Let’s see what kind of results we get from our new 6-12 schools first. But if those results do favor this new configuration, elementary schools should let go of their middle school students in the best interests of our children’s education.

Terry Falk is the Milwaukee Public Schools Director for the Eighth District, which includes Bay View. To contact him, call (414) 510-9173 or email falktf@milwaukee.k12.wi.us.

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