Date of Award

1995

Type

Thesis

Major

Specialist in Education

Degree Type

Special Degree in Education in Administration and Supervision

Department

Teacher Education

First Advisor

Dr. Rochelle P. Ripple

Second Advisor

Dr. D Glenn Walls

Third Advisor

Dr. Jack C. Stewart

Abstract

Expectations for students in middle school and students in high school differ. Administrators and teachers have a responsibility to insure that these students are prepared academically to succeed when leaving the eighth grade and entering the ninth grade. Currently this is not the case in many middle schools and junior high schools. In Pocomoke, Maryland the high school principal, Dr. James H. Vansciver, (Marshall, Scott & Sikes, 1993, p. Preface), claimed that just as isolationism was not successful in preventing the United States from becoming involved in a global conflict, neither is it a successful strategy for individual schools to practice if they are to plan effectively for a productive 12-year experience for their students. Nowhere in education is this philosophy of isolationism so lethal as when practiced by high schools and their feeder middle schools. The difference in philosophies of education frequently practiced in these two different buildings coupled with a lack of articulation between the staffs who work in them results in what may best be defined as educational malpractice. The resulting disruption in the continuity of the experiences of the students who pass from the middle schools to the high schools manifests itself in a near catastrophic adjustment phase for these students. The needs of the adolescent and expectations of this age group have resulted in the middle school concept in a large majority of middle level schools in Georgia. The need for a transition program and when it should be implemented for the middle school student preparing to enter high school is of interest to the Sumter County School system in Americus, Georgia. As a result, this project is being conducted to determine what kinds of transition programs are in use, and what recommendations could be made to develop a program for middle schools.

One aspect of the study includes identifying the expectations of high school teachers and to introduce and reproduce these expectations in the middle grades, because different expectations exist for high school teachers, and the transitioning middle school students.

Download

Share

COinS